CHEATCODES AND HINTS FOR KNOPPIX V7.

2
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(last update: 16.06.2013)

These options (can be combined) work from the boot prompt:

### General ###

adriane Start blind-friendly, talking desktop
debug Debug boot process step-by-step
expert Interactive setup for experts
knoppix (Default) Knoppix startup
knoppix64 Knoppix w/ 64bit Kernel
knoppix 2 Runlevel 2, Textmode only

### Language/Country ###

knoppix lang=ch|cn|de|da|es|fr|it
knoppix lang=nl|pl|ru|sk|tr|tw|us
knoppix keyboard=us xkeyboard=us
knoppix utc
knoppix tz=Europe/Berlin
specify language/keyboard
specify language/keyboard
Use different keyboard (text/X)
Use Universal Time
Use this timezone for TZ
(default: tz=localtime)

### Hardware/Workarounds ###

knoppix ide1=reset
knoppix no{apic,lapic,acpi,apm}
knoppix no{hwsetup,udev,dhcp,fstab} Skip parts of HW-detection (2)
knoppix no{pcmcia,sound,swap}
knoppix nousb
knoppix nolapic
knoppix noideraid
knoppix pnpbios=off
knoppix acpi=off
knoppix acpi=noirq
knoppix acpi=force
knoppix noacpid
failsafe
knoppix pci=irqmask=0x0e98
knoppix pci=bios
knoppix ide2=0x180 nopcmcia
knoppix mem=512M
knoppix wheelmouse
knoppix nowheelmouse
Try this if knoppix can't find the
CD/DVD drive on old computers
Skip parts of HW-detection (1)
Skip parts of HW-detection (3)
Skip parts of HW-detection (4)
Disable local APIC (differs from noapic)
Disable IDE-Raiddisk detection
No PnP Bios initialization
Disable ACPI Bios completely
Disable ACPI IRC routing only
FORCE ACPI Bios initialization
Do not start ACPI even daemon
Boot with (almost) no HW-detection
Try this, if PS/2 mouse doesn't work *)
Workaround for bad PCI controllers
Boot from PCMCIA-CD-Rom (some notebooks)
Specify Memory size in MByte
Enable IMPS/2 protocol for wheelmice
Force plain PS/2 protocol for PS/2-mouse

### Desktop ###

knoppix desktop=kde|gnome|icewm
knoppix desktop=fluxbox|openbox
knoppix desktop=larswm|evilwm|twm
knoppix no3d
knoppix 3d
Use specified WM instead of LXDE (1)
Use specified WM instead of LXDE (2)
Use specified WM instead of LXDE (3)
Don't use compiz 3d fuctions
Try compiz even on slow cards w/o dri

### Graphics ###

knoppix screen=1280x1024
knoppix hsync=95
knoppix vsync=60
knoppix xmodule=fbdev|vesa|svga
knoppix xmodule=nouveau|radeon
knoppix xmodule=intel|vmware|s3
knoppix norandr
Use specified Screen resolution for X
Use 95 kHz horizontal X refresh rate
Use 60 Hz vertical refresh rate for X
Use specified Xorg-Module (1)
Use specified Xorg-Module (2)
Use specified Xorg-Module (3)
Disable Xorg RandR feature (may be
 useful if wrong resolution was detected)
knoppix noddc Don't query monitor for resoution
knoppix nocomposite Don't use Xorg Composite extension
knoppix vga=normal No-framebuffer mode, but X
knoppix nodrm Don't load graphics acceleration modules
knoppix nofb Don't load framebuffer modules
knoppix nomodeset Don't use Kernel Mode Settings for X
fb1280x1024 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (1)
fb1024x768 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (2)
fb800x600 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (3)
fb640x480 Use fixed framebuffer graphics (4)

### Configuration / Persistent image ###

knoppix nonetworkmanager Don't start network manager
knoppix toram Copy to RAM and run from there
knoppix tohd=/dev/sda1 Copy to Harddisk and run from there
knoppix fromhd=/dev/sda1 Boot from previously copied CD-Image
knoppix bootfrom=/dev/sda1/KNX.iso Access image, boot from ISO-Image. ***)
knoppix knoppix_dir=KNOPPIX Directory to search for on the CD.
knoppix knoppix_name=KNOPPIX Cloop-File to search for on the CD.
knoppix noswap Don't use existing swap partitions
knoppix nozram Don't use zram compressed swap-in-ram
knoppix forensic Don't use swap and mount read-only
knoppix secure Disable root access
knoppix noimage Ignore persistent image or partition

