Knoppix Documentation Wiki - User contributions [en]

Knoppix Remastering Howto

2008-03-27T20:53:01Z

91.196.55.166:

This is a guide that will show you how to remaster KNOPPIX. (Note: commands should appear on one line, so please maximize the window. If you have any comments/suggestions please post below.)

You may wish to start from an already customized Knoppix, so you don't have to do as much work (such as removing programs). If so, see [[Knoppix Customizations]].

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=System Requirements=
*CD-ISO
** at least 1 GB of FREE RAM+Swap total (e.g. 256M ram, and 750M swap AVAILABLE) (unless you use a different compression program - look in this page for compressloop)
** 3 GB free on a '''Linux filesystem (ext2/3, xfs, etc.)''' formatted disk partition
*DVD-ISO
** 5 GB free RAM + swap (for fullsized DVD)
** 15 GB free on a '''Linux filesystem (ext2/3, xfs, etc.)''' formatted disk partition

=Instructions=
==Setting up for Remastering==
# Boot from the ''Knoppix CD''
# Open a root shell:
#* Menu: Kmenu->Knoppix->Root Shell
#* Note: All commands below are run from this root shell.
# Configure your Internet connection (we'll need this later). If you use DHCP, it should already be configured.
#* Note: Run '''ifconfig''' to check.
# Find the partition you will use to work on. In this example it is called '''hda1''' . The partition should have a minimum of 3 GB free space
# Mount the partition:
#*<pre>mount -rw /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1</pre>
#* Note: Make sure that it is read/write or you will get errors when you later chroot. To check: run '''mount'''
# Create a root directory to work in -- if you put all your files here it will be easy to clean up
#* <pre>mkdir /mnt/hda1/knx</pre>
# If you don't have 1 GB RAM ( '''egrep "(MemTotal|SwapTotal)" /proc/meminfo && echo "(physical+swap)"''' ) then you will need a swapfile:
#* <pre>cd /mnt/hda1/knx</pre>
#* <pre>dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1M count=750</pre>
#* <pre>mkswap swapfile</pre>
#* <pre>swapon swapfile</pre>
# Make 2 directories, one for your new Master CD, one for the source, on a disk partition. Also, make additional directories under these named KNOPPIX:
#* <pre>mkdir -p /mnt/hda1/knx/master/KNOPPIX</pre>
#* <pre>mkdir -p /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX</pre>
# Now, copy the KNOPPIX files to your source directory :
#* <pre><nowiki>cp -Rp /KNOPPIX/* /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX</nowiki></pre>
#* Note: This will take a long time (you are copying 2GB). Warning: you will be tempted to replace this copy command with a much faster procedure: create an empty directory, then use unionfs to merge the empty directory with /KNOPPIX in order to create the read-write copy. However, as of Knoppix 4.0.2, there is a bug in unionfs that causes this faster procedure to fail. For now, stick with the copy-command shown above.
# Additionally, copy the 'boot' folder from your cdrom - you'll need these files to build the ISO later.
#* <pre><nowiki>cp -ar /cdrom/boot /mnt/hda1/knx/master/boot</nowiki></pre>
# For Knoppix 5.0.1 you also have to copy the 'modules' folder:
#* <pre><nowiki>cp -ar /cdrom/KNOPPIX/modules /mnt/hda1/knx/master/KNOPPIX/.</nowiki></pre>
# Copy the main HTML page for the startup page:
#* <pre><nowiki>cp /cdrom/index.html /mnt/hda1/knx/master/</nowiki></pre>
# Copy everything necessary files except the ~700 Mb KNOPPIX file.
#* < 3.4:
#** <pre><nowiki>cd /cdrom/KNOPPIX && find . -size -10000k -type f -exec cp -p --parents '{}' /mnt/hda1/knx/master/KNOPPIX/ \;</nowiki></pre>
#* >= 3.4:
#** <pre><nowiki>cd /cdrom && find . -size -10000k -type f -exec cp -p --parents '{}' /mnt/hda1/knx/master/ \;</nowiki></pre>
#* for the DVD Version you have to use -size -15000k and copy the KNOPPIX2 folder like this
#** <pre>cp /KNOPPIX2 /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX</pre>
# setup the environment for chroot
#* <pre>mount --bind /dev /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/dev</pre>
#* <pre>mount --bind /proc /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/proc</pre>
#* <pre>mount --bind /sys /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/sys</pre>
# Now you can "chroot" into the copied KNOPPIX:
#* <pre><nowiki>chroot /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX</nowiki></pre>
# If you see errors regarding <tt>/dev/null</tt>, see the [[#Common Problems|common problems]] section
You are now chrooted. "/" is actually "/mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX"

==Working in the Chroot Environment==
Remember that anything you do or create in the chrooted environment will get burned to the CD. If you make any changes (e.g,. to the APT configuration, proxy settings, etc.), make a note to back the changes out before remastering.
===Internet Access===
To use the Internet you need to edit <tt>/etc/resolv.conf</tt> to add your nameserver or exit the chroot and copy the outer <tt>resolv.conf</tt> into the chroot folder:
cp /etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/etc/dhcpc/resolv.conf
(proxies (a.k.a. doing it at work): you can type "export http_proxy=http://your.proxy.com:<port>") 
To check your chrooted internet connection,
ping google.com
(if ICMP is barred at some corporate firewall or something then try "lynx http://www.google.com" and see if you get the page -after a cookie "allow")

===SMB access===
Also change smb.conf to your MS group if you want smbd support (MSHOME is XP Home ed. usually, and WORKGROUP is 9x Windows)
===APT===
Update your package list with '''apt-get update'''.
<blockquote>Note: If ''''apt-get update''' fails with "FATAL -> Could not set non-blocking flag Bad file descriptor", you need to make sure your chrooted environment is mounted without the "nodev" option. (see above where it talks about the /dev/null errors when entering the chroot environment for the first time)</blockquote>
<blockquote>'''Warning''': apt-get upgrade is a ''BAD IDEA''. It will, quite probably, render your KNOPPIX remaster unbootable, or broken in some way. A far safer method is to only upgrade packages as necessary.</blockquote>

'''Note: If apt-get fails with "Dynamic NMap ran out of room" ''' you might try this little gem, which fixed the problem for me:
#echo 'APT::Cache-Limit "25168524";'>> /etc/apt/apt.conf
(I did this while chrooted as described above.)

Before you can add stuff, you will probably need to remove some packages. To get a list of packages installed, type this:
dpkg-query -l
If you are looking for big installed packages then the command
dpkg-awk "Status: .* installed$" -- Package Installed-Size | \
awk '{print $2}' | egrep -v '^$' | xargs -n2 echo | \
perl -pe 's/(\S+)\s(\S+)/$2 $1/' | sort -rg
will list the packages with size in descending order.

At least ten times faster is the command
dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Installed-Size} ${Package}\n' | sort -n
and you don't need dpkg-awk or awk or perl; however it does not exclude packages that are not installed. If you have trouble with the above sort command, try using KPackage, expanded all the trees and sorted by the size column to find big packages.

Or, you could use this command to get the qpkg-query speed with the non-installed packages not listed:
dpkg-query -W --showformat='${Installed-Size} ${Package} ${Status}\n' | grep -v deinstall | sort -n | awk '{print $1" "$2}'
It does the same thing as above, I assume. I couldn't get the first one to work because I don't have dpkg-awk.

To remove a package (and all packages dependant on it), type this:
apt-get remove --purge ''name-of-package-to-remove''
To check for orphaned packages, type this:
deborphan
Want to save more space by getting rid of those pesky orphans (how cruel!), type this ('''Warning''', you won't be prompted yes/no to remove these packages. When you press Enter after this command, those packages ''will be gone''):
deborphan | xargs apt-get -y remove
If you're uncertain about the previous command and want to see what will happen without making any changes, just add the '''-s''' option to the apt-get command like this (you can do this with all of the apt-get commands, and it's a good habit to use this option before mass operations like this one):
deborphan | xargs apt-get -s -y remove
Now the good stuff. If you wish to add a package, type this:
apt-get install '''name-of-package-to-install''
What, don't know what packages to install? Type this. When the list appears, you can peruse (over 13k lines!) or search for things using <tt>/''search-term''</tt>:
apt-cache search .* | sort | less
When you're done removing and adding packages, a good way to clean up is by typing this
COLUMNS=200 dpkg -l |grep ^rc |awk '{print $2} ' | xargs dpkg -P
Also, because the Debian package system keeps a cache of downloaded packages, you may want to run the following to clear out those spare files:
apt-get clean

===User Settings===
User settings are in /etc/skel. This directory will be copied to make new user home directories.
<blockquote>tip: don't put files in /root they will be only available (at runtime) in /KNOPPIX/root</blockquote>

Note that the default user 'knoppix' is not created by adduser(1), thus /etc/skel is not copied completely but rather selectively. That is, to make a file .xyrc appear in /home/knoppix, it is not sufficient to place it in /etc/skel. One possibility is to extend the code in /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession which is responsible for filling /home/knoppix.

