KNOPPIX+LKB

News

23-JUL-2009: Version 8 is out. New in this release:

• VirtualBox Guest Additions are now included, and load automatically if Knoppix+LKB detects it's running under VirtualBox. This means you can now resize the VirtualBox window, access shared folders, and use dynamic mouse pointer integration. VirtualBox version 2.2.2 or later is required. See KnoppixLKBVirtualBox for instructions on setting up VirtualBox, and see the "Usage Notes.html" file on the Knoppix desktop for information on mounting shared folders.
• Arabic and IPA fonts are now included. I'm not sure how well LUI and Trollet currently support Arabic, but the fonts are there and work in Emacs.
• Many additional input methods are now supported in SCIM, via the "scim-tables-additional" package. This includes a table-based input method for IPA. There do appear to be some coding system issues with IPA in Emacs -- it works using Emacs' own input method, but using SCIM gives blank squares. SCIM works OK for IPA in other apps, however.
• The "Usage Notes.html" file has been revised to be less UW-centric, since we now have several users outside the UW community.

08-MAY-2009: Version 7 is out. Based on some user feedback I've added a few new features in this release:

• Trollet, Pavel Mihaylov's alternative LKB frontend.
• Pavel Mihaylov's alternative, Pango-enabled LUI. This has been installed as "pangolui", as recommended on LkbLui. Issue (lui-initialize :lui "pangolui") at the LKB: prompt to load. This LUI is intended to offer better support for non-English character sets.
• Basic Thai language support, in the form of Thai fonts and a Thai SCIM input method. This is probably still not complete, but may be enough to do basic work in the language.

Overview

KNOPPIX+LKB is a bootable Linux live CD intended to make it easier for students to run LKB on their own computers. It requires no hard disk installation to run. It's similar in concept to Grammix, but defaults to English and contains somewhat more recent software.

Please send comments and suggestions to linghelp@u.washington.edu.

What's on it?

• Emacs version 22
• LKB (version 2009/04/27)
• Trollet and the alternate Pango-enabled LUI that goes with it (installed as "pangolui")
• svn
• VirtualBox Guest Additions
• Input methods: scim, scim-hangul, scim-thai, scim-tables-additional
• Fonts: ttf-unfonts, ttf-thai-tlwg, xfonts-intl-arabic, xfonts-intl-phonetic, emacs-intl-fonts
• Everything normally included in Knoppix, except for OpenOffice.org and GIMP, which had to be removed for space reasons.

System requirements

To boot the CD, you need at least the following:

• An Intel-compatible CPU, i486 or better (including Intel Macs)
• An SVGA-compatible graphics card
• A serial, PS/2, or USB mouse
• The ability to boot from CD.

To run the LKB, you will probably need 256 megabytes of RAM. For complex grammars you may need 512 megabytes or more, or you may need to create a swap file.

To save your files you'll need one of the following: a working Internet connection, a USB memory stick, or a hard disk partition Knoppix can recognize.

Getting KNOPPIX+LKB

Visit the download directory and download the .iso file, or the .torrent file if you would prefer a BitTorrent download. There are also checksum files (ending in .md5 and .sha1) if you'd like to check the integrity of your download.

Some people have reported that downloads from the server linked above stop before they're complete. If you're having problems, try the alternate site instead. This site also has an archive of older versions.

Using KNOPPIX+LKB

If you plan to run Knoppix+LKB under VirtualBox, see the instructions on the KnoppixLKBVirtualBox page. Otherwise, you'll need to burn the ISO image to a CD. Do NOT just copy the .iso file to the CD; it won't work. If you're running Windows, you should use something like ISO Recorder to burn the image. If you're using a Mac, you should double-click the .iso file to open it, then run Disk Utility, select the .iso file, and click Burn. The image is 604 megabytes and should fit on any standard CD blank.

Boot the CD. If you have a Windows machine, you may need to change your BIOS configuration to boot from CD; try it first, though, it may just work. If you have a Dell system, tapping F12 during the Dell boot screen may pop up a menu that will let you select a boot device. Intel Mac users should press and hold the C key when they hear the power-on chime.

When the CD finishes booting, click the Usage Notes.html file on the desktop for more information.

Troubleshooting

Monitor displays "INPUT OUT OF RANGE" or a similar error: This means Knoppix is detecting your monitor and/or graphics card improperly. Try manually specifying both the type of graphics card you have and your monitor's resolution. For example, if you have an NVIDIA card and your monitor can handle a maximum of 1680x1050, you would type the following at the boot: prompt:

knoppix xmodule=nv screen=1680x1050

Supported values for "xmodule" are ati, radeon, fbdev, vesa, savage, s3, nv, i810, mga, svga, and tseng. If you don't know which is correct, it's safe to try them one at a time until you find one that works.

I/O errors, system hangs during boot, boot fails: These can be caused by a damaged CD, or a CD that was not burned properly. Try typing knoppix testcd at the boot: prompt to test your CD.

Known Issues

• Because of a conflict between SCIM and [incr_tsdb()], input method switching does not work inside the itsdb podium.
• Due to limited space on the CD, not all foreign language fonts and input methods are loaded. However, if you need one that's not on there, let me know; I can probably squeeze it in. Currently Korean, Thai, Arabic, and IPA are supported.

-- brodbd - 23 Jul 2009