CHEATCODES AND HINTS FOR KNOPPIX V8.

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(last update: 10.01.2021)

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 Knoppix w/ 32bit Kernel
knoppix64 Knoppix w/ 64bit Kernel
knoppix 2 Runlevel 2, Textmode only
knoppix init=/bin/bash Start bash as process 1 instead of init

### Language/Country ###

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

### Hardware/Workarounds ###

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

### Desktop ###

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

### Graphics ###

knoppix screen=1280x1024 Use specified Screen resolution for X
knoppix hsync=95 Use 95 kHz horizontal X refresh rate
knoppix vsync=60 Use 60 Hz vertical refresh rate for X
knoppix xmodule=fbdev|vesa|svga Use specified Xorg-Module (1)
knoppix xmodule=nouveau|radeon Use specified Xorg-Module (2)
knoppix xmodule=intel|vmware|s3 Use specified Xorg-Module (3)
knoppix norandr 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 mkimage Create persistent image as needed
knoppix noimage Ignore persistent image or partition
knoppix image Use persistent image even in VM

### 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.

Starting from version 8.0, the KNOPPIX iso files are hybrid images that
can not only be burned on CD/DVD, bit also directly copied bitwise (use
dd or diskimager) to flash or harddisks in order to create a bootable
medium. However, because of the used iso9660 file system, the first
partition will remain read-only, so files like the boot options list
cannot be changed easily. The KNOPPIX flash installer "flash-knoppix"
can be used in order to create a USB flash pen with fully writable
partitions, like before.

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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".