===Autorunning Programs===
When you want to autorun some programs, one can create a script and put it in the directory <tt>/etc/rc5.d/</tt> (This only loads items before X loads). Read up on the SysV init process for more possibilities.

''For X-programs consider <tt>/home/knoppix/.kde/Autostart</tt> but this may transfer form <tt>/etc/skel/.kde/Autostart</tt> on boot''--[[User:12.106.237.2|12.106.237.2]] 18:08, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

==Editing the KNOPPIX auto-configuration script==
You can find a lot of interesting information about how KNOPPIX auto-configures you system by looking in the /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig script. Of particular note are the following.

===Changing the default KDE background image===
The auto-configuration script sets the default KDE background image to be an image from the CD-ROM. An image that you can easily change when you are remastering KNOPPIX.
** In KNOPPIX 3.3 and below it is /cdrom/KNOPPIX/background.gif
** In KNOPPIX 3.4 and above it is /cdrom/KNOPPIX/background.jpg

===Editing floppy and CD-ROM use or adding a custom script===
The auto-configuration script sets up both your CD-ROM and your floppy disk. The commands for doing this are 'floppyconfig' and 'cdromconfig', respectively. The auto-configuration script will also run cdrom/KNOPPIX/knoppix.sh, which is an easy script to change when remastering KNOPPIX.

===Changing the default boot parameters===
All boot parameters obtain default values from the /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig script. This is one massive BASH script (you best know your BASH to play with this), but it is the place that you can edit any of the default boot parameters. For example, to switch from 'kde' to 'twm' as default desktop just search for the place where 'kde' is provided as default value (variable DESKTOP, IIRC). Another example would be changing the default language.

Note, if you are interested in changing the default language KDE uses, the easiest thing to do is to load KDE, instructions are below, and use the KDE configuration utility to select your language of interest.

==X Session Configuration==
When working with X-based programs you will have to make sure that your display is set appropriately. You can do this manually when remastering KNOPPIX. Also, two scripts related to X Session is where you can change or disable the startup and shutdown sounds.

===Starting X-based programs===
When testing X-based programs, you will have to
export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0
which will allow you to connect to your normal X session. Alternately (if you need to test window managers), you can create a nested X session. Outside of the chroot, run
Xnest -ac :1
Within the chroot, set your DISPLAY variable
export DISPLAY=localhost:1

Interesting stuff in /etc/init.d/xsession :
* it ALSO sets background as /usr/local/lib/knoppix.gif

===Modifying/Disabling the startup sound===
The startup sound is played by /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession. You can disable it by commenting out the following lines.
<pre><nowiki>playsound(){
# Play sound if soundcore module present (checking /dev/sndstat is unreliable)
# OGGPLAY=/usr/bin/ogg123
# PLAY=/usr/bin/wavp
# [ -x "$PLAY" ] || PLAY=/usr/bin/play-sample
# [ -x "$PLAY" ] || PLAY=/usr/bin/play
# if [ -x "$OGGPLAY" -a -f /usr/share/sounds/startup.ogg ]; then
# case "$(lsmod)" in *sound*) { $OGGPLAY -q -p 64 /usr/share/sounds/startup.ogg >/
# elif [ -f /usr/share/sounds/startup.wav -a -x "$PLAY" ]; then
# case "$(lsmod)" in *sound*) { $PLAY /usr/share/sounds/startup.wav >/dev/null 2>&
# fi
}</nowiki></pre>

===Modifying/Disabling the shutdown sound===
The shutdown sound is played by /etc/init.d/xsession. You can disable it by commenting out lines 210-220 from the script.
<pre><nowiki>## Play informational sound if soundcore module present
## (checking /dev/sndstat is unreliable)
#OGGPLAY=/usr/bin/ogg123
#PLAY=/usr/bin/wavp
#[ -x "$PLAY" ] || PLAY=/usr/bin/play-sample
#[ -x "$PLAY" ] || PLAY=/usr/bin/play
#if [ -x "$OGGPLAY" -a -f /usr/share/sounds/shutdown.ogg ]; then
#case "$(</proc/modules)" in *sound*|*snd_*) { $OGGPLAY -q -p 64 /usr/share/sound
#elif [ -f /usr/share/sounds/shutdown.wav -a -x "$PLAY" ]; then
#case "$(</proc/modules)" in *sound*|*snd_*) { $PLAY /usr/share/sounds/shutdown.w
#fi</nowiki></pre>

===Change default window manager===

Open /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig and look for lines which look like these:
<pre><nowiki>
# Allow only supported windowmanagers
# Actually, this check is useless because it's done again in 45xsession. -KK
# case "$DESKTOP" in gnome|enlightenment|kde|larswm|xfce|xfce4|lg3d|ratpoison|blackbox|openbox|windowmaker|wmaker|icewm|fluxbox|twm|nx|rdp|kiosk) ;; *) DESKTOP="kde"; ;; esac
[ -n "$DESKTOP" ] || DESKTOP="kde"
</nowiki></pre>

Then, change "kde" in the last quoted line to whatever you like, for example to "fluxbox" or "twm".

==Changing the boot graphic, boot message, and startup script text==
While you are in the chroot environment you can easily change the boot messages, the boot graphic, and the default KDE background graphic.

===Changing the boot graphic===
The 'boot graphic' is the first image you see when the CD or DVD boots. It looks similar to ASCII art and it is normally something flashy that says 'Knoppix'. You can change this to be any graphic that you please, but you must use a 640x400 graphic that has only 16 colors.

#Change to the /mnt/hda1/knx/master/boot directory. Swap '/mnt/hda1/' for whatever disk you are using.
#* <pre><nowiki>cd /mnt/hda1/knx/master/boot/isolinux</nowiki></pre>
#Back up your old logo in case you break things.
#* <pre><nowiki>mv logo.16 logo.16.backup</nowiki></pre>
#Make a 640x400 pixel 16 color graphic and save it as a GIF, e.g. 'logo.16.gif'. GIMP can easily do this. Note, you can use a graphic that originally had more than 16 colors, but it is critical that you conver the graphic to 16 colors before doing the next step.
#Convert the GIF to lss16 using the tools included on the Knoppix CD.
#* <pre><nowiki>giftopnm < 640x400x16.gif > logo.ppm
ppmtolss16 <logo.ppm > logo.16</nowiki></pre>

===Changing the boot message===
The 'boot message' is the message that you see under the 'boot graphic' on the initial screen when the Knoppix CD or DVD loads. It normally says something along the lines of Knoppix with the version number and includes a link to the Knoppix website. You can change this text to be whatever you please, but you shouldn't add too much text or it will make the boot screen look funny. Restricting yourself to a single line of text that is no larger than the default one is a good idea.

#Change to the /mnt/hda1/knx/master/boot directory. Swap '/mnt/hda1/' for whatever disk you are using.
#* <pre><nowiki>cd /mnt/hda1/knx/master/boot</nowiki></pre>
#Back up your old message in case you break things.
#* <pre><nowiki>cp boot.msg boot.msg.backup</nowiki></pre>
#Edit the message with a text editor. You'll see at the top of the message that it shows the graphic. Don't change this text, just the line under.
#* <pre><nowiki>vi boot.msg</nowiki></pre>

===Changing the startup script text===
The 'startup script text' is the text that you see after the initial boot screen, while Knoppix loads and configures your system. You can change as much of this text as you please. You can even add addition lines to the script; however, it is recommended that you don't play with this file. Limiting yourself to editing the 'Welcome to KNOPPIX' message is a good idea.

#Change to the /mnt/hda1/knx/master/boot directory. Swap '/mnt/hda1/' for whatever disk you are using.
#* <pre><nowiki>cd /mnt/hda1/knx/master/boot/isolinux</nowiki></pre>
#Back up your old minirt.gz in case you break things.
#* <pre><nowiki>cp minirt.gz minirt.gz.backup</nowiki></pre>
#Uncompress minirt.gz
#* <pre><nowiki>gunzip minirt.gz</nowiki></pre>
#Make a temporary directory to mount the minirt filesystem.
#* <pre><nowiki>mkdir todelete</nowiki></pre>
#Mount the minirt filesystem as an ext2 filesystem.
#* <pre><nowiki>mount minirt todelete -t ext2 -o=/dev/loop0</nowiki></pre>
#::or if the above does not work use
#* <pre><nowiki>mount minirt todelete -t ext2 -o loop</nowiki></pre>
#Edit the linuxrc script to display the message you want. You'll find the default message approximately 2 pages down and it'll be using several colors, i.e. ${WHITE}, ${RED}, etc., so it might be slightly tricky to spot.
#* <pre><nowiki>vi todelete/linuxrc</nowiki></pre>
#unmount the minirt filesystem.
#* <pre><nowiki>umount todelete</nowiki></pre>
#Compress the minirt filesystem.
#* <pre><nowiki>gzip -9 minirt</nowiki></pre>
#Remove your temporary directory.
#* <pre><nowiki>rmdir todelete</nowiki></pre>

==Launching KDE to Change Menus, Icons, etc.==
While you are in the chroot environment you can load KDE and use the configuration tools to change buttons, icons, etc. Once you are finished you can exit KDE and copy /home/knoppix to /etc/skel to keep these changes. To load KDE do the following.

