What’s new?

• Linux kernel 2.6.36.2
• The bootloader automatically detects if a PAE kernel has to be booted or not
• Xorg 7.6 with Xserver 1.9.3 and KMS enabled for Intel and AMD/Ati chipsets
• XFCE 4.6.2 as desktop environment
• Namoroka (Firefox) 3.6.13
• Minefield (Firefox) 4.0b8 (start with the command firefox40)
• Lanikai (Thunderbird) 3.1.7 with Enigmail and Lightning
• Abiword 2.8.6
• Gnumeric Spreadsheet 1.10.12
• Grsync 1.1.1
• Gparted 0.7.0
• KeePassX 0.4.3
• Xfburn 0.4.3
• Brasero 2.32.1
• Partition Image 0.6.9
• TrueCrypt 7.0a
• TestDisk/PhotoRec 6.12-WIP
• BusyBox 1.18.1

Download and Install

To download, select one of the ISO-Images linked below: LessLinux Search and Rescue 1.5 is currently available in German and English:

• lesslinux-search-and-rescue-uluru-20110110-081814-en.iso (English)
• lesslinux-search-and-rescue-uluru-20110110-081814-de.iso (German)

Please compare the SHA1SUMs after downloading:

        188210364ac91a13ec3b62f45e1787b3044878ed  lesslinux-search-and-rescue-uluru-20110110-081814-de.iso
        329db06d9340a3f25235ffa7f0d0e5b6b5d701d8  lesslinux-search-and-rescue-uluru-20110110-081814-en.iso

You might burn the ISO to a blank CD or DVD. Since the ISO images are prepared with “isohybrid” you can also directly copy them to a USB thumb drive. On Linux use the command:

        dd if=lesslinux-search-and-rescue-uluru-20110110-081814-??.iso of=/dev/sdx

On Windows, download Win32ImageWriter, rename the .iso to .img, format the thumb drive and use Win32ImageWriter to copy the image to the drive.

You might also install to an USB thumb drive of at least 2GB size by booting from CD/DVD. In this case the thumb drive will be partitioned into two volumes: The first volume will be FAT32 and accessible from Windows, the second partition will be EXT2 and only accessible from linux. During installation you can decide whether to create an encrypted container that will continue your home directory. This is useful to store shell scripts, book marks, logins for web pages etc.

VNC access

There are three boot options that start a VNC server instead of a local X-Server.

• Unsafe local VNC access Allow anyone to connect on port 5900 without a password. Since everyone has root rights, you should use this option only in trustworthy environments.
• Safe local VNC access A VNC server is started on localhost:5900 only, but SSH access with root privileges is granted (week password “test”). So you can tunnel port 5900 to you local machine. Please consider changing the rootpwhash to some safe password. The command openssl passwd -1 creates a hash. (Note: not working due to a bug in the boot config, press tab, search skipservices=|...| and there replace roothash with runtimeconf)
• Reverse VNC VNC is used to export the desktop via an outgoing connection instead of allowing incoming connections, you might want to use this feature in cases where it is impossible to accept incoming connections (some DSL providers, NAT behind NAT when connected via a 3.5G router).

Kexec

Another new feature is the Cheatcode kexec=http://server/path/kexec.conf. If the cheatcode is present, said config file will be downloaded and the kernel and initrd mentioned will be booted. Just take a look at this config to see how it works. Just one kernel is allowed, multiple initrds (one per line) will be concatenated. Make sure that append is on the last line. Currently the boot menu contains eight kexec entries to kickstart internet installation of current versions of openSUSE, Debian and Ubuntu (LTS and current stable) – all 32 and 64 bit. Eventually an entry to boot the latest bleeding edge version of LessLinux Search and Rescue will follow.

