Knoppix CD->partimage : How do I run it?

[Sylvander]

Story so far...

1. Managed to change the password [and confirm it] to run a root.

2. partimage [the "Partition Image" program] ran and I set all the necessary parameters [save to "file:/mnt/hde8/image/c/060515"] and set it going.

3. Got...
Error : Cannot read temporary file
[file:/mnt/hde8/image/c/pi361b6af5.tmp]
Please check there is space enough and you have access rights.

4. Both the drive to be imaged [C: within Windows], and the drive to save the image file to [G: in Windows] have plenty of space and are mounted, but with read-only access.
Tried to change to read & write access, but that failed.

Any ideas?

[Paul Komski]

What I do is to RClick on previously mounted drives on the desktop and choose Actions "Change Read/Write Mode" or else choose Properties "Permissions" and set all groups to Read and Write.

Using Chmod from a prompt would be the other way to go but should be unnecessary if you have made the changes from the Desktop GUI.

[Sylvander]

I r-clicked on my G: drive, chose "Properties", then "Permissions", and set "Groups" to read & write, and hit ok, and got...
ERROR - Konqueror
Changing the attributes of files is not supported with protocol devices.

I'd previously used...
sudo passwd
to change the root password, and was in Super-User do mode.

Should I try entering the command...
sudo chmod?

What does the chmod program do?

What are all these different terminals versus the command prompt?
Clear as mud! :confused:

[Paul Komski]

chmod is a command not dissimilar to attrib would be under dos which sets the file attributes/permissions under unix/linux. Its more eqivalent to the sort of attributes one can set on ntfs permissions with an nt-based os and incorporates which groups have access as well as readabililty/writability/executabililty.

Similar problem resolved with chmod at http://www.eglug.org/node/1239

man chmod
at a command prompt may give you too much information but it is a core utility

[Paul Komski]

Perhaps you would find http://www.codecoffee.com/tipsforlinux/articles/032-1.html helpful.

And http://webmasterworkshop.com/guides/chmod_guide.shtml gives more outline and why for example the value 777 gives total permissions to everyone.

A lot of people first encounter chmod when uploading their websites for the first time since many web-servers are unix-based.

edit
And not forgetting the sticky! http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=23601

[Sylvander]

So it looks like I must open a terminal and enter...
su - cd /mnt chmod 777 /mnt/hda5

My understnding of...
chmod 777 /mnt/hda5
chmod is the program that modifies file/folder attributes for user/group/the world.
777 means that all 3 groups are to have read/write/execute capability.
/mnt/hda5 is what all of this is to be applied to [HDD = hda5].

su means?
I'd have thought sudo would have been used to specify that the [following] program specified was to be given Super User status.

What does the space dash space and cd /mnt mean?

Anyway, I'll go off and try the command and see what happens.

[Paul Komski]

sudo only works as a one-off command I think and I'm not sure if it is even used by Knoppix at all; su being an equivalent.

Trying to copy a file to a write protected folder wont work no matter what permissions one has at the time any more than an admin could edit a read only file under Windows. The attribute must first be changed but to change the attribute one may need special privileges.

linux commands as per the sticky
http://www.onlamp.com/linux/cmd/

[Sylvander]

sudo does work; I've tried it.
Used...
sudo passwd
to change the Super User password to one specified by me, which worked just fine. :)

I have a note that the user can use either...
sudo [prog]
or else...
su
[prog1]
[prog2]
[prog3]
exit
...to run multiple programs then exit [no need to exit with sudo since it only applies to the single prog that follows it]

I tried...
su - cd /mnt chmod 777 /mnt/hda5
and got the error...
Unknown id: cd
so it didn't understand that any more than I did. :(

but to change the attribute one may need special privileges
Thwarted at every turn! :(
Not a very user friendly OS?
So how do I get [to make] these "special privi-laws" I wonder?

[Paul Komski]

I knew I had read something about sudo and knoppix on a live CD so maybe it was the second quote below from: http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11500

Just go to the BASH shell (terminal) and just type "su" (w/ out the quotes)
There, u got root access!
This is ONLY FOR THE LIVE CD THOUGH!
and
Apparently, however, in some versions of Knoppix, if you type 'sudo -s', it will ask for a password. If you simply press return without entering anything, it will tell you 'Authentication Failed."

