[debian-knoppix] Knoppix English FAQ 20020524 [German by Klaus Knopper, translated by Kurt Yoder, edited by Nathaniel Pendleton]
Author, original German: Klause Knopper
German to English Translater: Kurt Yoder
English Editor: Nathaniel Pendleton
Modified from Yoder translation by Pendleton 20020524
List post date: 2002-05-24
(but the German FAQ document is several months older)
[Start Translation:]
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 an ISO 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) If time permits me: Send me a stamped self-addressed return CD mailer
envelope with a 700 Mb CD-R 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: Set your computer's BIOS to boot first from CD.
To look inside your computer BIOS to see the boot order,
on most PCs hit "Delete" key during the RAM test at boot (aka POST).
Some PCs use "F2" instead of "Delete."
If the CD is already set as your first boot device in the BIOS, 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: Try downloading the ISO again. You may have only a partial ISO download.
If you got a partial ISO, the CD will never work. If Knoppix CD bootup
stalls,
and you hear your CD-ROM drive whirrr and chatter while making repeated
read attempts it is very likely you got a partial ISO. This is fatal because
the
directory tree is written at the beginning of the CD, so it is usually
complete
and readable, but the actual data and files are not there!
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: These dot MD5 files are checksum numbers used to prove
two files match exactly. Checksum applications add up the bits from
a file, such as a PDF or ISO, and output a big number called
a checksum numbers.
The MD5 tool is the most popular and free checksum application.
The MD5 tool creates the .MD5 checksum number files.
When downloading a datafile, also download the author's checksum
number of that datafile. Run MD5 on your new download to get a new
checksum number. If the new checksum is identical to the authors
checksum, and both datafiles are the same size, you have a perfect
copy of the authors file.
Under Linux, type "md5sum -c filename.md5" to get the new checksum number.
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 were 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.)
_______________________________________________
debian-knoppix mailing list
debian-knoppix@linuxtag.org
http://mailman.linuxtag.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-knoppix
Reply to: