modules

[nvgringo]

Knoppix 5.01 loads modules at startup for unionfs. Would it be possible to add additional modules for say Nvidia 3d drivers (under the Linux licensing exception of course) in a way similar to Slax live cd?

[Harry Kuhman]

My understanding was that the Nvidia 3d drivers were not, "free enough" to be used in Knoppix, a distro that people frequently remaster from and redistribute. Klaus seems to want to keep that option open for people and realizes that they can't realistically be expected to have every restriction fron every software license from something embedded in Knoppix imposed on them, so he only uses software that is GPL, not software that is sort of free but contains restrictions on redistribution. This, for example. is why Pov-Ray has not been included in Knoppix, even though the source is available and the developers of Pov-Ray have made an explicit exception to their restrictions for Knoppix; it is not clear that the exception would apply to all Knoppix derived Live CDs as well.

If you know of some reason why this is not the case for the Nvidia drivers (or for Pov-Ray), I would think this could be brought up on the Knoppix developers mailing list. While developers occasionally check these forums, they don't seem to frequent them regularly.

[nvgringo]

Okay Harry, my idea was not so much about nvidia drivers as it is about installing custom modules like you can with SLAX. They have a program that works in windows that can add modules to the iso before burning the disk. Here is a page with a copy of the modules that are available. (of which Nvidia driver is one of about a hundred)

http://www.slax.org/modules.php

Here is a link to a windows program to install the modules to the iso before burning a disk (with SLAX).

http://myslax.bonsonno.org/screenshots.php

You can also use this program to pass commands to the kernel during bootup. Things like language or refresh rate. Could this thing be modified to work with Knoppix? It is important to note that SLAX is based on Slackware and Knoppix is based on Debian.

[Harry Kuhman]

... Could this thing be modified to work with Knoppix? ...

This concept has been around for a while. I have to assume that Klaus knows about it but is focusing his attention in other areas. You might want to look at the Kilk forum here, which has a similar approach. Some live CDs even include the Kilk application already installed, but for Knoppix it needs to be added. The Knoppix based DSL distro has it's own very nice package system and I believe that it will do just what you want. And DSL is already stripped down, so there will be enough space on the CD to include additional packages (an issue with the very full knoppix CD). Just going by memory I think Puppy Linux may have such a system too, but I've looked at a lot of Live CD lately and I could be confusing that with something else.

[firnsy]

Okay Harry, my idea was not so much about nvidia drivers as it is about installing custom modules like you can with SLAX. They have a program that works in windows that can add modules to the iso before burning the disk. Here is a page with a copy of the modules that are available. (of which Nvidia driver is one of about a hundred)

http://www.slax.org/modules.php

Here is a link to a windows program to install the modules to the iso before burning a disk (with SLAX).

http://myslax.bonsonno.org/screenshots.php

You can also use this program to pass commands to the kernel during bootup. Things like language or refresh rate. Could this thing be modified to work with Knoppix? It is important to note that SLAX is based on Slackware and Knoppix is based on Debian.

Yes it can, it is a little bit of work, requires modification primarily to minirt.gz. The thing to remember is that all additional modules should be loaded into the unionfs chain between the main cloop files and the ramdisk. This will ensure that added modules have precedence over the original cloop files, which is important if you have a file in your module that exists already in the original cloop.

I have not tested this with the cloop filesystem, I have modified knoppix to use squashfs instead and am able to load my homemade modules into knoppix without remastering the main ISO. I'm currently working on a script that automagically converts deb and klik packages straight to my module format, its just too tedious to continue to do it by hand.