| KANOTIX - Putting the Pizzazz on Debian |
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| Review |
Once Upon a Time...
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Once upon a time, Linux was difficult to install. In the early 1990s, weary users had to swap out dozens of floppy disks (remember those?) to complete the installation procedure. When CDROMs finally became available, the geek community proclaimed it the greatest advance in technology since the invention of the plow. Then text-mode installation scripts were (mostly) edged out by GUI installers - suddenly, installation was not only easy, but fun.
Nevertheless, it was the appearance of Knoppix in late 2002 that just blew everyone's socks off. Knoppix was the first truly useful "live CD". No need to mess with a GUI installer - just stick a CD into the drive and boot. Awesome hardware detection made manual configuration obsolete. Knoppix was so easy to install that one could literally do it with his/her eyes closed.
Furthermore, since Knoppix is based on Debian, you aren't limited to what can fit on a CD. It is possible to access the vast archive of Debian applications (over 16,000 packages total). So if you tried 10 new applications every day, you would (theoretically) have enough toys to keep yourself amused for 1600 days (4.38 years). Nirvana could hardly be better than this.
Screenshot 1: The KANOTIX desktop
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Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
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So Knoppix is just about perfect, isn't it? Well, in the freewheeling world of free software, "perfect" is a moving target. It wasn't long after the first release of Knoppix that modified "clones" began appearing. Some of these Knoppix knock-offs came and went quickly, but others have endured. Some, like Gnoppix, run Gnome as a window manager (Knoppix defaults to KDE). Others, like Morphix, are meant to be lightweight and speedy. There are others like clusterKNOPPIX and Knoppix STD (Security Tools Distribution) which have self-explanatory names.
And then there is KANOTIX, which I can honestly say is one of the most elegant desktop operating systems I have ever seen. Among its many nice features is that it has been optimized for laptops. For example, it autostarts powernowd (a power-management utility) when a Centrino or AMD 64 precessor is detected. It also has touchpad detection (note: this works only when no external mouse is connected).
KANOTIX is the brainchild of Joerg Schirottke (age 28), a programmer residing in Kulmbach, Germany. He is also known as "Kano". As Joerg explains, Kano was his favorite character in a video game (Mortal Kombat), and he adopted it as his nickname in the (now defunct) German Knoppix forum.
Joerg holds an intermediate diploma (Vordiplom in German) in Computer Science, and has been a long-time Debian fan. He fell in love with Knoppix the first time he tried it, but disliked the drawbacks after a hard disk install (remember, Knoppix was created to be run as a live CD). Even though Knoppix later acquired two hard disk installers, Joerg felt that he could tweak KANOTIX to be better suited as a desktop system. Keeping up-to-date is another key feature of KANOTIX - it's based on Debian Unstable, and a new release appears monthly (occasionally twice monthly).
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Boot and Ye Shall Find
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KANOTIX is a free download - you'll find a list of mirrors by clicking on "download" on the KANOTIX.com web site. The web site also gives links for ordering a DVD (remaster edition) for Europe (one for the the USA is planned). The DVD versions are only for sale and not for download, and Joerg does not actually produce them (though he consults with those who do).
One of the first things I noticed when booting KANOTIX is that it runs GRUB as the boot loader (but LILO is also included). This brought joy to my heart, as I've been a GRUB fan for several years now. Just as in Knoppix, you initially boot up to a screen where you can choose some options. You can also type in additional options, which I initially neglected to do. That mistake bit me when I tried to install KANOTIX on my laptop - I wound up with a text-mode screen which looked like this:
Welcome to the KANOTIX live Linux-on-CD!
Can't find KANOTIX filesystem, sorry.
Dropping you to a (very limited) shell.
Press reset button to quit.
BusyBox v1.00-rc3 (2004.09.13-01:13+0000)
Built-in shell (ash) Enter 'help' for a
list of built-in commands.
KANOTIX#
That didn't look good. As it turned out, the problem was that my laptop has an external USB DVD drive and KANOTIX wasn't seeing it. I found the solution by pressing F1 to bring up the help menu. From there, the Bootoptions submenu revealed the trick:
bootusb2 -- loads usb 1.1 + 2.0
So I rebooted, and this time typed the bootusb2 "cheatcode" (as it is called) on the options line. To my joy, the GUI began loading and within a couple of minutes I found myself staring at a pretty KDE desktop emblazoned with the word KANOTIX. Success! Had I preferred the lightweight and speedy IceWM rather than KDE, I could have also added the cheatcode "desktop=icewm".
