website annotate en/doc/handbook/livecd.html @ rev 27

Amend LiveCD - Handbook (en)
author Paul Issot <paul@slitaz.org>
date Sat Apr 19 12:48:26 2008 +0100 (2008-04-19)
parents 796d31b08d96
children 455fdf8c7469
rev   line source
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pankso@7 4 <head>
pankso@7 5 <title>SliTaz Handbook (en) - LiveCD usage and options</title>
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pankso@7 11 <meta name="author" content="Christophe Lincoln"/>
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pankso@7 20 <a name="top"></a>
pankso@16 21 <a href="install.html">Installation</a> |
pankso@7 22 <a href="index.html">Table of contents</a>
pankso@7 23 </div>
pankso@7 24 <h1><font color="#3E1220">SliTaz Handbook (en)</font></h1>
pankso@7 25 </div>
pankso@7 26
pankso@7 27 <!-- Content. -->
pankso@7 28 <div id="content">
pankso@7 29 <div class="content-right"></div>
pankso@7 30
pankso@7 31 <h2><font color="#DF8F06">LiveCD usage and options</font></h2>
pankso@7 32
pankso@7 33 <ul>
pankso@7 34 <li><a href="#boot">Boot from a cdrom.</a></li>
paul@25 35 <li><a href="#options">Options to pass at boot.</a></li>
paul@25 36 <li><a href="#kernel-param">Linux Kernel Parameters.</a></li>
paul@25 37 <li><a href="#usbmedia">Option : home=usb</a> - Use USB media as /home
pankso@7 38 partition.</li>
paul@25 39 <li><a href="#mapping">Options : lang=XX and kmap=XX</a> - Specify language
pankso@7 40 and keyboard.</li>
pankso@7 41 <li><a href="#config">Option : config=&lt;device&gt;,&lt;path&gt;</a> -
pankso@7 42 Execute a script at boot time.</li>
paul@25 43 <li><a href="#screen">Option : screen=&lt;type&gt;</a> - Specify screen resolution.</li>
paul@25 44 <li><a href="#sound">Option : sound=*</a> - Disable sound support.</li>
pankso@7 45 <li><a href="#modprobe">Option : modprobe=modules</a> - Load needed Kernel
pankso@7 46 modules.</li>
pankso@7 47 <li><a href="#laptop">Option : laptop</a> - Load ac and battery modules.</li>
paul@25 48 <li><a href="#sessions">Sessions</a> - Logins, passwords and X.</li>
paul@25 49
pankso@7 50 </ul>
pankso@7 51
pankso@7 52 <a name="boot"></a>
pankso@7 53 <h3>Boot from a cdrom</h3>
pankso@7 54 <p>
pankso@7 55 To boot SliTaz from a cdrom, just burn the ISO image onto a blank disc, then
pankso@7 56 reboot your computer with the disc in your cdrom drive. The first splash image
pankso@7 57 is powered by isolinux bootloader, you can then just press <code>ENTER</code>
pankso@7 58 with or without any options to start system initialisation. Note that pressing
paul@25 59 <code>F1-F4</code> will display help and information. SliTaz runs entirely
paul@25 60 in memory and will not damage the installed host system. When the boot
pankso@7 61 process is finished, you can login without any password as user
pankso@7 62 <code>hacker</code>. To become root administrator, you can use the command
pankso@7 63 <code>su</code> with the password <code>root</code> in a XTerm window or
paul@27 64 the Linux console. In LiveCD mode the <em>root</em> password is <code>root</code>.
pankso@7 65 </p>
pankso@7 66
paul@25 67 <a name="options"></a>
paul@25 68 <h3>Options and parameters to pass at boot</h3>
paul@25 69 <p>
paul@25 70 The SliTaz LiveCD can pass various <em>boot</em> options via the command prompt powered by syslinux.
paul@25 71 There are two types of option: those of SliTaz and those of the Linux Kernel.
paul@25 72 The options for SliTaz are used by various startup scripts and the parameters
paul@25 73 such as the VGA mode, are managed directly by the Kernel (<em>kernel boot parameters</em>).
