$HOME directory (/home/knoppix) is out of disk space

[benopdezolder]

this is a PDI - install (now on 5.3.1, carried over from 3, 4.0.2, 5.0.1) and very usefull (text/web, nothing fancy) for some years

usual problem firefox/iceweasel crawling to a stop or suddenly quitting, needing a reboot.
but since restore session-option not a problem, so I lately discovered a CTRL ALT BACKSPACE to just restart knoppix which worked fine.

2 days ago, I needed a reboot though and suddenly ran into (on the splash screen, first step):

The following installation problem was detected when trying to start KDE
$HOME directory (/home/knoppix) is out of disk space
KDE is unable to start

after clicking OK (which it was not of course) I got:

Couldn't start ksmserver. Check your installation

which led to:

Not enough memory to start kde!
(At least 82 MB required
Using TWM windowmanager instead
etc

a reboot didn't solve it, the Live-CD worked fine.
then using 4.0.2 was OK, everything worked.

then I tried 5.3.1 again and that is up and running now, but because I don't know what will happen when iceweasel crawls to a stop or suddenly quits again and a restart/reboot wil be necessary I quickly searched/scanned for an answer on how to solve this (as a relative newcomer).
since I didn't find anything usefull yet, I opened this new topic.

when I look at the size of /home now, it has only 1% free (6 MB out of 484.2 MB) which is very ominous.


I hope this is enough info for some helpfull tips/solutions?

1000 thx in advance

[Clinton]

I'm sorry I don't have your answer but are either of these threads of any help? 1 (http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3017) | 2 (http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16817)

[benopdezolder]

I'm sorry I don't have your answer but are either of these threads of any help? 1 (http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3017) | 2 (http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16817)

thx for the reply, but .... as far as I can tell the solution isn't there.
(btw iceweasel quit, I left knoppix running and could restore the session this time around).

questions remain:
why did it take a couple of years (and various versions) for this to become a (big) problem ??
is there a way to directly and permanently influence/increase the size of /home ??


PS have 2 GB of memory (knoppix sets the ramdisk, as far as I recollect I would say it takes roughly 80-90%) and HD free space is not a problem either.
so, if relevant, what sizes should the ramdisk, .img and .swp be (if relevant to this problem) ??

[Cuddles]

...

questions remain:
why did it take a couple of years (and various versions) for this to become a (big) problem ??
is there a way to directly and permanently influence/increase the size of /home ??


PS have 2 GB of memory (knoppix sets the ramdisk, as far as I recollect I would say it takes roughly 80-90%) and HD free space is not a problem either.
so, if relevant, what sizes should the ramdisk, .img and .swp be (if relevant to this problem) ??

This reminds me of an "older" system I used to own / use. The system has since burned itself up, and the MOBO has gone to Silicon Heaven now... But, I use to have to use this real long boot "cheatcode" set to get it working... something like; nodma noacpi noswap... etc... With this older system, a default boot line was _never_ going to work, not sure if this is what the issue here is, and chances are, is not relevant other than background of "sometimes you just have to 'tweak' stuff to get them to work'".

Your question about "why did it take a couple of years (...) for this to become a problem?", is simple. You are dealing with a multitude of things changing over a longer period of time. To be more precise, say the first version change could have just changed say init.d, the next adds in say, IceWeasel updates, the next, more IceWeasel updates, some init.d, and some cheatcode tweaks. As time progresses, as you can imagine, you have tons of stuff that has changed, and as anyone knows, the more stuff that changes, the more they _can_ knock heads with each other.

I know for a fact that the newest IW does _something_ that it didn't do before. When I start it up, about 2 or 3 minutes after it is running, I get a huge _pounding_ on my hard drive. (I think it is doing a major cache, or something) and then it goes back to quiet again. This is something new, and didn't happen until the latest update of IceWeasel. Again, this is just background information for you, and may not be related to what your problem is.

My suggestion, tweak. As you mentioned above, tweak your ram disk settings, bump the number up a little on the boot line. Haven't had to do this for years, sorry for being vague, but, I think the boot line includes the size of the ram disk in it; something like: ramdisk=######## <------ verify the number, and increase it a little. If it doesn't change anything, you can try bumping it up a little more, or going back to the original number.

As far as the /home image, I think it's a "flat file", and will grow as large as you have disk space to use, don't quote me on this, I'm treading on "don't know" here. As for the swap size, are you using a permanent swap on a hard drive? possibly booting with noswap removing the swap partition, and then re-creating a new one larger? I used to use the following as an example of "how big do I make my swap?" physical memory + swap = 2 GB -=- but, as everything is getting bigger, and programs are needing more space to not only run, but, needing more space for it's files as well, I would think this calculation would be wrong. My current HD install of Debian SID has the following: physical memory (1 GB) + swap partition (1.5 GB) = 2.5 GB -=- and I have had occasion to see my swap used.

benopdezolder,

The problem here is, that, we may not be dealing with a "single" answer to this issue, it may require a "combination" of answers. Say, you need to increase not only the ramdisk, but your swap, and possibly, who-knows-what to get this resolved. Hence the idea of tweak. The actual solution may also require a bit of cheatcodes added in as well. Add into this the detail that, once you get this all working, it may need "further" tweaking on the next release.