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Hard Disk Installation Made Easy
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Like its progenitor Knoppix, KANOTIX relies of Fabian Franz's knoppix-installer script for hard disk installation. This script does have a few shortcomings, though Joerg is gradually fixing them and adding extra tweaks that users request.
The first question the installer asks you is:
Choose your system type
(X) debian Debian-like system (recommended)
( ) beginner Multi-User System with hw-detection
( ) knoppix KANOTIX system like from CD
I'd advise accepting the default, debian.
I encountered a problem right away which actually was my own fault. I typed a "2" on the boot options command line, which causes KANOTIX to start at runlevel 2 (which is text-mode). This can be helpful if you simply need a command line interface to fix some problem on the hard drive (KANOTIX makes a great rescue disk). However, if you plan to install KANOTIX on your hard drive, do not use runlevel 2, go for the full GUI. I made the mistake of trying to install from text-mode, and didn't get very far before receiving this error message:
Fatal dialog error:
Error: Unknown option --insecure.
Use --help to list options.
Whoops! As it turned out, the solution was to boot to GUI mode and click on the menu-bar icon for a konsole (or "xterm" as many of us erroneously call it). There you should type "su" to become root (no password needed) and then "kanotix-installer" (or "knoppix-installer"). Or better yet, don't become root, just start it by typing "sudo kanotix-installer". This will begin the installation program. Another option if you're online during the install is "kanotix-installer-latest-web" - this will install the very latest fixes during the installation procedure.
The rest of the installation is very intuitive and I'll spare my readers a painfully detailed explanation. Like most installers these days, you can move between radio buttons with the "tab" key, or over backwards with "shift-tab". Once you've answered a few questions, you can kick back with a coffee and newspaper while KANOTIX installs itself.
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Time Machine
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Assuming that the above went according to plan, you should be able to boot from the hard drive and log in using the user name and password you designated during the install. One of the first things you might notice is that the time (and possibly date) are not correct.
One weakness of the knoppix-installer script is that it does not ask you to enter your time zone during the installation process. You are also not asked if you want to set your hardware clock to local time or UTC. Solving these issues is not hard, though not particularly intuitive. On the command line (as root), enter the following commands (in this order):
1) tzconfig or tzsetup (to set time zone)
2) date MMDDHHmmCCYY (to change the date & time)
3) hwclock --localtime (to set hardware clock to local time)
4) hwclock --systohc (to set system time to hardware clock)
Finally, you can check it to make that all is as it should be:
5) hwclock --show
Optionally, if you are corrected to the Internet, you could run the script fix-time.sh. In order for this to work, you'll still have to first run tzconfig or tzsetup to set the correct time zone. Also, your firewall must not be blocking NTP (Network Time Protocol).
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Making Connections
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KANOTIX gives you a fairly standard-looking KDE desktop. However, if you click the "K" icon on the tool bar, you'll find that KANOTIX has two decidedly non-standard menu items, "KANOTIX" and "KNOPPIX" (with a number of sub-menus for configuring the system). There is a good deal of overlap between the two, but you'll probably want to explore the KANOTIX menu first since that's a feature of this operating system.
A good place to start is by maneuvering to the menu "KANOTIX--> MODEM--> Kppp - KDE dialer and frontend to pppd". Of course, if you have broadband, you probably won't even bother and will probably go directly to "KANOTIX--> NETWORK--> Network card configuration". This will set up your Ethernet port (you do have an Ethernet port, don't you?) which is a requirement if you want to connect to the Internet via DSL, cable or a LAN.
As soon as you've made the OS aware of your Ethernet port, I'd advise setting up a firewall. You really ought to do this before attempting to connect to the Internet. The procedure is to choose the menu "KANOTIX--> TOOLS--> Guarddog". I personally find Guarddog to be the best firewall around, though a complete Linux newbie might be slightly intimidated. Don't be - just plunge in. The main thing to know about Guarddog is that it blocks all ports by default, so you've got to unblock a few in order to be able to connect to anything.
The way to do this is to click on "Protocol" and then either "Internet" or "Local" (depending on whether you connect directly to the Internet via DSL/cable or through a Local Area Network (LAN). You then choose which services you want to allow - as a minimum, you'll probably want to unblock the following: FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, rsync, SSH, IMAP, IMAPS, POP3, SMTP, DNS. Some people will also want to unblock ping, though this makes you more visible on the Internet (invisibility is a good thing). If you do Internet Relay Chat (IRC) you might also want to unblock ident/auth. This should be sufficient for most users, but look through the list of services to see if there is anything else you need access to.