#If you are not at runlevel 2 (i.e. if you are already in KDE), switch to runlevel 2.
#* <pre><nowiki>init 2</nowiki></pre>
#Copy /etc/skel to /home/knoppix
#* <pre><nowiki>cp -Rp /etc/skel /home/knoppix</nowiki></pre>
#Change permissions to the user 'knoppix'
#* <pre><nowiki>chown knoppix:knoppix -R /home/knoppix</nowiki></pre>
#Copy over your X11 configuration to the chroot'd environment (press ctrl+alt+F2 to switch to a non-chroot'd terminal, then ctrl+alt+F1 to switch back when done)
#* <pre><nowiki>cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/etc/X11</nowiki></pre>
#*<blockquote>'' Knoppix 3.7: I think it's XF86Config-4 rather than xorg.conf.''</blockquote>
#(Optional)Switch to user 'knoppix'. If you want to uninstall packages, stay as root -- e.g. skip this step. If you want to configure the buttons, icons, background, etc., that you see when KDE boots, be sure to do this step.
#* <pre><nowiki>su knoppix</nowiki></pre>
##Launch KDE
##* <pre><nowiki>startx</nowiki></pre>
##Do your KDE changes
##Exit KDE
##Exit su and switch back to user 'root'.
##* <pre><nowiki>exit</nowiki></pre>
#Copy /home/knoppix back to /etc/skel to keep the changes
#* <pre><nowiki> mv /etc/skel /etc/skel-old</nowiki></pre>
#* <pre><nowiki>mv /home/knoppix /etc/skel</nowiki></pre>
#Set the owner back to root
#* <pre><nowiki>chown root:root -R /etc/skel</nowiki></pre>
#Remove the xorg.conf file
#* <pre><nowiki>rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf</nowiki></pre>
#If you find that some of your settings are not persistent after booting the new image, check the initialization file at /etc/X11/Xsession.d/45xsession. By default, Knoppix does '''not''' simply copy over all files from /etc/skel. You may need to make modifications here if you wish to do something different.

===Changing the ksplash KDE graphics===
You can change the graphics that KDE shows via ksplash when it first loads. These graphics are in the /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/usr/share/apps/ksplash/Themes/Default/ directory. You'll most likely want to swap out splash_top.png for a custom 400x248 PNG graphic. Note that ksplash will not automatically put a border around your graphic. If you'd like a border, you have to manually add it to your graphic.

==Leaving the Chroot==
If you mounted it, you'll need to unmount /proc - very important!
umount /proc
Press '''CTRL+D''' to leave being chrooted.

==Re-Entering the chroot==
If you've left the chroot, but you want to go back in and modify some things...

Remount the local hard disk (if needed)
<pre>mount -rw /dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1</pre>
Setup the environment for chroot
<pre><nowiki>mount --bind /dev /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/dev
mount --bind /proc /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/proc
mount --bind /sys /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/sys</nowiki></pre>
Now you can "chroot" into the copied KNOPPIX:
<pre><nowiki>chroot /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX</nowiki></pre>

==Remastering the ISO==
We've finished customizing and ready to burn!
First do some cleanup:
* remove any .bash_history files, tmp files, etc.
* back out any changes you don't want burned back to the disc
* make sure you umount /proc /dev /sys or mkisofs will not work properly
* <pre>rm -rf /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/.rr_moved</pre>

===KNOPPIX Compressed Image===
Now we'll make the big <tt>KNOPPIX</tt> file which is an ISO 9660 filesystem compressed for use by the <tt>cloop</tt> driver:
mkisofs -R -U -V "KNOPPIX.net filesystem" -publisher "KNOPPIX www.knoppix.net" \
-hide-rr-moved -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX \
| nice -5 /usr/bin/create_compressed_fs - 65536 > /mnt/hda1/knx/master/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX
the "www.knoppix.net" and "Knoppix.net filesystem" can be changed to what you want to call the file. You will get an error that it doesn't conform to ISO standards -- you can ignore this. Note that, to run <tt>create_compressed_fs</tt>, you'll need to have enough space to store the entire ISO in RAM/swap. Ensure you have at least 800M of free space before starting.

In Knoppix 3.4 the <tt>create_compressed_fs</tt> script has been updated so be sure to use it to obtain the best result. It has a new option '''-b''' (best), which enables the best compression by using different compression schemes and tries to optimize that way, but be careful, because that option is slow (10x slower).

Note: The above didn't work for me using the latest create_compressed_fs. I could create the ISO but it couldn't read the compressed image properly when booting (I/O errors when reading the cloop0 device). I think this was because create_compressed_fs didn't have enough RAM and it was just failing silently. The command below did work though. It uses a file rather than memory for temporary storage:

mkisofs -R -U -V "KNOPPIX.net filesystem" -publisher "KNOPPIX www.knoppix.net" \
-hide-rr-moved -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX \
| nice -5 /usr/bin/create_compressed_fs -B \
65536 -f /mnt/hda1/isotemp - /mnt/hda1/knx/master/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX

------I tried this ,but it report a error,so i think there is some mistake in the command,it may be like follow,tell me if anyone confirm it-------
----------(by zhblue(newsclanATgmail.com))-------

mkisofs -R -U -V "KNOPPIX.net filesystem" -publisher "KNOPPIX www.knoppix.net" \
-hide-rr-moved -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX \
| nice -5 /usr/bin/create_compressed_fs -b \
-f /mnt/hda1/isotemp - 65536 > /mnt/hda1/knx/master/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX

===Live CD ISO===
If all went well, onto making the final CD-ROM Image:
cd /mnt/hda1/knx/master'''
find -type f -not -name md5sums -not -name boot.cat -not -name isolinux.bin \
-exec md5sum '{}' \; > KNOPPIX/md5sums
(this will update the md5 hashes of the files included in the ISO, used for integrity checking) Now to burn the image; for Knoppix <= 3.3:
mkisofs -pad -l -r -J -v -V "KNOPPIX" -b KNOPPIX/boot.img -c KNOPPIX/boot.cat \
-hide-rr-moved -o /mnt/hda1/knx/knoppix.iso /mnt/hda1/knx/master
for Knoppix >= 3.4 or other isolinux based distributions:
mkisofs -pad -l -r -J -v -V "KNOPPIX" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 \
-boot-info-table -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat \
-hide-rr-moved -o /mnt/hda1/knx/knoppix.iso /mnt/hda1/knx/master
(the ISO is stored in <tt>/mnt/hda1/knx/knoppix.iso</tt>)

Burn the ISO using your favorite tools, and you're ready!

==How to add new device driver to KNOPPIX==

Recently in a client project, I added the Digital Persona’s finger print driver to the Knoppix 5.1 distribution as an embedded solution to this project. This is a typical case where both the kernel level driver and the user level drivers and libraries are involved.

Most of the Knoppix books and online documentation have documented about how to keep a persistent storage of user configuration and user data. But those persistent configuration only saves the data in /home and /etc directories. If you have added kernel level drivers and/or other system libraries which are not in above two directories, you have to save the file images as a whole right after the boot. The saved file image can be big and may not what you want as a regular usage model. If you are building a customed Knoppix image for a long term solution, definitely you want to remaster the Knoppix to make the new drives be a permanent part of it.

The Digital Persona’s OneTouch SDK for their finger print scanner driver comes with a kernel level driver source code, plus a set of user level application libraries, as well as a sample test application. The SDK do not have a ready made binary for Debian or Knoppix. So I have to compile it from the source SDK. However, the CD version of Knoppix 5.1 do not even come with the source include header files to compile a kernel level driver. So I have to compile it under the DVD version of the Knoppix 5.1 and copy the compiled binary to the CD version of Knoppix 5.1 to do testing and remastering. The steps I have tried to make it work under Knoppix are as follows:

1. First compile the driver under DVD version of the Knoppix. Change the source code build scripts so that the include files and library path are matching what we have in Knoppix. The details are specific to the OneTouch SDK itself. If you are interested about this detail, write to me.

2. Install the just built kernel driver, the user libraries to their regular location as we will show in following step 4. And then build and run their sample applications per Digital Persona’s instruction. This proves that the basic kernel module build steps are built correctly and the user level libraries are working properly in a standard installation. This is important before we moved to chroot environment to make this changes permanent to our remastered Knoppix.