paul@25 74 To pass options at startup, just precede your commands with <code>slitaz</code>
paul@25 75 </p>
paul@25 76 <pre> slitaz vga=791 no387
paul@25 77 </pre>
paul@25 78 <p>
paul@25 79 Note that the Linux Kernel keeps data passed to <em>boot</em> in the text file <code>/proc/cmdline</code>.
paul@25 80 On a GNU/Linux system, you can view this information by running the command:
paul@25 81 </p>
paul@25 82 <pre> $ cat /proc/cmdline
paul@25 83 </pre>
paul@25 84
paul@25 85 <a name="kernel-param"></a>
paul@25 86 <h3>Parameters of the Linux Kernel</h3>
paul@25 87 <p>
paul@25 88 On GNU/Linux systems, parameters specific to the Kernel vary greatly depending on
paul@25 89 the configuration used in compiling it. The kernel used by SliTaz
paul@25 90 is constructed with a minimum of modules and offers very
paul@25 91 few modifiable parameters at startup. However, you can disable the
paul@25 92 emulation of a math coprocessor via option: <code>no387</code> and/or activate
paul@25 93 <code>irqpoll</code> in the case of problems with interrupts (CD/DVD). The SliTaz
paul@25 94 Kernel also provides a video output mode for the VGA Vesa <em>framebuffer</em>
paul@25 95 - this is what displays the tux logo and manages the display of the Linux terminal.
paul@25 96 Once the system has started you have access to six pseudo terminals via the key combinations
paul@25 97 <code>Ctrl+alt+F1</code>, <code>Ctrl+alt+F2</code>, and so on.
paul@25 98 </p>
paul@25 99
paul@25 100 <h4>vga=XXX - VGA Kernel modes</h4>
paul@25 101 <pre class="script">Colors | 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
paul@25 102 -------------------------------------------------------
paul@25 103 256 | 769 771 773 775 796
paul@25 104 32768 | 784 787 790 793 797
paul@25 105 65536 | 785 788 791 794 798
paul@25 106 16,8M | 786 789 792 795 799
paul@25 107 </pre>
paul@25 108
paul@25 109 <a name="usbmedia"></a>
pankso@7 110 <h3>Option : home=usb</h3>
pankso@7 111 <p>
pankso@7 112 To store your data permanently (bookmarks, downloads, Firefox Add-ons, etc),
pankso@7 113 you need USB media with a partition formatted in <code>ext3</code> and it must
pankso@7 114 specify <code>home=usb</code> for <code>sda1</code> (most cases) or
pankso@7 115 <code>home=devname</code> at boot time. Note that you can also specify the
pankso@7 116 device using the partition UUID or label by using <code>home=*</code>. Example:
pankso@7 117 </p>
pankso@7 118 <pre>
pankso@7 119 slitaz home=sda1
pankso@7 120 </pre>
pankso@7 121 <h4>Prepare USB media</h4>
pankso@7 122 <p>
pankso@7 123 All USB media can formatted in the native Linux <code>ext3</code> filesystem.
pankso@7 124 Ext3 is a journalized, stable filesystem, it allows you to keep permissions
pankso@7 125 on all files and is much more secure than the default Windows FAT32 filesystem.
pankso@7 126 To format USB media you have a few options: the command line with
pankso@7 127 <code>mkfs.ext3</code>, the <code>tazusb</code> utility or graphically with Gparted.
pankso@7 128 To get a full list of available partitions including the USB drive you can use the command
pankso@7 129 <code>fdisk -l</code> and then format. Example:
pankso@7 130 </p>
pankso@7 131 <pre>
pankso@7 132 # fdisk -l
pankso@7 133 # tazusb format /dev/sda1
pankso@7 134 </pre>
pankso@7 135
paul@25 136 <a name="mapping"></a>
pankso@7 137 <h3>Options : lang=XX and kmap=XX</h3>
pankso@7 138 <p>
pankso@7 139 When you use the LiveCD you have two options to directly configure the system
pankso@7 140 language and keyboard mapping, these options can be set by simply navigating to
pankso@7 141 your country code and reloading the bootloader configuration with <code>ENTER</code>.