If you're an ADSL user, at this point you'll probably want to configure your connection. Do this by clicking on "KANOTIX--> DSL--> My PPPoE Conf" (or alternatively, "KNOPPIX--> Network/Internet--> ADSL/PPPOE configuration"). Either way, you'll be asked this question:
Start DSL on boot? yes/no
Most people should probably say "yes" to this. Unfortunately, few Linux distros have an ADSL start/stop button. If you need that, you could look into kdsl, but it is not yet a part of KANOTIX (mainly because its functionality is still rather limited). Otherwise, the only way to start/stop pppoe is to go to the command line, su to root, and type "pon dsl-provider" to connect, or "poff dsl-provider" to disconnect. You could also set this up with sudo (see "man sudo") to avoid the need to become root (but a detailed explanation for doing that is a more complex task than I wish to go into for this review).
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Going Wireless
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Linux has supported wireless networks for several years now, but only since around kernel 2.6.7 has the Pentium-M (Centrino) wireless driver become stable. Since my laptop has a Centrino, I was jazzed to find that KANOTIX worked very well with it.
If you have a wireless card that is not supported by the kernel, you may still be able to get it working with ndiswrapper. This allows you to "wrap" a Windows driver so that it magically works with Linux. To find out which Windows driver you need, check out the ndiswrapper page on SourceForge. Once you know the correct driver and have downloaded it from somewhere, the procedure for loading it into KANOTIX is:
ndiswrapper -i driver.inf
modprobe ndiswrapper
Sorry for that digression - now back to my beloved IBM X31. Just booting my laptop from the CD, the Centrino was detected and the proper driver (ipw2100) loaded. I could then configure the WLAN with wlcardconfig which can be launched by clicking menu "KANOTIX--> NETWORK--> Wavelan configuration" (alternatively, you can use iwconfig). You'll be asked a few questions, like your ESSID and WEP. Since dhcp (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is the default connection method, KANOTIX will find the nearest wireless access point if one is available.
That's all easy enough, but it will get slightly more complicated if you've installed KANOTIX to the hard disk and then configure your Ethernet network. Most probably you will have four steps to getting online:
1) You may have to manually load the driver by typing this (as root):
modprobe ipw2100
(Note: I've been assured that step 1 won't be necessary in the next release of KANOTIX.)
2) Run wlcardconfig as already mentioned above. This step might not be necessary if you're connecting to an open WLAN that doesn't require authentication.
3) Edit file /etc/network/interfaces and make sure you have a line like this:
iface eth1 inet dhcp
(Note: this assumes that your wireless interface is eth1, which it probably will be. Your Ethernet port will probably be eth0).
4) Finally, to switch from wired LAN to WLAN, you have to stop the wired LAN first and then bring up the WLAN interface. This ought to do it:
ifconfig eth0 down ; ifup eth1
That will probably be all you need to do. If it still doesn't work, try this command:
pump -i eth1
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Baton Down the Hatches
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Once you have succeeded in getting online, you might want to give your firewall a test. There are a number of online sites which will hammer on your firewall (if you grant permission). A couple I found recently are PC Flank and Sygatetech, but there are many others. You can find these services by Googling for "port scanner test".
With any operating system, it's always a good idea to see what services (daemons) you've got running, and to turn off any services that you don't need. Remember, the more services you've got running, the greater the chance that script kiddies will be able to hack into your system. Perhaps the best way to see what's running is to use the netstat command, like this:
netstat -an | more
Screenshot 2: Output of netstat
What's important to note here are those services that have a state "LISTEN" (in all caps). As you can see, we have one service which is LISTENing on port 631. If you don't already know what numbers represent which port, look in file /etc/services and you will see that port 631 is internet printing protocol (also known as cupsys or just CUPS). If you will be attaching your computer to a printer, you will probably want to keep this enabled. Since I never attach my laptop to a printer, I've decided to disable this. On Debian-based systems, the way to disable cupsys (and other services) is to run the following as root:
update-rc.d -f cupsys remove
Note: if you just want to check, but not really remove use -n:
update-rc.d -f -n cupsys remove
To enable cupsys (or another service) with default settings use:
update-rc.d cupsys defaults
It should be noted that the actual daemon is still running even after you've disabled it. Only upon the next reboot will the change go into effect.
If the above sounds a tad complicated, actually it is. In fact, Debian provides a nice user-friendly tool for enabling/disabling most (but not all) startup services - rcconf. It would be a very good idea to run rcconf and enable Guarddog so that it starts up every time you boot.
Screenshot 3: rcconf
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How to be Cool
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If you have a laptop with a Centrino or AMD64 processor, you may want to use rcconf to enable powernowd, a fantastic power-management daemon. I started powernowd and watched in amazement as my CPU temperature dropped by 15 degrees Celsius in 10 minutes.