3. Then I followed the Knoppix remastering instructions documented in the book of “Live Linux CD” by Christoper Negus.

4. In the above remastering instructions, there is a step to update all the Debian packages and other software under the chroot environment. It is at this step that I re-run the drivers installation steps like I have done in above step 2 in the real root environment. In this particular case, it is make a directory and copy the kernel module file mod_usbdpfp.ko to that directory as follows:

mkdir /lib/modules/2.6.19/kernel/drivers/biometric
cp mod_usbdpfp.ko /lib/modules/2.6.19/mod_usbdpfp.ko

And also copy all those Digital Persona user level libraries to following location:

cp libdpfp* /usr/lib

5. I then run /sbin/depmod to let system detects the new kernel mode driver I have installed. This will refresh the /dev directory so it will have entries like:

/dev/usbdpfpPNP
/dev/usbdpfp0

At this time, if all works right, when you run command lsmod, you will also see something like:

mod_usbdpfp

shows up in the loaded module list

6. At this time, you are ready to make a remaster of the Knoppix. Next time when you boot up with this remastered Knoppix, it will have the kernel driver and user level libraries setup ready for you to run the sample applications. Just as if you have done above step 2 and step 4 right after a refresh reboot from the original Knoppix CD.

John Xu, USA. ( johnxu at n2k.net )

=Tips=
I have had good results remastering working from the CD as root working from fluxbox. Just say "knoppix 2" at the boot prompt and it will boot you to a root prompt where you can then say "startx /usr/bin/fluxbox". I like to use the xterm unicode shell.

==Package Management==
While working chroot doing the remastering I like to use
apt-get remove --purge pkg-name
to remove packages because before it does anything it will stop and show details on what it is fixing to remove and let you say "yes or no".

If you don't use the above "apt-get" instructions and have a lot to cleanup and purge, here's the easy way to do it:
COLUMNS=200 dpkg -l |grep ^rc |awk '{print $2} ' > topurge
That will make a list of all removed packages to purge and then you just say
dpkg -P `< topurge `
and you're all done.
COLUMNS=200 dpkg -l |grep ^rc |awk '{print $2} ' | xargs dpkg -P
is a one-line version of this. Also use
deborphan | xargs dpkg -P .

==Alternatives for Low-Memory Machines==
You don't really need 1G swap as there are two new tools to create compressed filesystems. Here are some candidates to make ''compressed'' fs:
* Valentijn's rewrite [http://projects.openoffice.nl/downloads/compressloop/]
* Quozl's port of compressloop for Knoppix 3.4 [http://quozl.linux.org.au/compressloop-1.9-64bit.c]
* Quozl's distributed compressloop (use more than one processor to speed things up) [http://quozl.linux.org.au/knoppix/compressloop/] or [http://quozl.netrek.org/knoppix/compressloop/]
* Justin's patch [http://s.bouncybouncy.net/~justin/code/] (link broken) I also just wrote a distributed cloop compressor(or for smp) It's in that same directory.

==Test CD Image Without Burning a CD==
If you have a spare partition with at least 700MB free space formatted with ext2, ext3 or Vfat, you can use this for test by booting from a floppy disk. A floppy boot will look for a partiton with /KNOPPIX/ in the root, and the compressed image /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX. Instead of using the sub-directory /mnt/hda1/knx/master/KNOPPIX/ as described above, it should be called /mnt/hda2/KNOPPIX/ . The root index.html will then be located at /mnt/hda2/index.html and the compressed image will be at /mnt/hda2/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX . Now you can boot from floppy and use /mnt/hda2 as your image. For further information see [[Hd BasedHowTo]].

If you don't have an extra partition or you don't want to do so much for it, you can use Qemu ( see [http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/] ) with the ISO image like this:
qemu -m 128 -cdrom /temp/knoppix-custom.iso -boot d -net user
You even do not have to build a hard disk image before, just install Qemu and try this. Amazing!

==Test remastered version without creating cloop file/iso==
i use a setup similar to knoppix terminal server to test the remastered files without having to recreate a
cloop image every time: the remastered files live in an ext2 filesytem in a loopfile (knoppix_loop) mounted rw (this is where i chroot in). when i want to test the current setup, i have another machine network boot and use the files from the loopfile directly (needs another miniroot.gz). See [[User:Ml#dev_setup]]

If you want to use only one machine, you'll have to reboot (or use qemu) and use the "loopfile" and "fromhd" cheatcodes (see [[User:Ml#miniroot_changes]]). For example, this is what my grub boot entry looks like:

<pre>
title Remastered Knoppix
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/myknoppix/vmlinuz fromhd=/dev/hda4 loopfile=/samba/share/isos/knoppix_loop lang=us ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init apm=power-off nomce vga=791 quiet BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
initrd /boot/myknoppix/miniroot.gz
</pre>

== Booting Knoppix images with GRUB==
* First copy /boot off the Knoppix cd to your boot partition (or even your dos partition). I named mine boot.knoppix
Copy the master/KNOPPIX directory to your root directory of any hard disk. You may place it somewhere other than the boot partition (ext2/3, reiserfs, vfat are supported).
* for Knoppix <= 3.3, put the following in your /boot/grub/menu.lst:
title KNOPPIX
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot.knoppix/vmlinuz 2 fromhd=/dev/hda4 lang=us
initrd /boot.knoppix/miniroot.gz
* for Knoppix >= 3.4 or other isolinux based distributions:
title KNOPPIX
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot.knoppix/isolinux/linux 2 fromhd=/dev/hda4 lang=us
initrd /boot.knoppix/isolinux/minirt.gz
* notice the fromhd parameter: it's the location of the /KNOPPIX directory
* reboot and have fun.

==Helpful Scripts==
----
This is the recommended directory layout for remastering KNOPPIX:
. (invoke ../remaster from here)
|-- master (invoke ../../[[u]]mountbootimage from here)
| |-- KNOPPIX
| | |-- KNOPPIX (compressed image)
| | |-- boot.img (boot floppy image)
| | `-- (other files snipped)
| `-- index.html
`-- source
`-- KNOPPIX (this directory can be chrooted into)
|-- bin
|-- boot
|-- cdrom
|-- dev
|-- etc
|-- floppy
|-- home
|-- initrd
|-- lib
|-- mnt
|-- none
|-- opt
|-- proc
|-- root
|-- sbin
|-- tmp -> /var/tmp
|-- usr
|-- var
`-- vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs
----
the following script "remaster" will do the remaster process for you. Use as root, or you will end up with wrong access rights in the image.

The script has last been tried out on Debian sid on 2004-04-02.

#!/bin/bash -x
# This script builds a new KNOPPIX ISO image.
# Copyright (C) 2004 by Marc Haber <mh+knoppix-remaster@zugschlus.de>
# License: GPL V2

ROOT="$PWD"
SOURCE="$ROOT/source/KNOPPIX"
MASTER="$ROOT/master"
CLOOPTARGET="$ROOT/master/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX"
TARGET="$ROOT"
EXCLUDELIST="$ROOT/source/excludelist"

rm -rf $SOURCE/.rr_moved

cd $SOURCE
mkisofs -R -U -V "KNOPPIX.net filesystem" \
-P "KNOPPIX www.knoppix.net" \
-hide-rr-moved -cache-inodes -no-bak -pad \
-exclude-list $EXCLUDELIST \
. | nice -5 /usr/bin/create_compressed_fs - 65536 > $CLOOPTARGET

cd $MASTER
rm -f KNOPPIX/md5sums
find -type f -not -name md5sums -not -name boot.cat -exec md5sum {} \; >> KNOPPIX/md5sums
mkisofs -pad -l -r -J -v -V "KNOPPIX" -b KNOPPIX/boot.img \
-c KNOPPIX/boot.cat -hide-rr-moved -o $TARGET/knoppix.iso $MASTER
----
The following script will loop-mount boot floppy image and initrd image for modification. The umount function will build a new initrd image and put it back on the boot floppy image.

The script has last been tried out on Debian sid on 2004-01-13.