Not sure if this really helps, but, it's the best I can come up with at the moment...

Good luck,
LC

[benopdezolder]

As far as the /home image, I think it's a "flat file", and will grow as large as you have disk space to use, don't quote me on this, I'm treading on "don't know" here. .

Good luck,
LC

thx LC,

I will come back to your suggestions later, first:
if this, sorry for quoting you, is true, then how can the thing go wrong on startup when there is plenty of mem- and hd-space (and even 5.3.1 gave no problems all this time without any changes made to it or iw) ??


the thing about experimenting is that I can't be sure that I'll get back into KDE without problems. the route via V 4 worked once, but ...

[I know the best solution will be to start fresh on a new hd and do a proper hd-install, but this will have to wait due to other problems ...]


so, Clinton, LC or anybody out there, any other ideas ??

[Cuddles]

How can things go wrong during startup when mem and disk space... etc...

When does a light bulb usually burn out? When is the "most" amount of energy used on any electronic device? During initial startup. During initial startup of any OS, or program, it is going to use more storage than after it settles down. Buffers are being allocated, memory is reserved, space is set aside, etc... after the program is running, then it can "settle down" to a more "maintenance" usage, usually. When I used to VB Program you tested not only what the program used during running, but how much "overhead" was needed to get it running too. Usually having two sets of numbers for memory and disk usage. My guess is, that number representations being given are for "after" initial startup, like the 82 MB number you spoke of. That number also reflects "bare minimum" requirements, not including any "extras" that get loaded along the way, mostly the "auto-start" stuff, which may be another thing to look at. KDE may be able to start, just "something" is also trying to auto-start along with KDE, or in KDE, that is exceeding the memory/swap, etc... (just some ideas)

Anyway, good luck, I will be keep my eyes on this thread, and my thinking cap, hopefully some more ideas will come to mind,
LC (aka LadyCuddles / AcidPirate)

[benopdezolder]

[ KDE may be able to start, just "something" is also trying to auto-start along with KDE, or in KDE, that is exceeding the memory/swap, etc... (just some ideas)

Anyway, good luck, I will be keep my eyes on this thread, and my thinking cap, hopefully some more ideas will come to mind,
LC (aka LadyCuddles / AcidPirate)


since I switched to a PDI on 5.3.1 I'm not aware of changing anything in the PDI-setup.
that's why I'm so surprised by the sudden problems at startup.
and, if /home is indeed sized as needed (I still haven't heard about a way to change the size myself) how can it then run out of space ??

could this be related:
when I try to run Device Manger the window appears and immediately closes (ran normal in earier versions)
I can't find a way to reset/restart the network (eth0) anymore (no problem normal in earier versions)

(thx, I shure can use some luck here)

[Lucien]

Hello Benopzolder

I read your problem with "persistent disk image" too small. Why don't you make a new bigger one?

Rename your KNOPPIX.IMG file to something else, using the mv command.

Restart knoppix without this persistent disk image. Make a new by selecting "configure" then "Create a persistent KNOPPIX disk image" using the "programs and configurations specific to KNOPPIX" button .

You can then make it as big as you want ,I made one of 12GB. As you use your system the contents of the /home directory is increasing. Selecting on the Kmenu the Quick browsers main map (hoofdmap) and then selecting "openen in terminal", you can easely by giving the " df -h" command see the size of /home or /KNOPPIX.IMG or /UNIONFS as wel as the space used.

Lucien.

[benopdezolder]

I read your problem with "persistent disk image" too small. Why don't you make a new bigger one?
Lucien.

hi lucien,

are /home- and PDI-size the same?? is it this simple??
in a previous post I was told it to be a flat file, increasing itself as needed.

anybody??

thx, ben

ps in the mean time iw has quit a couple of times, but a CTRL-ALT- BACKSPACE got me back in without problems every single time.
I'm still reluctant to do a restart/reboot though (in case I can't get past the interprocess communications-step in the splash, because of the /home-size)

[Lucien]

Wel as far as I see it, if pdi means "persistant disk image" , then the disk image is more than /home .

I do have the DVD 5.3.1 on a partition and the disk image on another. UNIONFS is looking, if for example a /usr file is in the disk image it takes it from there, if it doesn't exist in the disk image the /usr file is taken from the d.v.d image on the partition I loaded the d.v.d. to.

So /home is also on this image, this persistant disk image KNOPPIX.IMG has the changes you make to the system, because you can not make this changes to the d.v.d.

If you loaded the d.v.d. to a hard disk with the TOHD=... cheat code, in a specific partition, this partition is read only. The /home directory is normally held in RAM but with the "persistant disk image" it is with other changes you make to the system held in this "persitant disk image". If I look into my KNOPPIX.IMG which is created as I explained earlier I do see the maps containing only the changes.

Lucien.