Rather than su - cd /mnt chmod 777 /mnt/hda5 as one line I would try
su
then enter
cd /mnt chmod 777 /mnt/hda5

I'm using Knoppix 3.9 and never set any passwords and do everything from the desktop - so far without any other access problems when I have used partimage or when accessing usb drives - which has been the main value, for me, of knoppix.

PS there's another tip to help make things writable at: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Using_FAQ#Q:_What_is_the_root_password.3F

Tip: In the shell the command "mount -o remount,rw /mnt/" can allow already-mounted file systems to be "made writeable".

... and the point is made that for an already read only access there must be an unmount prior to a remount as writable ! Could that have been part of the problem.

I don't know about Knoppix or Linux being user unfriendly - its just that one shouldnt expect it to behave like windows. How easy would someone completely new to windows find it to go about making image files and such like disk access operations - not without any problems I would suspect.

[Sylvander]

Tried...
su [Enter]
then...
cd /mnt chmod 777 /mnt/hda5 [Enter]
...Which were accepted without complaint.

But it made no difference to using partimage.
Still got...
Error : Cannot read temporary file
[file:/mnt/hde8/image/c/pi361b6af5.tmp]
Please check there is space enough and you have access rights.

Tried to run the help program to read about "Protocol Devices", but the system wouldn't do what it was told.
The CD was constantly being read and it seemed like the software was trying to do something but it never got there. In the end I had to use the power-off switch.

I don't know where to go from here. :(

Perhaps I should try making a new Knoppix CD.
I have Knoppix 3.8 and you say you have 3.9.

[mjc]

Just how much RAM is on your machine...remember Knoppix not only runs from the CD, but also a ramdisk. If you don't have more than 512MB you may be pushing the limit when trying to run something else.

[Sylvander]

"Just how much RAM is on your machine"
I only have 128 MB on this old thing.
I just downloaded the iso file and made and ran version 4.0.2.
Whilst doing that I noticed it said at least 128 MB was recommended.
This version 4 is using all kinds of languages.
Some of the menus are in german [I don't speak or read it].
Think I'll try making and using version 3.9.
I wonder if I could be using the wrong method to make the CD?
See the group of "v3.9...EN.iso" files in the image below.
I've only been using the top huge [712592 kB] iso file to make the CD.
What are the other [1 kB] files intended for I wonder?

[Sylvander]

Well, I erased the CD-RW holding Knoppix v4.0.2 and burned v3.9 to it.
At least that's all in English.
Still cannot find a way to make partimage work!

On v3.8 "Partition Image" was listed among all the other programs [just above qtparted], but in these later versions I don't see it listed, although it does run using a command in a console.

A LITTLE ASIDE
Tried deleting:
First a small jpg file [which worked]...
Then the Knoppix iso file [712,592 kB] which made Knoppix freeze and I was forced to switch off.
I guess when the user sends a file to the "Trash" Knoppix attempts to save it on the RAMdrive huh?
Which it "No can do"!

[Sylvander]

1. Downloaded the md5 file.
2. Put the md5 and iso files in the same folder [on my F: partition].
3. Downloaded and installed the md5summer program.
4. Ran the program and it registered itself to handle md5 files [put the necessary settings in the registry].
5. R-clicked on the md5 file and chose "Verify with md5summer".
6. md5summer.exe ran and verified that the iso file tallied with the checksum inside the md5 file.
7. Since the new iso checked out as free of flaws I erased the original v3.9 CD-RW disk and re-burned the new iso to the CD.

[mjc]

It does work a lot better with more than 128MB for RAM...much less running from the CD and you can have more 'active' programs without swapping. I think that the low memory

[Paul Komski]

You might want to set up a swap file:

http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Rescue_FAQ#Q:_How_do_I_setup_swap.3F

[Sylvander]

Does anyone understand the following from the instructions in the link?

1. The various parts of the following and where the spaces go? [It's not blindingly obvious to me]
And where would this be done? In a root console or what? Which user?
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/hda1/swapfile bs=1024 count=65536

2. Huh?
Check that the swap file appears in /proc/swaps.

Wish me luck. :confused:

[Paul Komski]

dd is the application
if is the InputFile
of is the OutputFile
bs is the BlockSize to be copied
count is the number of blocks to be copied

man dd
at a command prompt should explain it more fully

P.S.
Thus to backup the mbr you might run
dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr-bkup.dat bs=512 count=1
and to restore it
dd if=mbr-bkup.dat of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1

Don't get it wrong - there are no warnings!!!