#!/bin/bash -x
# This script will loop-mount boot floppy and initrd image
# Copyright (C) 2004 by Marc Haber <mh+knoppix-remaster@zugschlus.de>
# License: GPL V2
unset CDPATH || true

# if not root, re-invoke self as root
if [[ "`id -u`" -ne 0 ]]; then
export LOCUSER="$USER"
export LOCHOME="$HOME"
if [[ "${SHELLOPTS/xtrace/}" != "$SHELLOPTS" ]]; then
sudo bash -x $0 $@
exit $?
else
sudo $0 $@
exit $?
fi
else
LOCUSER="${LOCUSER:-$USER}"
LOCHOME="${LOCHOME:-$HOME}"
fi
set -e

KNOPPIXDIR="KNOPPIX"
BOOTIMGFILE="$KNOPPIXDIR/boot.img"
BOOTIMGFS="vfat"
BOOTIMGDIR="boot.img"
INITRDGZ="$BOOTIMGDIR/miniroot.gz"
INITRDFILE="$KNOPPIXDIR/miniroot"
INITRDFS="ext2"
INITRDDIR="miniroot"

mountbootimage() {
if ! modprobe loop; then
echo >&2 "ERR: cannot load loop module"
exit 1
fi

if ! [[ -e "$BOOTIMGFILE" ]]; then
echo >&2 "ERR: no $BOOTIMGFILE found"
exit 1
fi

for nofile in $BOOTIMGDIR $INITRDGZ $INITRDFILE $INITRDDIR; do
if [[ -e "$nofile" ]]; then
echo >&2 "ERR: $nofile already exists"
exit 1
fi
done

mkdir -p $BOOTIMGDIR
mount -o loop,uid=$LOCUSER -t $BOOTIMGFS $BOOTIMGFILE $BOOTIMGDIR

< $INITRDGZ gunzip > $INITRDFILE
mkdir -p $INITRDDIR
mount -o loop -t $INITRDFS $INITRDFILE $INITRDDIR
}

umountbootimage() {
dd if=/dev/zero of=$INITRDDIR/nullfile || true
sync
rm $INITRDDIR/nullfile
umount $INITRDDIR
rmdir $INITRDDIR
< $INITRDFILE gzip --best > $INITRDGZ
rm -f $INITRDFILE

umount $BOOTIMGDIR
rmdir $BOOTIMGDIR

syslinux KNOPPIX/boot.img
}

case "`basename $0`" in
mountbootimage)
mountbootimage
;;
umountbootimage)
umountbootimage
;;
*)
echo >&2 "ERR: called with unknown name `basename $0`"
exit 1
;;
esac

==Tips around apt-get to install/update/remove applications==
(by gnarvaja)
* If you booted from CD, even on a HD install (example: Pivot Install) instead of copying the original CD and KNOPPIX directory to the HD, you can use them directly from their mount points.
* Another alternative is to mount an ISO image of the original CD as a loop device and mount the KNOPPIX image as a '''cloop''' device. You will save close to 2GB of space. Script to mount from an ISO image:

#!/bin/bash
# Assumes that the current directory is the working space
# original.iso is an image of the CD we will be using as master
mount -t iso9660 original.iso ./oldcd -o ro,loop
# initialize the compressed loop device
losetup /dev/cloop1 ./oldcd/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX
mount -t iso9660 /dev/cloop1 ./KNOPPIX -o ro,loop

* Get '''apt-spy''' and use it to modify the sources.list file with the best mirrors for your particular region. This will speed up the downloading. Backup the original '''sources.list''' just in case.
* Another technique is to modify '''sources.list'''. Replace the string '''.de.''' in the ftp addresses (ftp.de.debian.org) with the code corresponding to your country. Examples: USA -> .us. (ftp.us.debian.org), Brazil -> .br. (ftp.br.debian.org). Check the Debian site for debian.org mirrors in your country.
* Remember to uncomment the '''linuxtag''' ftp addresses to get the latest and greatest from Knoppix
* Use '''apt-get update''' to get the lists with the latest releases and patches. Do not update a package if you don't need to, it may lead to the use of additional disk space (precious commodity when you want to keep everything below 700MB) and you may brake something else without knowing. Abuse the '''-s''' option to simulate the installation.
* Before doing the update, I modified my default releases to '''testing''', that means that the software I'll be using will have a good balance of stability and features. Knoppix uses '''unstable''' by default, which is too risky for my personal taste.
* Get '''[apt-get install] locale''' and configure it with the locales you are going to use. It will save lots of space when downloading applications with plenty of locale modules and localized manual pages.
* I use '''aptitude''' to get/remove applications, it is character based so it works with init 2. As you mark packages for install/update/removal, it will tell you how much disk space you will save/use, try to solve depencies problems and give you plenty control to fix them manually when possible.
* When installing applications it is likely that your '''/etc/rc?.d''' directories will have new entries, many of them unwanted or unplanned. Make sure you check them and remove the new entries based on your preferences. I usually leave '''/etc/rc2.d''' and '''/etc/rc5.d''' as close as the originals as possible and modify '''/etc/rc3.d''' and '''/etc/rc4.d''' to test new stuff. '''Example:''' You may want to have ntfs installed, but not necessarily running by default. Same with apache, mysql and many others.
* When removing/purging applications, they may leave behind non-empty directories. Usually this is announced by aptitude, apt-get or any other installation utilty. Make sure to check the messages and manually remove those directories.
* After you are done, '''aptitude''' may leave some files behind. Here's a clean up script I use:

# !/bin/bash
# Clean package files generated by aptitude
rm /var/log/aptitude
rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*debian*
rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*knoppix*

=Common Problems=
* [[Dev_null_permission_denied|/dev/null: Permission Denied]] Chroot problems accessing device files

* You've <code>startx</code>'d (into whatever window manager you like) and you start a terminal (gnome-terminal, konsole, xterm). Nothing happens (such is the case in fluxbox, and you'll see an error in you <code>~/.xsession-errors</code> file). Or perhaps the error is helpfully displayed: <code>
get_pty: not enough ptys
</code>
I had plenty yesterday... but then I <code>chroot</code>ed so, to solve this, <code>
# NOT in your chroot environment
cd /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/dev
MAKEDEV pty

# enter your chroot environment
chroot /mnt/hda1/knx/source/KNOPPIX/

# and mount /dev/pts
mount -t devpts /dev/pts/ /dev/pts

</code>
it might give that same "fstab not found" error as mounting proc
does. so do what you'd do then, disregard.

start your X up again and try your terminal, should work.
thanks to: technovelty[http://www.technovelty.org/linux/tips/xinchroot.html] for the final enlightenment

=See also=

If my howto is too confusing, or you'd like a second opinion, check out charan's very nice remastering howto: http://gnubox.dyndns.org:8080/~sunil/knoppix.php.
Another Howto is at http://www.stirnimann.com/mystuff/doc/knoppix.txt

There is a wizard, which knows all the unpacking, compressing and CD-recording steps mentioned here. It also shows a shell where you can update the uncompressed KNOPPIX system using debian's standard software installation tools. It is called mmkcdrom and part of the plugscript package: [http://rcswww.urz.tu-dresden.de/~holzhey/plugscript]

Yet another HOWTO, for shell freaks, is at http://quozl.linux.org.au/knoppix/

Be sure to check out the [http://knoppix.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=2 Knoppix Customization Forum] for ideas and help with remastering.

* If you want to add a custom kernel, check out the [[Knoppix Custom Kernel Howto]]
* There also a guide at O'Reilly on the same topic : [http://linux.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/4323 Using and Customizing Knoppix]

=Conclusion=
Thats it. This is an updated version of my previous howto. This is not meant for linux beginners, you will need to know your way around linux to get this to work. I'll update this as corrections/improvements/etc come through.

=Thanks=
Thanks to aay, charan, Tech2k, and #knoppix for some corrections and tips and ideas. Feel free to edit or add to this howto.
Note about swap: 

=Translations=
* German Version: [[Knoppix Remastering Howto Deutsch]]
* Spanish Version: [[Knoppix Remastering Howto Spanish]] en español
* French Version: [[Knoppix Remastering Howto French]]
* Indonesian Version: [[Knoppix Remastering Howto Indonesian]]
* Russian Version: [[Knoppix Remastering Howto Russian]]
* Brazilian Portuguese Version: [[Knoppix Remastering Howto Brazilian Portuguese]]
* Italian Version: [[Knoppix Remastering Howto Italiano]]

[[Category: Remastering Knoppix ]]

Downloading FAQ

2008-03-27T19:49:52Z

91.196.55.166:

This FAQ is comprised of both downloading & burning questions.

*This FAQ translated into other languages. May not be current or in sync with this FAQ
**German version: [[Faq DownloadingDeutsch]]
**Spanish version:[[FAQ_Descargando|Faq Descargando]]
**Indonesian version: [[Indonesian downloading FAQ]]
----
Return to [[Knoppix FAQ]]
----
:Tip: Use CD-RWs instead of CD-Rs every time you can - save your budget and our environment!

====Q: Which version is the newest and which should I download?====

A: As of January 2007 the current release is 5.1.1. Versions sometimes change frequently, but the newest official versions should always be on the official BitTorrent Tracker. They usually show up shortly after on most of the mirrors also, but some mirrors may take a week or more to update. Sometimes unofficial releases also come out, recently these have been copies of versions of Knoppix released for magazines or trade shows. Use these unofficial versions at your own risk.