[benopdezolder]

So /home is also on this image, this persistant disk image KNOPPIX.IMG has the changes you make to the system, because you can not make this changes to the d.v.d.

hi lucien,

I've increased the size of the image (that created some extra work), so now my troubles should now be over?

thx, ben

[Lucien]

Hello Benindekelder

I do hope that your problems are gone, you have to know that the knoppix software is not, as well as any software, not ..... completely error free.

So I do hope that you wil not hit any another nasty problem.

Take it slowly with changing software which was originaly on the d.v.d. As i said on http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28988
make from time to time a copy of KNOPPIX.IMG so you can always go back to an earlier good working image.

Now back to opzolder :P :P

Lucien.

[benopdezolder]

with the bigger .img (made in 5.3.1) knoppix starts without any problems,
but .......


(iceweasel still craps out)

upon rebooting the image is detected, the settings however are not imported!!
this means retweaking everything after a reboot

what am I doing wrong??

[Lucien]

Ben,

I can't tell you what you did wrong and why your iceweasel craps out.

But if you give as : Kmenu >QuickBrowser >Hoofdmap >Openen in terminal and then in the terminal window type df -h you should find

/dev/cloop 7,4G 7,4G 0 100% /KNOPPIX
/dev/cloop2 3,4G 3,4G 0 100% /KNOPPIX2
/dev/loop0 your PID size /KNOPPIX.IMG
/dev/loop0 your PID size /home
/UNIONFS your PID size /UNIONFS
and other info in the output of the command.

If you then CD to the /KNOPPIX.IMG map you should find there all the changes you made.

For example /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins/libflashplayer.so should be there if you installed the flashplayer.

There could be lots of reasons for your problems but investigations as given here will be needed.

Lucien.

[benopdezolder]

If you then CD to the /KNOPPIX.IMG map you should find there all the changes you made.
For example /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins/libflashplayer.so should be there if you installed the flashplayer.


in that folder there is NO subfolder /usr
only etc, home, lib, lost+found (locked), root, tmp and var (and hidden .wh..wh.plink (locked))

??

[Lucien]

That's normal Ben if you didn't install the libflashplayer.so plug in .

Only what YOU installed is in this image. The example I gave is with the plugin installed .

Lucien.

[benopdezolder]

That's normal Ben if you didn't install the libflashplayer.so plug in .

Only what YOU installed is in this image. The example I gave is with the plugin installed .

Lucien.

but I DO have flashplayer!

[Lucien]

Can you see you-tube video with your flashplayer, probably not, you need the flashplayer plugin which is called "libflashplayer.so".

See to the following site to learn how to install this "libflashplayer.so" , without it, you can't see the you-tube videos.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/cant-play-youtube-videos-608978/

Only if you install this "libflashplayer.so" into the /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins directory, you will have this in your image KNOPPIX.IMG file. You do not have to install this plugin , I gave it only to show that the PID will have everything you add or change to the knoppix dvd.

Lucien.

[benopdezolder]

Can you see you-tube video with your flashplayer

yes, lucien. I can (it's an extra I had to install on iceweasel).

[Lucien]

In any case it is not on your KNOPPIX.IMG because you said that you had no /usr subdirectory on this image file. You can always try to find the plugin with the search function.

Lucien.

[benopdezolder]

You can always try to find the plugin with the search function.


it's in:
/KNOPPIX.IMG/home/knoppix/.mozilla/plugins

does this make sense?
does this explain why I loose all this tweaking upon reboot?

[Lucien]

Hello Ben,

I really don't know which is the best place to put the plugin. I did put it into the iceweasel/plugins directory as I said before.

You can ,using another methode put it in the .mozilla/plugins directory. Using Google you can see that this is also possible. Because you have it in your /home directory on the KNOPPIX.IMG file, you did put it there.

Here you see again that in linux , the same thing can be achieved by different methodes, this is also the reason that users are having different results.

If this has anything to do with the problems you have, I don't know.

Lucien.

[Lucien]

Let me clarify the HD install I did because I think many problems are due to mixing options.

Start by reading the first paragraph of the site

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Hd_Install_HowTo

Some Background information about a Knoppix HD install.

In there is said to consider the "Live_CD_Tips". If you select this Tips you go to the site

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Live_CD_Tips

I did install my knoppix 5.3.1 by using the 1.2 the 2.2 and the 3.2 headings.

* 1 Free up the CD Drive
o 1.1 toram cheat code
o 1.2 tohd cheat code
o 1.3 bootfrom cheat code
* 2 Installing Programs
o 2.1 Klik
o 2.2 Unionfs
* 3 Saving Configurations, Data and System changes
o 3.1 Save Knoppix Configuration
o 3.2 Persistent Disk Image

This type of HD install is not the full install as given in the first wiki site. But it gives me a very flexible system for my needs as a dual boot with ubuntu.

Lucien.

[Breckenridge]

I read your problem with "persistent dihsk image" too small. Why don't you make a new bigger one?

Rename your KNOPPIX.IMG file to something else, using the mv command.

Breckenridge Colorado (http://www.luckymountainhome.com/)