Re: Knoppix feature request: better ntfs support
On Mon, Dec 08, 2008 at 11:54:14PM +0100, kirol wrote:
> Following on Klaus' last titillating post
> (a new Knoppix this year? Hooray!), I'd like
> to ask for better ntfs support to be considered.
>
> The last available CD pre-dated the v1.0 release
> of ntfs-3g. I've used this driver since then with no
> ill effects more than once, and wish knoppix defaulted
> to it when generating fstab.
In fact, it does! The filesystem field in /etc/fstab is set to "ntfs"
when fstab is auto-generated, which means that mount.ntfs is been called
on automatic mounts - which links to ntfs-3g for Knoppix.
Just switching between a read-only ntfs3g mount and a rw one can be
tricky if a persistent Knoppix image is located on NTFS. Otherwise, it
should work.
> It's probably still
> a good idea to default to read-only mounts, but at
> least desperate newbies ticking that r/o box in the
> KDE GUI wouldn't put their data at risk!
I tend to switch to LXDE as default desktop for the next CD version,
which has a pmount-based file manager. Therefore, partitions will only be
mounted on explicit request rather than by popup dialogs, and r/w mode
mounts should be somewhat safer because there is less chance to hit
delete accidentially.
> ALso, please consider incorporating Gilles' wonderful
> initrd patches that enable one to boot "fromiso" off
> an ntfs partition.
The entire initramfs system needs to be restructured anyways. I'm not
yet done with fromiso and fromhd, however, toram already works.
> Today virtually all systems where one is likely to
> try knoppix today ship with a hard disk pre-formatted
> with this filesystem.
I have to disagree on this, naturally. ;-)
But supporting ntfs-3g inside initramfs should not be a big problem.
> This change would also be a nice distinctive feature
> for the new release in a time where so many regular
> distros have adopted the live-cd format knoppix once
> pioneered.
>
> What do you think, people? If you're at all interested,
> Klaus, please do not hesitate to let us know how we can
> help.
All I can ask for at the moment is a little patience for the upcoming
ADRIANE live CD release, which will also be a preview of Knoppix 6.0 CD.
Regards
-Klaus Knopper
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