Official versions of Knoppix will have both a version number and a release date in their name. Some versions of Knoppix (for example 3.1 and 3.3) had several releases with different dates for minor bug fixes but did not change the version number, so checking the release date may be important. Recent versions of Knoppix starting with Knoppix 4 will have either CD or DVD in their name, indicating the size of the distribution and the intended media for writing the ISO. [http://www.trypop.com CD] distributions have less software than the DVD release, but the CD version is still very extensive and can be booted on more systems than the DVD version. The CD version is prefered by many users who wish to carry a Live CD and be able to use it on almost any system that they try to boot it on. The file names (before the ISO extension) will end in either DE or EN. The DE version will by default boot into German. The EN version will default to booting into English.

The official torrent site will usually also contain at least one older version of Knoppix and one or more versions of Games Knoppix, a version of Knoppix loaded with games, sometimes called GK. Most mirrors also contain one older version of Knoppix but might not contain Games Knoppix.

There is currently no known website that offers all old released versions of Knoppix.

====Q: How do I get the CD/current beta?====

A: Several possibilities:

* Download with [[Bittorrent]] from [http://torrent.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/ The Unix-AG BitTorrent Tracker]. Get BitTorrent (if you need it) from http://www.bittorrent.com/. Be sure you set up your firewall setting properly. Properly configured BitTorrent will usually download Knoppix much faster than getting it from the mirrors. [http://guides.radified.com/magoo/guides/bittorrent/bittorrent_01.html "Magoo's Complete Guide to BitTorrent and BitTornado"] will help you configure it & get it working. BitTorrent is by far the fastest and most reliable way to download the ISO. See this thread for one discussion of that: http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25708

* Download from one of the mirrors listed at [http://www.knoppix.net/get.php The Knoppix Download Page]. Try to choose the mirror nearest you for best results.
When downloading from a mirror, be sure to also get the matching md5 file. When downloading with BitTorrent you get a set of all related files in one download.
** If you download the ISO image file from a mirror, then also download the [http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Downloading_FAQ#Q:_What_are_these_strange_MD5_files_that_accompany_the_ISO_CD_images.3F accompanying MD5 file] too. If you download by BitTorrent then you will also get an md5 file automatically, although BitTorrent has it's own checks and the md5 is only a second recheck of a good download.

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* Order a CD. If a 700Mb download is too much for your bandwidth capabilities, you can order the newest CD from a retailer on [http://knoppix.net/get.php The Knoppix Order Page]

====Q: Can you download Knoppix in parts if you have a low bandwith (28.8 Kbps) such a pausing the download and continue it another day?====

A: Yes, [[Bittorrent]] supports resume, and so do many ftp clients such as wget ( use wget -c ) or ncftp.
You can use other [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/download download managers] too.

====Q: I can't write to my hard disk while running Knoppix from cd. How can I save the .iso file?====

A: Try downloading to a 1gb (or larger) USB jumpdrive.

====Q: What are these strange MD5 files that accompany the ISO CD images?====

A: The files with the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD5 .md5] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-1 .sha1] extensions contain checksums for the actual CD [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/iso ISO images]. A checksum is a way of fingerprinting files. Just like a real fingerprint identifies a single person, a checksum is unique and matches exactly one file. It is used to verify that the file downloaded matches the original all the way down to the smallest details. In the case of downloading a Knoppix ISO image, the MD5 and SHA1 checksums are used in order to verify that the file downloaded is perfect and not corrupt.

Many file corruption problems have been observed when downloading from the mirrors. It is very important to check the md5 checksum if you use a mirror rather than BitTorrent.

This discussion is about a separate md5 file that you can download from the mirror that you got the Knoppix ISO from, or that comes down as an individual file in the package of files that you get in the package when you download with BitTorrent. '''DO NOT extract any md5 file from inside the ISO.''' The ISO does contain an MD5 file that is used by the testCD command, but this is not the file that is discussed here and should not be used to test the ISO download.

When you download both the ISO image for the CD, you also must download it's corresponding .md5 file. The .md5 file is a plain-text file and can be viewed in a text editor or web browser.

*'''When downloading and running under Windows''', you can check the md5 checksum with your choice of many programs, several of which are listed below. Please note that the methods to check the ISO file & verify the checksum will vary between programs.
** [http://www.nullriver.com/index/products/winmd5sum winMD5Sum]
** [http://md5summer.org/download.html MD5summer]
** [http://www.toast442.org/md5gui.shtml Graphical MD5Sum]
** [http://www.quickpar.org.uk/ QuickPar]
** [http://www.slavasoft.com/hashcalc/ SlavaSoft HashCalc]
** [http://www.line6.com/software/?hardware=All&name=MD5+Checksum+Utility&os=All&submit=Show%3A Line 6 MD5 Checksum Utility] - Very simple account creation required for download.

*'''When running under an already booting copy of Linux''' you can verify that your download was perfect and that the ISO's contents are unchanged by typing "md5sum -c filename.md5" at a Linux shell prompt (command prompt). Knoppix includes the program md5sum, with some versions of Linux you may need to install it. Note that this is a command for use in already working Linux systems, it is not a Knoppix cheat code for use at boot time.

*'''Detailed instructions''' for checking an iso file against it's md5 hash from linux (knoppix):
**first download the .iso disk image file and its .iso.md5 (or .iso.md5.txt or .iso.md5.asc) hash file;
**open a shell prompt window, such as ''konsole'' (the blank monitor icon on the panel bar at the bottom of your screen);
***the shell prompt works much like the command prompt in dos/windows. Moreover, the commands ''cd'' (change directory), ''dir'' (list directory contents), ''help'' (list commands), and ''exit'', are essentially the same as in dos;
**change to the directory where you saved the .iso file and .md5 file;
***use "cd /home" if you saved to your home directory, use "cd /media" or "cd /mnt" to change to the mount point for hard drives and flash memory, "dir" will list devices that are mounted here, "cd hda2" will move to the 2nd partition on drive ''a'' (the 1st hd), "cd .." (note the space) will move up one level to the parent directory;
***in linux file and folder names are case sensitive, so "knoppix" is different from "Knoppix" and from "KNOPPIX";
**use the ''md5sum'' command with the ''-c'' option to check the .iso.md5 file hash code against the calculated hash for the .iso file (the response may take a minute or two);
***use "md5sum -c KNOPPIX_xxxxxxxx.iso.md5" (or .iso.md5.asc), to check against the listed .iso file in the same directory, (remember names are case sensitive, and replace "xxxxxxxx" with the version from the file name);
***if the .md5 file contains a list of file names and hashes, you will see "file not found" messages for other files, look for the specific .iso file name that you downloaded for the relavent response (which hopefully is "OK");
**use "exit" to leave the shell prompt, and procede to burn your cd (or to re-download the .iso image file if the md5sum check failed).
*Note that checking the sha1 hash works the same as above: use "sha1sum -c <filename>.iso.sha1", using the .sha1 hash file that you downloaded with the .iso image file.

Further information about MD5 and programs for various OS's can be found at [http://www.fourmilab.ch/md5/ The MD5 Protocol Documentation].

====Q: What are these strange ASC files that accompany the ISO CD images?====

A: Most users can ignore the .asc files. If there is ever an uncertainty as whether or not the ISO image file and it's accompanying MD5 file are originals & untampered, then the .asc files are important. The .asc files are digital signature messages. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signature Digital signatures] are a method of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authentication authenticating] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital digital] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information information] similar to ordinary physical signatures on paper, but implemented using techniques from the field of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography cryptography]. With this you can be sure the ISO image and accompanying MD5 file are genuine, because the .asc file containing the MD5 is signed with Klaus Knopper's PGP key. To verify the file, you need to import PGP key ID 0xBA8F038D from your favorite keyserver, then in Linux you can type "gpg --verify KNOPPIX_Vxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.iso.md5.asc". Then you must check that the MD5 checksum in the .asc file is the same that the MD5 checksum in the .md5 file.

To download the keys, type:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys BA8F038D

If you want to verify the signed md5 file and the ISO file in one step, you can type:
gpg --decrypt KNOPPIX_Vxxxxxxxxxxxx.iso.md5.asc | md5sum -c -

====Q: I downloaded a file but '''it is a ZIP file''', what do I do with it? ====

A: In all likelyhood, you do not have a ZIP file. No offical source is providing the Knoppix files in ZIP format and it is unlikely that unofficial sources are either. From past experience we know that is is most likely that you are allowing Windows to hide file extensions from you and you only think that the ISO is a ZIP file because of an ICON accociated with it. Windows should '''never''' be allowed to hide file extensions. Go to My Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View and turn off the "feature" that hides file extensions (It may be -> View -> rather than -> Tools -> for some versions of Windows).

If you have "extracted" any files from the file that you thought was a zip file, delete them. If you have deleted what you thought was a zip file (the ISO file), you will have to download it again. You '''can not''' put the files you extracted back together and make another ISO, parts will be missing.