This might be a good time to point out just what tool I use to find out the CPU temperature. I use (drumroll please) gkrellm, which actually reports a number of interesting things about your setup. In its default configuration, gkrellm doesn't display CPU temperature, but you easily make it do so by right-clicking on "CPU" and choosing "Sensors--> Temperature" and clicking the box saying "thermal_zone/THMO".
Screenshot 4: gkrellm
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Apt-Get to the Rescue
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Anyone using a Debian-based distro like KANOTIX should become familiar with the joys of apt-get. Despite the name, apt-get has nothing to do with getting an apartment, but rather getting software using Debian's APT (Advanced Package Tool).
Although KANOTIX comes on a single CD of 700MB, it unpacks nearly 2GB of software, which is a pretty nice collection of Halloween treats that will keep you entertained for a long time. Nevertheless, you may want to install some additional packages from the Debian archives. Before you can do that, you need to update the package database on your machine. The way to do that is to open an Xterm (you can do that by going to the menu "KANOTIX--> TOOLS--> Root Shell") and typing "apt-get update". The process may take a few minutes depending on your connection speed.
Now that your package database is up-to-date, you can run the nice user-friendly point-and-click Debian package manager front-end, Synaptic. You'll find it under the menu "Debian--> Apps--> System--> Synaptic Package Manager". Or you could bypass Synaptic and go to the command line and type "apt-get install PACKAGENAME". You will, of course, need to know the name of the package you want - the best way to find out is to download the Unstable Package List. If you're not afraid of the command line, you can also search using the "apt-cache search" function - for example to search for all packages related to "emacs", do this:
apt-cache search emacs
Admittedly, not everyone has the same tastes in software as I do, but a few Debian packages I invariably install include koffice, gftp, emacs21, ispell, gtksee, gqview, antiword, mailfilter, xcdroast and units. Also on my list of greatest hits is mplayer, but this is not in the Debian archive due to evil software patents - you can download the source tarball from http://www.mplayerhq.hu (and be sure to read documentation.html which comes with the tarball).
I mentioned kdsl above (to create an ADSL start/stop button). Now that you are online, you can install it if you like:
apt-get install kdsl
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Tips, Tricks and Hints
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Some people avoid text-mode like the plague, but I personally find it occasionally useful. Therefore, I prefer to have my computer boot into runlevel 2 (text-mode) and start KDE manually with the startx command. If you'd like to do this, edit file /etc/inittab and change the line that says:
id:5:initdefault:
to
id:2:initdefault:
Now that I can boot into text-mode, I'm not pleased by the very small fonts which are enabled by the framebuffer mode that is KANOTIX's default. If, like me, you think the framebuffer is for wimps, edit the GRUB configuration file /boot/grub/menu.lst and comment-out these two lines:
color cyan/blue white/blue
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
You'll also need to search further down in the file and delete this:
vga=0x317
While you're at it, the system default language is set to German, so if you want US English, change:
lang=de
to
lang=us
KDE has great eye-candy and also contains the customized menus KANOTIX and KNOPPIX which are useful for configuration. However, not everyone likes this kitchen sink approach, and I generally prefer a more lightweight window manager. As already mentioned, KANOTIX comes with IceWM - for users who wish to use it, simply add a hidden file .xinitrc to your home directory with this content:
exec icewm
It's worth knowing that IceWM can be customized a great deal for individual users. Aside from the Themes menu, note that there is a sample preferences file in /etc/X11/icewm/preferences. Copy this file to a hidden subdirectory ~./.icewm and edit it. You can, for example, make the desktop background a nice picture by uncommenting and editing the DesktopBackgroundImage line, like so:
DesktopBackgroundImage="/home/robert/.icewm/my-photo.jpg"
While I'm on the subject of appearances, I didn't care for the small white mouse pointer which I find rather difficult to see. The Debian way of changing the default mouse pointer is to run the following:
update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme
You'll then be prompted with four alternatives, of which you can choose one. A number of other Debian alternative features can be configured this way - you'll find a complete list in /etc/alternatives. One other thing I changed was the default editor from vim to emacs21, but many other users may prefer nano which is easy to use.
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The Best Things in Life Are Free
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Free software doesn't make the cash register ring, so it should come as no surprise that KANOTIX doesn't include a toll-free hotline for support. Nevertheless, Joerg (who is still the main developer, though not the sole developer) does monitor the very helpful KANOTIX forum and IRC Chat. Joerg often personally answers questions, and if you find KANOTIX to be as useful as I have, you may wish to send him a donation for his fine efforts.
