Re: [debian-knoppix] English support and development docs
Hello Nathaniel,
On Mon, May 06, 2002 at 03:06:27PM -0400, Nathaniel Pendleton wrote:
> Knoppix is brilliant! I was trying to organize and develop the same thing.
> I am impressed.
>
> I am yet another American that only speaks English. Sorry.
> Is there anyway to get newsletters and the FAQ also translated
> into English?
Actually, the FAQ also has a nice translation made by the same person
who helped me translating my webpage. I'm just too lazy to put it on the
CD, or I keep forgetting.
> Does anyone have experience on multi language development
> discussions, and how to embrace everyone?
I'm trying to support many languages by setting the appropriate locales
at boot time, so KDE and the program messages get translated.
You can boot with "knoppix lang=us" to get everything in english, or
just download the english version of the CD.
> I respect the project's German roots and developer(s), and do not
> want to change that, but I would like to suggest detailed English
> support for several reasons. [starting with I am lazy! =) ]
See? ;-)
> English is the most common second language spoken in the world,
Uhm, actually, the most spoken first language would be Chinese, I guess. ;-)
But I understand your point, that's why english is the second-best supported
language on Knoppix.
> and dominates the software, internet, media, science, aviation,
> shipping, common law, and most multi-lateral diplomatic discussions,
> so I would lobby for additional detailed English support, after
> German of course.
Agreed. But what else is missing? As far as I know, all translations
work perfect with lang=en (apart from some templates in openoffice, but
that is a different problem).
> I want to customize and develop knoppix for my own goals.
> Is there a detailed knoppix development doc?
Not yet, but the FAQ and the README of cloop contains some hints. I'm
also attaching my build script (which WILL erase everything on your
computer if you run it unmodified, be cautious. ;-)
> Is there source code to download and compile?
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/sources/ contains the sources for my own
components under the GPL. It is not always up-to-date, though, but we
are working on a real Debian repository. Some packages (like cloop)
even made it into the official Debian-unstable/testing repository.
> or are knoppix's clever bits human readable like bash files?
Most of them are indeed shell scripts, yes.
> How would I set a fixed IP on the floppy?
There was a little flaw on versions prior to 03-05-2002 which called the
wrong init script for the config floppy. With 03-05-2002, it should go
automatically if you edit /etc/network/interfaces accordingly (which
"netcardconfig" should do for you) and save with the "saveconfig" menu
or command.
> Has anyone looked at setting up samba, apache, webmin, SWAT,
> netatalk and other server services?
Samba, Apache, MySQL work fine. Webmin did not make it on the CD because
of space limitations. :-(
> ps: Has anyone considered storing configs on a central server?
> (think linux terminal server), after booting the CD, use DHCP,
> and collect the info about this box?
Could be done with a knoppix.sh. There is no "collectibles" section yet,
though.
-Klaus
--
Klaus Knopper LinuxTag 2002 - Europes largest Linux Expo
Technical Solutions Where .com meets .org
knopper@linuxtag.de http://www.linuxtag.de/
Phone +49-(0)180-5-546898 Fax +49-(0)180-5-546893
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT KNOPPIX
=========================
Q: How do I get the CD/current beta?
A: Several possibilities: (Note: listed websites are in German)
a) Download form one of the mirrors listed at http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/.
b) The LinuxTag 2001 CD with KNOPPIX and the presentation materials from the last LinuxTag can be ordered at Lehmanns Online Bookshop at http://www.lob.de.
c) Send a self-addressed CD mailer with sufficient return postage to KNOPPER.NET (web form: http://www.knopper.net/kontakt/?kontakt=knoppix ) for a current test version containing the newest software packages and updates.
d) You can order the newest CD from http://www.liniso.de/ or http://www.kernelconcepts.de/ and have it sent to you.
---
Q: My computer won't boot from CD. What should I do?
A: Look in your computer's BIOS to see whether it's set to boot from CD (on most computers you need to push the "delete" key during the RAM test). If this is already set, your computer may not be able to read the CD (some notebooks have problems with black-coated CD's, for example). Some computers will only use the new BIOS settings after a hard reset. If your computer doesn't support booting from CD, you can create a boot floppy using the "rawrite" program in the "KNOPPIX" directory on the CD.
---
Q: I downloaded KNOPPIX via WWW/FTP or got a downloaded version from a friend. My PC will boot off of it, but the bootup stalls after a bit or I only see the background picture, and nothing else happens. What's going on?
A: You possibly only got a partial download, or the download was (silently) interrupted. If this is the case the ISO image is defective, and the data in the missing parts cannot be accessed (sometimes one can even "hear" this because of the sound the CD-ROM drive makes due to repeated read attempts). This is fatal because the directory tree is written at the beginning of the CD, so it is usually complete. Thus, you can correctly read the directory tree of the CD. However, reading the actual contents of the missing parts is impossible (in other words, accessing the contents fails). Some possible solutions can be found in the section "What are MD5 files?" and "How can I get the CD?".