The blob directory

You might notice the directory /lesslinux/blob. This new directory is intended to take files that are only distributed as binary only large objects. My intention is to use this directory to keep non free software out of the SquashFS containers. Users will be given the opportunity to add non-free components in a very simple way. Currently the blob directory can only be used to install Adobes Flash player instead of the free Gnash player. Either place the packed install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz or the unpacked libflashplayer.so in the blob directory. Upcoming builds will use the blob directory to integrate closed source virus scanners and similar stuff.

Simple remaster

If you want to build an ISO with different options in the boot menu – eg. change the password hash on SSH access or place Flash player in the blob directory, first unpack the contents of the ISO image to a directory build. Then run:

        mkisofs -input-charset utf8 -r -J -pad -o "remaster.iso" \
            -V 'lesslinux-search-and-rescue' -b boot/isolinux/isolinux.bin \
            -no-emul-boot -boot-info-table -boot-load-size 4 \
            -c boot/isolinux/boot.cat build

The source

You can download all source packages from LessLinux Search and Rescue 1.5 and previous builds from distfiles.lesslinux.org. An archive containing all build scripts is available from download.lesslinux.org/src/. Instructions on building your own LessLinux based system will follow in the next days.

The penguin

Thanks to Tobias Langhammer, a friend of mine from university days, LessLinux has a new logo (its first logo to be honest). The logo shows a flying penguin (OK, a jumping penguin) and is modeled after a photograph. The logo is available under the Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 license. I currently prefer the version with the dark background and I encourage using it for press stuff. Lighter colored versions will follow in a separate blog post.

Supporting you, supporting me

There are currently no mailing lists. You can ask questions by writing to support@mattiasschlenker.de. This Email is primarily used for paying customers, so please be so kind to wait a day or two for an answer.

If you want to support the development of LessLinux, there are certain options:

You run a company or work for a company willing to support LessLinux

I might invoice you with any sum from €5 upwards – either for support or “programming time”. If you have a EU VATIN (Value Added Tax Identification Number), the invoice will be without German VAT, and since transfers within the EU are fast and cheap, it also makes sense for small amounts. If you are located outside the EU or European Economic Area, the invoice also will be without German VAT, but the money transfer might cost significantly more, so it might just make sense for amounts of €50 upwards. Depending on the legislation in your country, invoices for development/support might be fully tax deductible.

Since LessLinux is highly customizable for many tasks like rescue, backup, distribution of images, demo systems for web based software, just ask for a quote if you have an idea.

You are a private person

If you are located within the EU, I might also write an invoice, but in this case I have to add German VAT (currently 19%). If you are outside the EU, transferring small amounts of money just does not make sense. I will investigate methods like PayPal or Amazon gifts in the near future. In the meantime: Since I like dry red wine you might send me a bottle of a local wine or – if you live north of the 51st parallel – some local beer.

• ISOhybrid conversion: Starting with version 3.8x of the Syslinux bootloader an ISO image can be prepared to be a valid hard disk image. Isolinux will boot this image in any case. There is one drawback however: A USB thumbdrive with this ISO image does not contain a writable filesystem anymore. Current LessLinux builds include a conversion routine: If sufficient RAM is found, the complete content of the ISO filessystem is copied to RAM during startup, the thumbdrive is reformatted as FAT32 and a Syslinux bootloader is written.

  To test this feature, use dd to copy the ISO to the thumbdrive: dd if=lesslinux.iso of=/dev/sdx. On Windows rename the ISO to .img and use Win32ImageWriter to perform this task.

• Start as Xen domU: With pvops Vanilla kernels getting mature it is possible to boot the same kernel on bare hardware and as Xen domU on the hypervisor. With small changes to the kernel configuration and the startup scripts (to search on Xens harddisks xvda and to open the console hvc0) LessLinux now boots on Xen. The practical usage of this feature will be for development and debugging, but it also offers the possibillity to offer lightweight live distributions as maintenance and rescue systems for hosting environments.