If you're dead broke, at least do your friends a favor and hand out KANOTIX CDs like confetti. Surreptiously stick the disks into the CDROM drives in computer stores so that customers will unknowingly boot up KANOTIX rather than "that other operating system." Lend support to newbies in the support forums. If you want KANOTIX to still be around next year, lend a helping hand. To paraphrase an old US Army recruitment campaign, Linux is more than just an OS - it's an adventure.
Another thing that you can do is send Joerg some feedback. I have found that more than any other distro I've used, the developers of KANOTIX are willing to listen to suggestions and make modifications that users request.
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The Final Word
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KANOTIX may well be the greatest thing since sliced pickles. It (KANOTIX, not the pickles) offers one of the most elegant and up-to-date Linux desktop distros around. The developers take users' suggestions seriously and constantly make improvements. Laptop users will be particularly jazzed with all the optimizations that make mobile computing easier.
In short, this is Debian with pizzazz, and any Linux geek worthy of the name should check it out. Keep your eyes open for the next release, coming soon to a server near you.
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| Copyright Notice |
Copyright (C) 2004
Robert Storey
Verbatim copying and distribution of this article is permitted in any
medium, provided this copyright notice is preserved. |
| Note: If you'd like to discuss this article, please do so on the DistroWatch Weekly page. |
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| Review Notes |
| Date |
| 26 October 2004 |
| Author |
Robert
Storey
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| About the author... |
| Formerly a well-known travel writer, now
a happy hacker ecstatic with his new Windows-free laptop computer (It doesn't take much to satisfy some people).
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| Test Configuration |
| Machine |
| IBM ThinkPad X31 series |
| Processor |
Intel Centrino 1.3 GHz
(Pentium-M + Intel 855 chipset + Intel 802.11b)
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| Video Card |
| ATI Radeon Mobile M6, 16MB |
| Memory |
| 256 MB, DDR-RAM |
| Hard Disk |
| 40 GB, 2.5 inch |
| Ethernet |
| Intel 82801BD PRO/100 VE
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| Wireless |
| Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adaptor (Centrino)
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| Ports |
| USB2 (2), IEEE 1394 (FireWire), RJ11 (Winmodem), RJ45 (Ethernet), infrared, parallel printer, docking connector, PCMCIA, CF disk |
| KANOTIX Specifications |
| Version |
| 09-2004-A |
| Release Date |
| 16 October 2004 |
| GUI |
| XFree86 4.3.0 with KDE and IceWM |
| File Systems |
• ext2
• ext3
• reiserfs
• reiser4
• JFS
• XFS
• VFAT
• ISO9660 |
| Minimum Requirements |
• i586 processor or above
• minimum 128MB RAM (for KDE)
• minimum 3GB hard disk space (if installed)
• CD-ROM
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| Platforms |
• x86
• AMD64
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| Features |
• live CD
• Superb hardware detection
• Easy HD installation
• Good mobile support
• Frequently updated
• Responsive developer
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| Bundled Software |
• apache 1.3.31
• cdrtools-2.0.1a38
• firefox 0.9.3
• gcc 3.3.5
• gimp 2.0.5
• glibc 2.3.2
• gnucash 1.8.9
• gtk+ 2.4.13
• guarddog 2.3.2
• iptables 1.2.11
• k3b 0.11.17
• kdebase 3.3.0
• linux 2.6.81
• mozilla 1.7.3
• mysql 4.0.21
• nano 1.2.4
• openoffice 1.1.2
• openssh 3.8.1p1
• perl 5.8.4
• php 4.3.9
• python 2.3.4
• quanta 3.2.3
• samba 3.0.7
• scribus 1.2
• sendmail 8.13.1
• XFree86 4.3.0
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| Reviews |
• Linux.com
|
| Price |
• CD - free download
• DVD US$6
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| Support |
• forum
• IRC Chat
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| Glossary |
live CD
|
Just boot it and use it - no need to install on the hard drive.
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ESSID and WEP
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ESSID (Extended Service Set IDentifier) is the name of a wireless access point (could be "starbucks", "aardvark-university", whatever). ESSID is one type of SSID (Service Set Identification). ESSID is for wireless networks with an access point, and BSSID (Basic Service Set Identification) is for ad-hoc wireless networks (that is, a network between two wireless-enabled computers where no wireless access point is involved).
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encrypts data on a wireless network. Many consider it to be not secure (there are some quick-and-dirty hacks available), and many are moving to WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access). It should be noted that WPA is an interim standard, destined to be eventually replaced with 802.11i.
|
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