====Q: I downloaded a file but '''it is a RAR file''', what do I do with it? ====

A: In all likelyhood, you do not have a RAR file. No offical source is providing the Knoppix files in RAR format and it is unlikely that unofficial sources are either. From past experience we know that it is most likely that you are allowing Windows to hide file extensions from you and you only think that the ISO is a RAR file because of an ICON accociated with it. Windows should '''never''' be allowed to hide file extensions. Go to My Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View and turn off the "feature" that hides file extensions (It may be -> View -> rather than -> Tools -> for some versions of Windows).

If you have "extracted" any files from the file that you thought was a RAR file, delete them. If you have deleted what you thought was a RAR file (the ISO file), you will have to download it again. You '''can not''' put the files you extracted back together and make another ISO, parts will be missing.

====Q: I have downloaded the ISO file. How do I burn the ISO? How is the ISO supposed to be burned? ====

A: First check to see if the ISO that was downloaded is perfect & not corrupt. See the above FAQ labeled [[#Q: What are these strange MD5 files that accompany the ISO CD images?]]. If it passes the MD5 checksum then you must burn the ISO as an image.

If you have a cd-rw (re-writable) drive, you should opt to use cd-rw disks, saving you from wasting disks and allowing flexability. If you have a cd-r (recordable) drive you will need to use cd-r disks. You will need one 700MB/80min blank CD-RW or CDR disk.

*Linux
**You can use the command ''cdrecord'' or the CD burning program K3b (under "multimedia" in the "K[gear] menu).
*Windows
**Quick answer: Use a program such as Nero Burning Rom or Roxio CD Creator. You can get a [http://www.nero.com/en/index.html free trial of Nero from their site]. In most cases you will want to skip the burning wizard and choose ''File -> Burn Image'' or ''File -> Open''. Select the KNOPPIX_Vxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.iso file, then -> Burn.
**Long answer: Of course the answer depends on the individual program you are using to burn CDs, but all common CD-Writing programs should support the option of burning the ISO as an image, you probably just have to find the right menu option. In the burning program, do not drag & drop the ISO into the burning screen. In the windows explorer, do not attempt to decompress the ISO with something like WinRAR or WinZip. You must ''CHOOSE'' to burn it as an image. Do not burn it at a fast speed greater than 16X. You must burn it at a very slow speed preferably 4X or 8X. Burn your CDR as a '''"Single Session CD" or select finalize'''. The Mode '''"Disk at once"''' or '''"Track at once"''' should not matter (have a look at the Online-Help of your burning software).
* Windows XP/2003 only
** Install the [http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm ISO Recorder] plug-in for Windows Explorer. Once installed you merely right-click on the ISO image and choose "Copy image to CD".

A common mistake made when burning ISOs: ''"I downloaded & burned the ISO to CDR as a bootable data disc. Now it boots to a A:\ Caldera DR-DOS prompt."''
You are probably seeing something like:
Caldera DR-DOS 7.03
Copyright (c) 1976, 1998 Caldera, Inc. All rights reserved.
[DR-DOS] A:\]
This means that the ISO was burned as a bootable CD or bootable data disc. A Knoppix ISO already includes the boot instructions so it is not necessary to burn it as as a bootable data CD. Burning the ISO file as an image will automatically take care of the bootable details.

It is also possible to burn a bootable Knoppix CD using a Mac. After you have downloaded and verified the .iso file, open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder. Choose Burn from the Images menu and select the .iso. The resulting disk will be bootable on most PCs, the same as if you had used another iso-burning tools.

*Guides and Tutorials
**[http://www.rocketfodder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/MySite/Burning_Linux_Live_CD%27s_With_Nero_page1.htm A Newbie's guide to Burning Knoppix with Nero Express.]
**[http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/e-smith/docs/howto/CD_burning_howto.html How to burn an ISO image.]
*Quick walkthrough example burn Nero Ultra Edition 6.3.1.25 (not Express.)
**I run it and it automatically starts a "New Compilation" wizard. I immediately click Cancel. Then I go to the File menu and choose Open (or I could just use the keyboard shortcut of CTRL-O). In the Open file dialog box, I change the Files of type from "All Nero compilations and Images" to "Image Files (*.nrg;*.iso;*.cue)". Then I go find the Knoppix ISO file and double-click it to select it. It then brings up the "Burn Compilation" dialog box. I choose a write speed of 4x or 8x. I check-mark the "Finalize CD (No further writing possbile!)". I personally choose the write method of "Disk-at-once" but I know that "Track-at-once" also works. When I am ready, I click on the "Burn" button and Nero will burn the Knoppix ISO to the CDR.

====Q: How do I burn an ISO to a CD using NERO? ====
A: There are different answers for different versions of Nero.

For '''Nero 5''', start the program. You can just hit CANCEL at the wizard menu to get to the main window. Ues the FILE option in the menu near the top of the screen and select the '''Burn Image ...''' option in the sub-menu. Find the ISO that you downloaded in the file open box that pops up. Burn at a slow speed. Do not drag and drop the ISO into the file area. Do not take any option to make the CD bootable.

For '''Nero 6, full version''': The Burn Image ... option in version 6 is gone. Use one of the following: Get to the main menu and then use the Open .... choice under the FILE menu, or under RECORDER in the top menu you will find that Burn Image ... has been moved to this menu. In either case use the box that opens to find the ISO file that you downloaded. Burn at a slow speed. Do not drag and drop the ISO into the file area. Do not take any option to make the CD bootable. When burning with Nero 6, be sure that the option that does a verification check after the burn is enabled (This is true for any software that has this feature, not only Nero 6).

For '''Nero Smart Start''': If you are stuck with this version of Nero, start the application. Point to the 5th icon across the top (the one that shows 2 CDs over a box-like thing). Choose Burn Image to Disc from the menu that changes below the icons. Find the ISO that you downloaded. Burn slowly.

For '''Nero Express 6''': Under the question "What would you like to burn?", pick the last option, Disc Image or Saved Projects. Use the box that opens to find the ISO file that you downloaded. Burn at a slow speed.

I you do not have a copy of Nero you can download a limited time trial version from [http://ww2.nero.com/enu/Demo_Versions.html Ahead Software]. This should give you plenty of time to burn your first Knoppix CD. After the trial expires, if you do not choose to buy Nero you can use Knoppix itself to burn future ISO files.

==== Q: How do I burn an image on to a CD using B's Recorder Gold from BHA? ====
A: Close the Wizard dialog if it pops up when you start the application. Drag the KNOPPIX-'''*'''.iso file to the lower RIGHT region of the app window. It is shaded in yellow and has the title "Track Type"(The icon with a musical note and a folder will be seen in the middle panel). Right click the left region where it says ")1 DATA -mode1 and from the popup menu choose properties. Choose "ISO compatible" and "create from standard bootable disk image" in the two selection boxes. Then press the record button (Upper left), pick your options, and Voila - one KNOPPIX bootable CD is yours.

==== Q: How do I burn an ISO to a CD using NTI CD-Maker from Brouderbund? ====
A: Start NTI. Tell it you want to make a data CD. From the FILE menu near the top of the window, select the sub-menu option "Create Disc from ISO Disc Image File ..." and find the ISO file in the resulting search box that opens. Burn at a slow speed. '''Do NOT''' Drag and Drop the ISO into the file area.

==== Q: How do I burn an ISO with the Microsoft burning software that comes with XP? ====
A: Burning an ISO is not supported in the Microsoft software. Many OEM that package XP with a computer also include other burning software that will burn an ISO. There are third party free and trial version programs that will burn an ISO file under XP that you can download. For example, [http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm ISO Recorder] is a plug-in for Windows XP that will enable burning an ISO image. A free trial version of Nero is available from [http://ww2.nero.com/enu/Demo_Versions.html Ahead Software].

==== Q: How do I burn the .iso.md5, the .iso.md5.asc the .iso.sha1, the .iso.sha1.asc, and the MD5SUM files to the disc? ====
A: These files are not intended to be burnt to the disc, they are only provided to let you verify that the download that you received is good. If you have not yet checked the md5 checksum as described above then you are not ready to burn the disc. If the md5 has been verified and is good then you no longer need these small files. The other files are provided as alternate ways to check the file. If you already use sha1 checksums you can check that way instead of using the md5, here we keep things simple by only focusing on the md5, either test is completely valid and you need not do both.

==== Q: I have a fast access to a Knoppix-mirror. How can I burn with GNU/Linux this ISO file directly to CD-RW? ====

: - mkfifo KNOPPIX.fifo # mkfifo create a fifo file
: - screen ftp mirror ....# screen creates multiple shells in one terminal (handy!) ftp connect to your mirror...
: get KNOPPIX-3.10-EN.iso KNOPPIX.fifo #command to copy inside your ftp-session
: - C-a C-c # screen will make a new shell
: - cdrecord dev=(your burner) speed=4 KNOPPIX.fifo # ftp starts to get data when cdrecord starts to read from fifo
: wait; exit; rm KNOPPIX.fifo; exit
(Attention, use "cdrecord -scanbus" before cdrecord to find the correct device of your cd-writer. If you own SCSI hds, you could lose all data of one hd when you use cdrecord with a wrong dev=(controller,id,partiton) !)