### Knoppix Terminalserver/Client ###

knoppix nfsdir=hostip:path Use nfsdir as /mnt-system for TS client
knoppix hostname=name Set TS client hostname
knoppix hostname=auto-mac Set TS client hostname from MAC address
knoppix hostname=auto-clock Set TS client hostname from clock

### Various ###

knoppix noeject Do NOT eject CD after halt
knoppix noprompt Do NOT prompt to remove the CD
knoppix testcd|testdvd Check live medium for defects
knoppix splash Use splash.ppm in initrd as boot pic
knoppix trace create an open() trace in /open.trace

Hint: Using the default DE-bootimage, SYSLINUX boots with german

keyboard layout. The '=' letter is located at Shift-0 on this keyboard
(just in case you want to change keyboard and language with lang=us). If
you need to change the keyboard layout later in X, and can't find a
convenient tool in the preferences, use "setxkbmap 'ca(multi)'" in order
to set up a new (multi-language canadian, in this example) keyboard
layout

*) Try "knoppix pci=irqmask=0x0e98" if (you have an old notebook and)

your PS/2 mouse doesn't work, Possibly caused by a BIOS-flaw on your
board, BIOS updates can sometimes help.

If your KNOPPIX CD produces strange noises during boot, or you see

frequent errors like "cloop: read error", or programs on your desktop
are crashing randomly, then your CD image is probably defective or
incomplete, or your CD-burner created a defective CD due to wrong
writing speed or bad media. This is actually the most common error
reported. Please boot with "knoppix testcd" to check if the CD or DVD is
OK. Installing and starting Knoppix from flash disk is recommended and
much faster than running from CD or DVD.
In case of a failing hardware autodetection, try booting with any of
the "no-" options as shown in the table above, like in
knoppix nodrm nomodeset no3d noaudio noapm noapic nolapic
acpi=off pci=bios pnpbios=off nodma nopcmcia noscsi nousb ...
to skip some critical parts of the autodetection system.

The "noswap" and/or "forensic" boot option is useful for a forensic

analysis without touching existing swap partitions.

Some Boards apparently don't pass the proper memory size to the
linux-kernel. It may cause the message "Panic: cannot mount root file
system" and the system hangs. Use "knoppix mem=512M" to solve that
problem if your system has 512MByte memory for example (caution:
you MUST use a capital "M" here).

When installing to read/write media, such as flash disks (using

flash-knoppix), you can add a swap file in order to replace missing
physical RAM by persistent storage space. You can create this swap
file like this from the running system:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt-system/KNOPPIX/knoppix.swp
mkswap /mnt-system/KNOPPIX/knoppix.swp
swapon /mnt-system/KNOPPIX/knoppix.swp
Please be aware that swapping on flash media can be painfully slow, and
is no perfect replacement for real RAM. The zram ram-compression feature
(available from Knoppix 7.0.1) can extend the usable ram range to a
certain degree.

---

If you need additional modules for starting controllers needed at boot

time, just copy the corresponding *.ko files from /lib/modules/* over to
/modules in the initial ramdisk (remaster needed).

If you place an update*.zip or update*tar.gz file on the medium holding

the KNOPPIX data, it will be unpacked onto the overlayed filesystem
before starting "init", thus allowing quick reconfiguration of the
system.

The file "knoppix.sh", if residing in the main KNOPPIX directory, will

be execuded after autoconfiguration and before starting the graphical
desktop. It can be used in order to start additional services.

If you wish to remaster the CD, please don't forget to specify

-no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
-b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat
as option to mkisofs. Otherwise your CD or DVD won't be bootable. The
directory KNOPPIX, containig the compressed filesystem file "KNOPPIX",
must be located in the top level directory of the CD.

Caution: X-Screensaver: Don't start xlock or any screensaver that

requires a password. There are no default passwords on KNOPPIX,
i.e. all accounts are LOCKED unless you explicitly set a password.
See also README_Security.txt about this issue.
If you accidentially hit the screensaver button in KDE,
switch to one of the textconsoles by Control-Alt-F1 and kill
the screensaver (or just set a password for the knoppix user).

If you would like to edit your X-Server configuration manually

(config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf), use "knoppix 2" to boot
into runlevel 2 (textmode only) and, after changing the X
configuration, start the X environment with "init 5". Note that
you can always leave the graphical environment with "init 2", and
restart it later with "init 5".