pankso@7 142 To skip the language and keyboard configuration you can simply type options on the command
pankso@7 143 line, for English/UK:
pankso@7 144 </p>
pankso@7 145 <pre>
pankso@7 146 slitaz lang=en kmap=en
pankso@7 147 </pre>
pankso@7 148
pankso@7 149 <a name="config"></a>
pankso@7 150 <h3>Option : config=&lt;device&gt;,&lt;path&gt;</h3>
pankso@7 151 <p>
pankso@7 152 The <code>config=</code> option lets you execute a script at SliTaz boot time,
pankso@7 153 the script can be located on external media or a HD partition. For example, the
pankso@7 154 script can mount an ISO image on <code>/usr</code> to save memory and boot the
pankso@7 155 LiveCD on computers with only 32 Mb of RAM. An example with a script named
pankso@7 156 <code>slitaz.sh</code> located on the first disk and partition:
pankso@7 157 </p>
pankso@7 158 <pre>
pankso@7 159 slitaz config=/dev/hda1,slitaz.sh
pankso@7 160 </pre>
pankso@7 161
paul@25 162 <a name="screen"></a>
paul@25 163 <h3>Option : screen=&lt;type&gt;</h3>
paul@25 164 <p>
paul@25 165 The <code>screen=</code> option lets you specify your screen resolution at boot.
paul@25 166 Note that the <code>screen=text</code> option disables the Slim login manager. Example:
paul@25 167 </p>
paul@25 168 <pre> slitaz screen=1024x768x24
paul@25 169 </pre>
paul@25 170
paul@25 171 <a name="sound"></a>
paul@25 172 <h3>Option : sound=*</h3>
paul@25 173 <p>
paul@25 174 The option <code>sound=no</code> or <code>sound=noconf</code> lets you respectively disable all
paul@25 175 of the modules and applications relating to sound to save memory (ram) or skip the automatic setup
paul@25 176 of the sound card, but still allow you to manually configure if needed:
paul@25 177 </p>
paul@25 178 <pre> slitaz sound=no
paul@25 179 </pre>
paul@25 180
pankso@7 181 <a name="modprobe"></a>
pankso@7 182 <h3>Option : modprobe=modules</h3>
pankso@7 183 <p>
pankso@7 184 To load Kernel modules at boot time use the following example:
pankso@7 185 </p>
pankso@7 186 <pre>
pankso@7 187 slitaz modprobe=module1,module2
pankso@7 188 </pre>
pankso@7 189
pankso@7 190 <a name="laptop"></a>
pankso@7 191 <h3>Option : laptop</h3>
pankso@7 192 <p>
pankso@7 193 The option <code>laptop</code> will automatically load ac and battery Kernel
paul@25 194 modules - useful for laptop computers:
pankso@7 195 </p>
pankso@7 196 <pre>
pankso@7 197 slitaz laptop
pankso@7 198 </pre>
pankso@7 199
paul@25 200 <a name="sessions"></a>
paul@25 201 <h3>Sessions - Login, passwords and X</h3>
paul@25 202 <p>
paul@25 203 When the system has finished it's initialization, the screen is cleared and the
paul@25 204 login prompt or the session manager Slim is displayed. Now you can choose to login
paul@27 205 as <code>hacker</code> (without password) or as <code>root</code> administrator (password <code>root</code>).
paul@25 206 Once logged into a session, you can use the many commands available in Busybox,
paul@25 207 the GNU text editor Nano or the Clex file manager. You can initiate a graphical server
paul@25 208 (X) via <code>startx</code> or connect to a remote machine via SSH or X.
paul@27 209 The <code>startx</code> command will launch Xvesa and start the window manager.
paul@27 210 </p>
paul@27 211 <p>
paul@27 212 The desktop is powered by JWM (Joe's Window Manager), you can get the menu by
paul@27 213 clicking on the screen with one of the mouse buttons. Applications are
paul@27 214 classified by category and are available in English. Menu, theme and wallpaper
paul@27 215 can all be changed to your needs/preferences by editing one single file -
paul@27 216 personal settings and data can be stored on USB media (Flash key, SD card, etc).
paul@27 217 </p>
paul@27 218 <p>
paul@25 219 To launch a X session from the Linux console, for example if you have passed the
paul@25 220 <code>screen=text</code> option or if Slim is not configured to run at startup:
paul@25 221 </p>
paul@25 222 <pre> $ startx
paul@25 223 </pre>
paul@25 224
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