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View Full Version : Knoppix 6.4.4 beta, de version is out



utu
02-02-2011, 05:15 PM
Public betas of Knoppix 6.4.4 are apparently out, for the German-speakers, anyway.

http://www.computerbase.de/downloads/system/knoppix/

Cheers.

klaus2008
02-02-2011, 07:27 PM
On the usual KNOPPIX mirrors are english versions available, too. Look at http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

krishna.murphy
02-02-2011, 07:43 PM
On the usual KNOPPIX mirrors are english versions available, too.Also, even the DE version can be booted into English with the appropriate cheatcodes to switch the keyboard layout (tricky, though, since the German keyboard has letters that are located in strange places on the American version when typing the cheatcode) and language. Better to download the one you like to start with!

Anyway, thanks for the info!

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen:

utu
02-03-2011, 04:26 AM
At kernel.org
http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/

There is an iso, slightly mis-named, I think,
that seems to be the Adriane LiveCD English version:
ADRIANE-KNOPPIX_V6.4.4CD-2010-01-30-EN.iso 01-Feb-2011 03:00 698M

It includes LibreOffice 3.3, IceWeasel 3.6.13 & improved PCManFM initialization relative to 6.4.3.
Seems to give the same size persistent store (in round Mbs) as did 6.4.3.
Also gives uniquely painless Broadcom non-free wifi driver installation as did 6.4.3.

utu
02-03-2011, 04:12 PM
The kernel for this Knoppix 6.4.4 is 2.6.37, i686.

utu
02-03-2011, 08:56 PM
Klaus2008 has shown on another thread how the adriane default
can easily be changed to knoppix by editing (as root)
the first line in mnt-system/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg

utu
02-04-2011, 07:40 PM
The 2.6.37 #13 kernel in the 6.4.4 beta may have a problem
for Intel graphics, that was not a problem in 6.4.3.

Stay tuned.

utu
02-04-2011, 11:57 PM
A new driver for Intel is somewhere is apparently
in the works to behave better with the 2.6.37 kernel.

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=22672

benny59
02-05-2011, 12:45 PM
Hi, I downloaded both CD-EN and DVD-DE (easy to set the lang=it as '=' key is on the same position for DE and IT kbd :mrgreen:)

The annoying persistency problem for the desktop has been fixed

on the DVD version I still experience a loop with cheatcode desktop=kde lxde and gnome are ok.

wifi broadcom device is automatically supported so my Dell mini9 can easily boot (a few other distribution include this proprietary driver)

Knoppix is one of my favourite distribution. Piety it does not come with Liferea...

benny

utu
02-05-2011, 07:19 PM
.
My laptop is my main computing platform. I use almost none
of its portability features. It IS my desktop. It is always
plugged in and charging. As a computer, it is only turned on
for a few hours at a time, and not left booted up and on-line
unless it is being used. I don't use any standby or suspend
features. A default linux screen-saver pops up after ten minutes
of keyboard inactivity, but this triggers no ill after-effects.

Used in this way, I do not experience any 'backlight' problems
with Knoppix 6.4.4 using the 2.6.37 kernel with Intel i915
video. There is an understandable 'fixme' warning that occurs
during boot, but ONLY during boot. Triggering the backlight bug
requires some specific and otherwise irrelevant command-line
entries, or the actual standby/suspend video state changing
features I don't normally even think of using.

So, to make a long story shorter, for MY particular usage,
I am unaware of any practical negative consequence to be
expected due to the backlight imperfection in Knoppix 6.4.4
caused by an incompatibilty of the 2.6.37 linux kernel
and the current i915 Intel video driver.

For those laptop/Intel video users, who may be more concerned
than I on the laptop backlight problem, the kernel.org people
'are on it'. Their current heading on this effort is defined at

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=22672

Please speak up if you think I'm too complacent on this.

utu
02-08-2011, 11:24 PM
There is another latent defect in 6.4.4 I hadn't noticed before.

I note that I get a dead uk keyboard for both Knoppix 6.4.3 and 6.4.4.
However, for 6.2.1 the uk keyboard is not dead.

There is not a lot of difference between the 6.2's and th 6.4's and
you might TRY the 6.2 for the time being, if you need a uk keyboard.

I note that in the 6.4's /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig still has an entry for uk.
So, I imagine there should be more to expect than a dead keyboard.

I don't have a uk keyboard myself, I just know when it's dead & when it's not.

ICPUG
02-09-2011, 06:53 PM
There is another latent defect in 6.4.4 I hadn't noticed before.

I note that I get a dead uk keyboard for both Knoppix 6.4.3 and 6.4.4.
However, for 6.2.1 the uk keyboard is not dead.


What do you mean by dead keyboard?

I run the 6.4.2 DVD version (from the Linux Magazine) and although I had a bit of trouble determining what bootcodes to use I got a UK keyboard eventually (despite an error message saying the gb map file does not exist). I cannot precisely remember the codes or error message as i am away from my Knoppix machine at the moment. Let me know if you want the info.

Note: I tested I had the correct keyboard by running OpenOffice Write and hitting shift-2. It gave me the double quote, rather than the @ I would get if I used a US keyboard. Other keys randomly checked as well.

Update

I've just remembered. When I used the keyboard=uk, xkeyboard=uk commands I think I did get a completely dead keyboard, (i.e. no key worked at all). I'll update this with what I actually use when I get back to my Knoppix machine.

utu
02-09-2011, 07:12 PM
You are on the right track.