---
Q: What are these strange MD5 files that accompany the ISO CD images?
A: The files with the .md5 extension contain checksums for the actual CD images. A checksum is a "matching number" for checking files. One can verify that the file matches its original down to the smallest detail. When you download both the ISO image for the CD and its corresponding .md5 file, you can verify that your download was complete and that the contents are unchanged by typing "md5sum -c filename.md5" under Linux/Unix. Further information about MD5 and programs for various OS's can be found at http://www.fourmilab.ch/md5/. You can download a Windows(TM) version at http://www.toast442.org/md5gui.shtml.
---
Q: How can I set up my printer?
A: Click on "printer configuration" in the "Knoppix" menu, and use the wizard.
---
Q: What is the root password?
A: There is none; all passwords are locked by default. There are several sections you can read dealing with this subject in KNOPPIX/README_Security.txt.
---
Q: I see the partitions from my hard disk on the desktop and can access their contents when I click on them, but if I try to write to them I always get the error message "access denied". How can I write to my existing partitions?
A: The general philosophy of KNOPPIX is to allow as little write access as possible. For this reason, existing partitions are either not mounted or only mounted "read only". If you click with your right mouse button on an icon, the "read-only" attribute under item "device" can be un-checked. After this, the partition can be mounted "read-write" (for already mounted partitions, first click on "unmount"!). CAUTION: writing to NTFS partitions can lead to data loss, since Linux does not really support this file system! However, DOS and FAT32 file systems are safe for write access.
Tip:
In the shell the command "mount -o remount, rw /mnt/<partitionname>" can allow already-mounted file systems to be "made writeable".
---
Q: After I've used KNOPPIX, my "other" OS suddenly shows a blue screen with the message "File kernel.exe not found or defective" and "reinstall..." shortly after boot.
A: Simply take the KNOPPIX CD out of the CD-Rom drive and restart the computer.
---
Q: Auto configuration doesn't work on my computer, or the computer hangs at boot. What should I do?
A: It might work if portions of the auto configuration are skipped. This can be specified with "knoppix noscsi" or "knoppix nopcmcia". If the problem can be identified -> please send the exact error message and when possible a proposed solution using the web form at http://www.knopper.net/kontakt/! Sometimes the output of "lspci ; lspci -n" is very helpful, especially if the problem involves incorrectly identified graphics cards.
---
Q: My graphics card doesn't work!
A: It may be that very new (or exotic) graphics cards are not in the hardware database yet. These will still usually work under Linux! You can type
knoppix xmodule=vesa
or
knoppix xmodule=fbdev
at the first boot screen, and the initial un-accelerated XFree86 modes will produce a usable screen. Version 31-01-2002 and later have a frame buffer boot option (especially for older notebooks)
fb800x600
(instead of typing in knoppix), which uses a resolution of 800x600 pixels in frame buffer mode. Regardless of whether these workarounds are successful or not, support can be built into the next version of KNOPPIX more quickly if (as in the previous question) the PCI numbers of the graphics card along with a description can be sent to us via mail ("lspci ; lspci -n").
---
Q: My PS/2 mouse doesn't work!
A: If the mouse pointer in the graphical user window is erratically moving around everywhere, the attached mouse is using an exotic protocol. Only booting into "expert" mode and setting the correct protocol for the XFree system will help in this case. However, if the pointer appears in the middle of the screen and doesn't respond to mouse movements at all, you probably have a board with a known BIOS bug (lately this problem has been appearing frequently with notebooks). Try to type in
knoppix pci=irqmask=0x0e98
at the boot screen and see if this helps. Alternatively, you can find a BIOS update for your computer (you may want to do this anyway?).
---
Q: My system memory is not fully detected, or the computer hangs shortly after starting with the message "Panic: cannot mount root file system"!
A: Some boards apparently report the usable memory size incorrectly to the Linux kernel. Solution: specify the system memory size as an additional "knoppix" boot option. For example, for 128 Megabytes use
knoppix mem=128M
(Note: make certain an upper-case M is typed after the memory size!)
---
Q: Can one also install the distribution from the CD onto a hard drive?
A: In principal, yes (after all, the "master" system also runs on a hard drive before it is burned to CD). However there is currently no installation GUI for this, so installation to a hard drive should probably only be attempted by more knowledgeable Linux users. Assuming the KNOPPIX system has already booted, installation approximately follows this procedure:
1.) initialize a free partition with the ext2 file system and mount it on /mnt/knoppix, for example.
2.) cp -a /KNOPPIX/* /mnt/knoppix/
3.) set up /mnt/knoppix/etc/fstab and /mnt/knoppix/etc/lilo.conf for the new system (Caution: symlinks in /boot initially point to the Ram disk!), run lilo.