  To boot on Xen you must convert the initramfs files of the Vanilla Kernel 2.6.35.4 to a format that the domU loader understands — basically converting the multiple compressed cpio archives from /boot/isolinux to a single one:

  cat devs.img initram.img i2635vn.img | gunzip -c | gzip -c > initrd.img

  Then use this configuration file to fire up the domU. On pressing the Return key on hvc0 you get a simple shell where you can use ifconfig to determine the IP adress. Then use VNC to connect to the desktop of your LessLinux-domU.

  

Other new features:

• Kernel: 2.6.34.6 is default, 2.6.35.4 is optional
• Firefox: By running /opt/firefox40/lib/firefox/firefox you can start Firefox 4.0b4 with WebM support
• VLC: upgraded to 1.1.4
• Thunderbird: upgraded to 3.1.2, Enigmail and Lighning included

Known bugs:

• USB installation from the boot menu might not work, use ISOhybrid as mentioned above
• Sound will not work when booting Kernel 2.6.35.4
• Shutdown is blind due to some KMS issues
• Truecrypt manually load module fuse before running Truecrypt

Grab it here:

• Download from lesslinux.org lesslinux-search-and-rescue-uluru-20100903-134327.iso

Currently sound is muted after boot, so you have to run alsamixer and use the key M to unmute front and PCM (OO is unmuted). Use the arrow keys to change the volume. It should look like in the screenshot.

You can grab screenshots now by pressing Shift+F12. Screenshots are saved as PNG files in /tmp/screenshot_YYYYMMDD-hhmmss.png.

I included some more firmware for Zydas and Ralink cards, please test if your WLAN interface is detected correctly and can be used with WICD.

Some words according fast boots: You can skip copying to RAM by pressing the TAB key in the boot menu and setting the variable toram=700000 to an insanely high value toram=9999999999. You might also want to skip the hardware protocol (which consumes lots of time) by adding hwproto|hwinfo| to the variable skipservices.

Download build lesslinux-20090625-1240.iso!

Since I do not have included a screenshot application yet, a blurry shot made with my digicam:

Other changes:

• Firefox updated to 3.0.11
• Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 included

mmmm is built around the XML output of lshw and uses just Ruby and Ruby/Gtk. No DBUS, HAL or Policy Kit required which makes it attractive for builds that try to be as light as possible.

The interface of mmmm is clearly inspired by GtkMount of the Pmagic live distribution, but using the XML output of lshw is a bit more precise than just parsing “fdisk -l”.

TODO: mmmm is very usable right now, but for the future a button to reread devices would be nice.

Please test: Please test the latest build (lesslinux-20090604-1326) and tell me if mmmm correctly finds all your volumes. You might also send me your hardware information, so I can debug possible problems more easily.

Update: A small bug in mmmm prevents extended partitions from being correctly detected. A fixed build lesslinux-20090608-1708 is available.

1. Start of the X-Server to automatically detect the graphics card:

   

2. Install LessLinux to an USB stick:

   

3. Use or create encrypted containers:

   

4. Set the user password:

   

5. Adjust monitor driver and resolution:

   

Currently installation to USB stick and creation of encrypted containers does not do a check of free space. So you have to take care yourself. Besides that those functions work very well.

If you want to help, plese download the latest development build and run it.

Other improvements:

• Many updates of individual packages
• Xvesa not the only Xserver anymore, Xorg with drivers or Ati, Nvidia, Intel and Openchrome added
• Mousewheel now works in Xvesa
• XFCE updated to 4.6.1

Please provide feedback: I would be thankful if you provided me with some feedback regarding graphics and resolution on your hardware. If something does not work perfectly, please describe the problem and send me you hardware information so I can work on a solution. You might prepare an USB stick with an empty folder “hwinfo”. LessLinux writes an archive with lots of hardware information to this folder. Send me the content along with a description of your problem and I will try to solve it.

What’s next: I am now working on separating message strings from the tools to prepare some internationalization. WLAN support also has a high priority and the mount tool should follow soon.

Where to get it: Please download Lesslinux build 20090528-0856 from download.lesslinux.org/testing/