Alternatively:

''This works well and is much simpler:''
wget -O - URL_OF_IMAGE | cdrecord -v speed=4 -eject -

==== Q: What should the resulting disc look like when opened under Windows? ====
A: If you see one ISO file on the CD or DVD then you burnt the disc wrong. You should see an entire file structure on the disc. This may vary somewhat for different versions of Knoppix, but for the 5.0.1 CD version there would be a boot folder with files in it, a Knoppix folder with files in it, several autorun files, a cdrom.ico icon file and an index.html file.

==== Q: What option do I use to make the CD (or DVD) bootable? ====
A: '''None!''' Do not use any option in your burning software to make the CD bootable. Just burn the ISO '''as an image''', this will put all of the proper files on the CD in the proper locations and the resulting CD will be a perfect copy of the original Knoppix CD and will be bootable. If you take any option that makes a bootable CD, you will end up with a CD that does not boot into Linux/Knoppix.

==== Q: My computer won't boot from CD. What should I do? ====

A: Look in your computer's [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS BIOS] (on many computers you need to push the "delete" or F1 key during the POST) to see whether it is set to boot from CD. If this is already set, 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. Other resources are this page which [http://www.rlrouse.com/bios.html explains the PC BIOS] and this page [http://compreviews.about.com/cs/pchardwarebasics/a/aaBIOS_2.htm explains the boot order.]

=====Smart Boot Manager =====
If your BIOS does not support booting from a CD at all, or if it has that feature but doesn't seem to recognize the Knoppix CD as bootable (and you believe that you burnt it properly), there is a tool called Smart Boot Manager. Get the Smart Boot Manager installer, and install SBM to floppy, this should let you boot from any bootable CD. [http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/download.html Download Smart Boot Manager.] If you want to install from windows, download the sbminst.exe and run it from the Command Prompt like :
'''sbminst.exe -d 0''' to install to floppy drive. SBM can also be install to your hard drive's Master Boot Record, so you will not need a floppy at all to boot the CD.

=====XOSL =====
Another really nice boot manager that will let you boot a CD on a system where the BIOS does not support it is [http://www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm XOSL]. XOSL is slightly more work to set up, but it is much more powerful and has a much nicer looking user interface. It uses SBM code internally to boot the CD. XOSL must be installed to hard disk, it will not fit on a floppy. For Linux users it is often best to give XOSL it's own small partition (just a few megs in size).
Both XOSL and SBM will let you select at boot time from multiple Operating Systems stored on your hard disk(s). When using XOLS or SMB that way (with either installed to hard disk), install the Linux boot manager (usually Lilo or Grub) to the Linux partition, not to the MBR.

==== Q: My PC will boot off of the burned disc. It is strange since it loads but then stalls or it loads but is giving me I/O errors. What's going on? ====

A: You possibly only got a partial download or the download was complete, but corrupt. If this is the case, then the ISO image is defective and the CDR burn of Knoppix is also defective. This is because the data in the missing/changed parts cannot be accessed (sometimes one can even "hear" this because of the sound the CD-ROM drive makes due to repeated read attempts). It appears to work because the directory tree is written at the beginning of the CD and can be correctly read. However, reading the actual contents of the missing/changed parts is impossible, or in other words, accessing the contents fails. If the ISO image was checked & found to be unchanged and not corrupt, then it is possible that the CDR has been improperly burned or a bad piece of CDR media was used. To rule out the possibility of a bad download or a bad burn, some solutions can be found in the section [http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Downloading_FAQ#Q:_What_are_these_strange_MD5_files_that_accompany_the_ISO_CD_images.3F Q: What are these strange MD5 files that accompany the ISO CD images?] and
[http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Downloading_FAQ#Q:_I_have_downloaded_the_ISO_file._How_do_I_burn_the_ISO.3F_How_is_the_ISO_supposed_to_be_burned.3F Q: I have downloaded the ISO file. How do I burn the ISO? How is the ISO supposed to be burned?].

Problems are often seen booting with discs that have been burnt at a high speed. If you checked the md5 file and know that you have a good download of the ISO, and you have followed the other instructions for burning the CD '''as an image''', then be sure that you burn the CD at a slow speed, either 4x or as slow as your burner will let you go (some new burners and newer burning software seem to refuse to burn slower than 8x). High speed burns may work on some systems but not on others, so saying that you high speed burn will boot on one system does not offer proof that is is a good burn or should be expected to boot on other systems. There are also [http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=78582#78582 reported cases of the CD working but the boot taking much longer that it should for the system to finish booting]. These problems are resolved by a slow speed burn.

If the ISO is good and the burn was done properly and at a slow speed, but Knoppix doesn't seem to be able to boot on your hardware, you may need to use one or more parameters to help Knoppix if it can't determine your hardware configuration on its own. We call these extra parameters "cheat codes" (see the [http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes Cheat Code FAQ] for details). In rare cases you may have an optical drive hardware problem (sometimes using CDRW media rather than CDR will help work around this), and sometimes the dma "cheat code" can help a optical disc boot properly (or the nodma "cheat code" for some versions of Knoppix around 3.7). And be sure that you system is up to Knoppix's minimum requirements. A slow and memory starved system will stall when booting and come up very slowly.

==== Q: Must I burn Knoppix on CDRW or CDR to be able to test it? ====

A: When you run another GNU/Linux system, you can copy the content of the Iso-file to your hd and boot it directly from hd. See [[Hd Based HowTo]].

==== Q: Why does my writer/software not accept to write to my 80 minute CD-R? ====

A:Some older writers or older versions of writer software cannot recognise the new playing lengths, because the groove is laid more narrowly. Check with your hardware and software manufacturer to see if these newer media are supported. In most cases, updating the writer software's current firmware (check out the web site of the software manufacturer) will solve these problems.

*http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_firmwares.shtml

==== Q: What to do if I haven't got enough space in the CD to burn Knoppix on it? ====

A: There was previously a response here that said "You can overburn it (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD )". '''That is the wrong answer!''' If the file is correctly downloaded, it will fit on a 700 meg CD (check the md5 sum!!!) It will NOT fit on a 650 meg CD, even with overburn.

There seem to be a lot of people who are confused about the size of the ISO. They either look at the size in bytes and think it will not fit (forgetting that 1 meg is 1024x1024 bytes), or they have done something else wrong like "unpacking" the ISO and then trying to burn it. Most people who report that the ISO will not fit on the CD will never explain back what they did wrong once they resolve the probelm. But the bottom line is that if you properly confirmed the md5 checksum, and saw one good ISO file (not multiple files), then the file will fit on a 700 meg CD if burnt properly.

==== Q:Why do 750 MB fit onto an audio CD but only 650 MB onto a data CD? ====

A: A sector of a CD consists of 2352 bytes. With an audio CD, these are used completely for audio information. With data CDs, an additional fault correction is inserted, and the usable capacity shrinks to 2048 bytes. A 74 minute CD consists of 74x60x75 = 333000 sectors. With 2048 bytes per sector, this gives a usable capacity of around 650.1 MB, with 2352 bytes per sector it gives around 746.6 MB. This therefore also produces a difference in data rates for reading/writing: 172 kbps with audio and 150 kbps for data.

Knoppix needs a 700 meg CD or CDRW to burn the CD. It wil not fit on a 650 meg CD.

==== 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: I can download the CD. Why can't I download the DVD? I don't get the proper size file. ====

A: Since the release of the Knoppix 5.0.1 DVD ISO, some people have expressed surprise about thus, although many of us expected it. There are three common problems:

If you are trying to install the DVD ISO to a FAT32 partition (such as used by Win98), it simply cannot be done. The 5.0.1 DVD ISO (and very likely later DVD ISO files) is larger than the maximum file size that can fit on a FAT partition.

If you are trying to download to a Windows NTFS file system partition or a Linux file system partition that supports files over 4 gig in size, but you still get a bad download there are two more common problems. Both problems would be avoided if you use a current release of BitTorrent and download with BitTorrent rather than use a mirror.

The first problem occurs if you are getting files just under 4 gig in size or extremely short files (around 50 megs for version 5.0.1). In this case the downloading software that you are using is not capable of downloading files larger than 4 gig. One good thing here is if you now have a file just under 4 gig and you try to download with BitTorrent to the same directory, BitTorrent will often detect the file, check it, and download just the missing part (for this to work the downloading utility that you used must not have changed the file name and must not have otherwise modified the file).

The second probelm is corruption from the mirrors that has been seen before. In this case your download file will usually actually be slightly larger than the expected file size.

The bottom line is to always check the md5 checksum before burning and learn to use BitTorrent for a fast and reliable download.

[[Category : FAQ Page]]