4.) mkdir /mnt/knoppix/home/knoppix && \
chown knoppix.knoppix /mnt/knoppix/home/knoppix
5.) Reboot, try the system out, fix any broken settings.
(No guarantees.)
#!/bin/sh
umask 022
/etc/init.d/autofs stop
# remove only "temporary" or saved files in the given directories
nuke(){
for i in `find "$@" -name \*.gz -o -name \*.bz2 -o -name \*.0 2>/dev/null`; do
rm -f "$i"
done
}
# set all files in the given directories to a length of zero
zero(){
for i in `find "$@" -type f -size +0 -not -name \*.ini 2>/dev/null`; do
:> "$i"
done
}
rmdir /mnt/cdrom?* /mnt/hd?* 2>/dev/null
rm -f /etc/X11/XF86Config /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 \
/etc/XF86Config /etc/XF86Config-4 /etc/sysconfig/* \
/etc/ssh/*key* \
/etc/samba/*.SID /etc/samba/*.tdb \
/dev/mouse* /dev/cdrom* /dev/cdwriter* \
/var/run/*/* /var/run/* /var/log/ksymoops/* /var/lock/*/* /var/lock/* \
/var/state/*/* /var/state/* /var/log/nessus/* /var/lib/nessus/* \
/halt /reboot /ash.static /etc/dhcpc/*.info /etc/dhcpc/resolv* \
/etc/resolv.conf /etc/*passwd- /etc/*shadow- /etc/*group- 2>/dev/null
mkdir -p /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts /etc/sysconfig/provider
cat >/etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf <<EOT
# insert nameservers here
# nameserver 127.0.0.1
EOT
chmod 644 /etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf
ln -s /etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf /etc/
rm -rf /tmp/* /var/tmp/* /var/backups/* /.ssh /root/.ssh /home/*/.ssh \
/root/.bash_history /home/*/.bash_history \
/home/knoppix/* /home/knoppix/.??* /var/lib/texmf/ls-R \
/var/spool/texmf/ls-R
nuke /var/log /var/cache
zero /var/local /var/log /var/spool \
/var/lib/games /var/cache/man /var/lib/wine \
/var/lib/nfs /var/lib/xkb
for i in `find /usr/*/man -name \*.\[0-9ln\]` ; do
[ -f "$i".gz -o -f "$i".bz2 ] && rm -f "$i"
done
# delete old dowloaded packages
apt-get clean
# Recreate empty utmp and wtmp
:>/var/run/utmp
:>/var/run/wtmp
# regenerate module dependencies and ls.so.cache
echo -n "Updating ld.so.cache..."
ldconfig
echo " Done."
echo -n "Updating modules.dep..."
depmod -a 2>/dev/null
echo " Done."
echo -n "Updating texhash..."
mktexlsr
echo " Done."
echo -n "Updating mandb..."
mandb -c
man doesnotexist >/dev/null 2>&1
echo " Done."
echo -n "Updating menus..."
/usr/sbin/mkmenusfromkde
echo " Done."
echo -n "Updating locate-database..."
updatedb --prunepaths="/KNOPPIX.build /mnt/hd /mnt/cdrom /tmp /usr/tmp /var/tmp"
echo " Done."
echo -n "Fixing permissions in /dev/..."
chown root.root /dev/ttyp*
chmod 666 /dev/ttyp* /dev/sg*
echo " Done".
echo -n "Removing unused architecture Kernel sources: "
for i in `ls -1 /usr/src/linux/arch/ | grep -v i386`; do
echo -n "$i "; rm -rf /usr/src/linux/arch/"$i" /usr/src/linux/include/asm-"$i"
done
#!/bin/bash
DEST="$1"
[ -z "$DEST" -o ! -d "$DEST" ] && { echo "Usage: $0 DESTINATIONDIR" >&2 ; exit 1; }
[ ! -x /usr/bin/create_compressed_fs ] && { echo "Need /usr/bin/create_compressed_fs." ; exit 1; }
# Compression blocksize (must be multiple of 512)
# All block headers must fit into a kmalloc segment (ca. 130000 bytes)
BLOCKSIZE=65536
# BLOCKSIZE=53248
# BLOCKSIZE=102400
echo -n "Update Bootfloppy file(s)? "
read answer
if [ "$answer" = "y" ]; then
cp -uv /KNOPPIX.build/Knoppix.System/bootdisk/Knoppix/boot-*.img "$DEST"/KNOPPIX/
( cd "$DEST"/KNOPPIX && ln -f -v boot-de.img boot.img ) || exit 1
fi
[ ! -f "$DEST"/KNOPPIX/boot.img ] && { echo "Missing required file $DEST/KNOPPIX/boot.img" >&2 ; exit 1; }
echo -n "Recreate KNOPPIX compressed FS? "
read answer
if [ "$answer" = "y" ]