Here's a post from another thread.


There is another workaround from a friend in Germany:

Quote:

Boot with

knoppix lang=uk xkeyboard=gb

which should give you back a working keyboard on X as well as on the
text console.

I'm fixing this for 6.5 right now.

Regards
-Klaus

Unquote





(http://www.knoppix.net/forum/newreply.php?p=122773&noquote=1)

ICPUG
02-10-2011, 06:43 PM
Yes - I read that other post afterwards!

Checking my Knoppix machine I had used:
keyboard=gb xkeyboard=gb

Thinking Klaus's response might take away the error message I tried it instead. The error message remained! I didn't have time to check if lang=uk and xkeyboard=gb would give me a uk keyboard outside of X.

The keyboard problem does at least have a workaround. There are two other problems that I have not found answers to yet.

1) My synaptics touchpad will not tap to click. This is extremely frustrating. I think there might be a workaround but i haven't found it yet.

2) Otropogo reported some little while ago that the home cheat code doesn't work. I can confirm that. I don't know whether that was intentional or not but it is still mentioned in the cheat code list which was updated very recently. If you or your friends have access to Klaus can you mention this? If it is a bug it would be good to get it corrected at the same time as he corrects the uk keyboard problem. if it is not a bug then an update of the cheatcode list would avoid confusion.

The home cheatcode enables one to run a Live CD but keep the persistent image on hard disk or flash drive - so it can be useful in certain circumstances.

utu
02-10-2011, 07:00 PM
It would be a help to know if the home cheatcode worked for 6.2.1 and/or 6.4.3.

Similarly, did the synaptics touchpad work for an earlier knoppix version?

May also need some additional details on which synaptics touchpad.

utu
02-10-2011, 07:26 PM
Please confirm there is a problem with the following cheatcode. (anyone, and which knoppix?)

knoppix home=/dev/sda1/knoppix.img Mount loopback file for overlay

This is the Jan 28, 2011 list for 6.4, FYI.

utu
02-10-2011, 09:33 PM
@ICPUG

In regard to touchpad, are you aware of these posts?

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/threads/28774-How-do-I-enable-touchpad-tapping?highlight=touchpad

Forester
02-11-2011, 01:53 AM
In regard to touchpad, are you aware of these posts?You may also want to have a look at http://wiki.debian.org/SynapticsTouchpad. I think this issue is upstream of Debian and is deliberate. If Knoppix were to make touchpad tapping work by default many would be happy.


It would be a help to know if the home cheatcode worked for 6.2.1 and/or 6.4.3.:rolleyes:

I looked for the home= cheatcode on the forums and found I'm not the first to complain that it doesn't work. I'm also not the only to have looked in /init and conclude it is not supported any more.

It seems the /init script was completely rewritten for Knoppix 6 and no attempt was made to implement the home cheat code or something equivalent - it is missing from my copy of 6.0.1.

Putting it back into /init would not be easy but it would be popular.

kl522
02-11-2011, 02:37 AM
I looked for the home= cheatcode on the forums and found I'm not the first to complain that it doesn't work. I'm also not the only to have looked in /init and conclude it is not supported any more.


I remember mentioning this some time ago. It did not catch the attention of anyone though. :)

utu
02-11-2011, 03:22 AM
Is it possible that the home cheatcode works as intended
for cases NOT including USB installs with their own
persistent store?

utu
02-11-2011, 03:37 AM
@Forester

For $13 you can get a Logitech M305 Nano Wireless at Best Buy.
I think this beats a touchpad any day.

kl522
02-11-2011, 05:35 AM
Is it possible that the home cheatcode works as intended
for cases NOT including USB installs with their own
persistent store?
That's close to IMPOSSIBLE because when we look at 'init' and knoppix-autoconfig, there is no code which implements anything about 'home' as a parameter. You can search for the string 'home' in these files and see if it comes up with anything.

ICPUG
02-11-2011, 06:34 PM
Thanks to you guys pointing me at solutions for the touchpad problem. I knew there would be one because I had to play similar tricks on another distro. I wasn't sure whether you could edit xorg.conf with Knoppix because (a) I am not sure if it was autogenerated anyway with this latest Xorg and (b) I am not sure if Knoppix regenerated it on each bootup so making any changes obsolete next time. Might try the synclient approach.

Regarding the home cheat code. I tested this by creating an image file and putting a file in it with my poor man's install on a hard drive. I then tried to access this image file when booting the Live CD. I could not see the file I had put in it so I guess home was not working. I deduce that the answer to utu's question is that home doesn't work in conditions that do not involve a USB install.

If home is difficult to implement now it should be removed from the list of cheat code that comes on the Live CD.

krishna.murphy
02-13-2011, 01:40 AM
My observation is that PARTS of the xorg.conf appear to be recalculated on bootup, while others are "remembered" (not always correctly.) My regular system/monitor configuration gets messed up every time I de-boot it, and I have to re-initialize to get the correct resolution set at the beginning of each session. If I simply remove power, the ext-test/fixer is perforce activated, but that's a small partition so not much time wasted; then the resolution is (usually) calculated correctly. I've tried to get the Synaptics thing to work (be remembered) on my laptop in the past, with mixed results.

Cheers!
Krishna :mrgreen: