UBCD INSERT Cheat Codes

Last modified 09-16-04: Charles Appel

Cheatcodes are used to pass values to INSERT upon boot to help with enabling/disabling additional functionality or to work around difficult hardware. Bootcodes would probably be a more accurate description, but in keeping with the Knoppix tradition we'll stick with the term cheatcodes.

Cheatcodes are specified at the boot: prompt. Normally a user will simply hit enter or wait for the default timeout (30 seconds). However, if you want to enable/disable some hardware detection, restore previous settings, set display characteristics, etc, you will need to use cheatcodes.
Cheatcodes always start with the word insert, so the boot prompt syntax is
boot: insert cheatcode1 cheatcode2=value cheatcode-etc <Enter Key>

Note that cheat codes are case-sensitive; usually lowercase.

Additions to INSERT Cheat Codes

Additional Detection Method

Additional Cheat Codes

myinit=scan | /dev/XXXX

Look for and execute insert.sh. scan will search all partitions autodetection finds, /dev/XXXX will look only in the specified partition, where: XXXX is sdXN or hdXN. X is a letter a-z and N is a partition number 1-9. For example, to run insert.sh from the first partition on the first IDE hard drive, use insert myconf=/dev/hda1. Many USB drives start at sdd and usually have only one partition so you could try /dev/sdd1 for USB drives. Consult Customizing and Persistence for more information on myinit.

nomods

This will disable module detection and loading.  This can be helpful when used with the toram option to avoid loading modules into memory.

scanall

Search all known drives/partitions for home directory, myconf and myinit files.

scanusb

An experimental cheat code that attempts to only search USB drives for modules, home directory, myconf and myinit files.  It is experimental because I'm not yet sure it's going to work 100% of the time and could end up scanning hard drive partitions.

nohome noconf noinit

In case you specified any of the following: cheatcodes scanusb, home=, myconf= or myinit= to your initparms file (not recommended), will disable the home, myconf and myinit features.

Troubleshooting Cheat Codes

noapic noagp noapm nodma nomce nofirewire nopcmcia noscsi noswap nousb nosmp noaudio noideraid

Skip parts of Hardware-detection, In case of a failing hardware autodetection, try booting with any or all of the "no-" options as shown above. For example:  insert noagp noapm noapic nodma nopcmcia noscsi nousb to skip some critical parts of the autodetection system. The "noswap" option is useful for a forensic analysis or working with failed/failing drives without touching existing partitions.

mem=128M

Specify Memory size in MByte, Some Boards apparently don't pass the proper memory size to the linux-kernel. It may cause the message "Panic cannot mount root file system" and the system hangs. Use insert mem=128M to solve that problem if your system has 128MByte memory for example (caution you MUST use a capital "M" here). You can use a number greater than 128 if your system has more memory, but try to keep this number slightly below actual memory.

pci=irqmask=0x0e98

Notebook if PS/2 mouse doesn't work, Try "insert pci=irqmask=0x0e98" if (you have a notebook and) your PS/2 mouse doesn't work. (Possibly caused by a BIOS-flaw on your board.)

ide2=0x180 nopcmia

boot from PCMCIA-CD (Transmeta notebooks)

pci=biosirq

Will force the use of the BIOS assigned Interrupt ReQuests on the PCI bus. Possible cure for non-functioning hardware. Very handy for unruly IRQ conflicts. Look at dmesg and cat /proc/pci to find out if you have any such troubles..

testcd

Check CD data integrity, If your UBCD makes strange noises during boot, or you see frequent errors like "cloop read error", or programs on your desktop keep crashing randomly, then your CD image is probably defective or incomplete, or your CD-burner created a defective CD due to wrong writing speed or bad media. This is the most common error reported. Please boot with insert testcd to check if the CD is OK, and/or even better, verify the MD5 checksums that are present on the mirrors before writing the CD. Also, please read the KNOPPIX-FAQ. Note that if you customized your own CD but did not create MD5 checksums for the added files, this test will report errors.  Note that if you add UBCD Insert Modules manually instead of using the ubcdmod script, testcd will fail.

xmodule=fbdev

A simple video card driver accessing the video ram directly. It does not provide hardware acceleration, but should work with most cards ok. Useful for older laptops.

Common Cheat Codes

2

Init runlevel 2. This will not start the X graphical environment but bring you to a command prompt instead. This parameter must be the last cheatcode specified: as an example, to set the timezone and drop to a console prompt, use boot: insert tz=MST 2. The Tux graphic will remain on the screen and interfere with some applications so it is recommended you type the word reset as soon as you drop to the console prompt.

tz=XXX

Set the time zone. By default, Insert sets tz=EDT so you're clock will be off unless you're in the Eastern Time zone. This is an ideal parameter for the initparms file.

toram

Loads the entire contents of Insert to RAM. This option requires at least 128MB of memory and preferably 256. This option may be necessary when you only have one CDROM drive and need to access it during your Insert session (for example, to run bashburn). The nomods cheatcode can be useful in addition to toram to save additional RAM when you don't need UBCD Insert modules.

noswap

Does not attempt to mount a swap partition if it exists or create one on a FAT partition. Useful when performing forensics in which you don't want Insert to scan or touch your hard drives. Also see nofstab.

nofstab

Does not attempt to search for hard disk partitions. Useful when performing forensics in which you don't want Insert to scan or touch your hard drives. Note that you will manually have to create /mnt/XXX directories for any partitions you wish to mount. Also see noswap.

myconf=scan | /dev/XXXX

Search for and extract saved configuration. Consult Customizing and Persistence for more information on myconf.

home=scan | /dev/XXXX

Search for and mount persistent home directory. Consult Customizing and Persistence for more information on home.

screen=1280x1024

Use specified Screen resolution for X

xvrefresh=60 or vsync=60

Use 60 Hz vertical refresh rate for X

xhrefresh=80 or hsync=80

Use 80 kHz horizontal refresh rate for X

xmodule=ati|radeon|fbdev|vesa|savage|s3|nv|i810|mga|svga|tseng

Use specified XFree4-Module

Even more Cheat Codes