then
rm -f "$DEST"/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX
# Remove files that need to be autogenerated from source dir!
echo -n "Sweep/Clean system before remastering? "
read answer
[ "$answer" = "y" ] && { . /KNOPPIX.build/Knoppix.postupgrade; . /KNOPPIX.build/Knoppix.clean; }
cat >/etc/network/interfaces <<EOT
# /etc/network/interfaces -- configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)
# The loopback interface
# automatically added when upgrading
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
EOT
cat >/etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf <<EOT
# Insert nameservers here
# nameserver 127.0.0.1
EOT
# Mount root read-only, so no files change while generating image
mount -o ro,remount / || { echo "Error: Cannot mount / read-only" >&2 ; exit 0; }
# -U implies: -d, -l, -L, -N, -relaxed-filenames, -allow-lowercase,
# -allow-multidot and -no-iso-translate
# -iso-level 3 -U -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad \
# -hide-rr-moved \
# -m /var/lib/dpkg/available\* \
SORT=""
[ -e /KNOPPIX.build/mkisofs.sort ] && SORT="-sort /KNOPPIX.build/mkisofs.sort"
mkisofs -pad -R -l -v $SORT \
-V "KNOPPIX ISO9660 Filesystem" \
-P "Knopper.Net http://www.knopper.net/"; \
-p "Klaus Knopper <knoppix@knopper.net>" \
-hide-rr-moved -U -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad \
-m /proc/\* -m /tmp/\* -m /var/tmp/\* -m /home/\* -m /initrd/\* \
-m /KNOPPIX.build -m /mnt/\*/\* -m \*.dpkg-\* \
-m /mnt/hd/\* -m /mnt/hd\* -m /mnt/cdrom\* -m /etc/fstab\* \
-m /etc/sysconfig/\* -m /etc/exports -m /etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd\* \
-m /var/spool/mail/\* -m /var/spool/mqueue/\* \
-m /etc/driveprm -m .ssh -m .bash_history \
-m /etc/gpm.conf -m /etc/isapnp.\* -m /etc/minirc.dfl \
-m /var/cache/debconf/\*-old -m /var/lib/\*/\*- \
-m /var/lib/\*/\*-old -m /var/log/XFree86.\* \
-m /var/samba/\*.pid -m /var/mail/\* -m /var/apt/cache/archives/lock \
-m /var/log/ksymoops\* -m /var/spool/exim/db/\* -m /etc/\*.old \
-m /etc/\*.save -m /etc/ssl/certs/\* -m \*.preserved \
-m .viminfo -m .\*.swp -m lost+found \
-m /.\?\?\* -m /root/.\?\?\* -m /etc/.\?\?\* \
-m /boot/map -m /boot/boot.0\* \
-m /usr/src/modules/pcmcia\* \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/drivers \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/fs \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/init \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/mm \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/net \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/vmlinu\* \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/System.map \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/ipc \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/kernel \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/lib \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/Rules.make \
-m /usr/src/linux\*/scripts \
/ \
| nice -5 /usr/bin/create_compressed_fs - $BLOCKSIZE \
>"$DEST"/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX || exit 1
mount -o rw,remount /
chmod 444 "$DEST"/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX
# swapoff /dev/hdc2 2>/dev/null
fi
mkfinal(){
TARGET="$1.iso"
# Alternate boot record
# -eltorito-alt-boot \
# -b KNOPPIX/boot-en.img -c KNOPPIX/boot.cat \
mkisofs -pad -l -r -J -v \
-sort /tmp/knoppix.sort \
-V 'KNOPPIX' -A 'KNOPPIX CD-ROM' \
-P "KNOPPER.NET http://www.knopper.net/"; \
-p "KNOPPIX CD-ROM Taskforce <knoppix@knopper.net>" \
-b KNOPPIX/boot.img -c KNOPPIX/boot.cat \
-hide-rr-moved \
-o "$TARGET" "$DEST"
}
echo -n "Recreate KNOPPIX-DE isofile '$DEST.iso'? "
read answer
if [ "$answer" = "y" ]; then
# Make sure that the boot floppy file is at the beginning of the image.
# Some controllers seem to depend on this.
rm -f /tmp/knoppix.sort
echo "$DEST/KNOPPIX/boot.img 100001" >/tmp/knoppix.sort
# Make final CD Image
mkfinal "$DEST"
echo -n "Recreate KNOPPIX-EN isofile '$DEST-EN.iso'? "
read answer
if [ "$answer" = "y" ]; then
( cd "$DEST"/KNOPPIX && ln -f -v boot-en.img boot.img ) || exit 1
mkfinal "$DEST-EN"
( cd "$DEST"/KNOPPIX && ln -f -v boot-de.img boot.img ) || exit 1
fi
rm -f /tmp/knoppix.sort
fi
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