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517 lines
17 KiB
<html>
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<head><title>gBootRoot</title></head>
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<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0000EF" vlink="#51188E"
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alink="#FF0000">
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<H1 align="center">gBootRoot</h1>
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<H3 align="center">at</h3>
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<p align="center"><A href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/gbootroot">
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<IMG src="http://sourceforge.net/sflogo.php?group_id=9513&type=1"
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width="88" height="31" border="0"
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alt="SourceForge Logo"> </A></p>
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<p></p>
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<P align="center">
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<b>bOOTrOOT</b> makes the development, construction, and
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testing of distributions fun and simple.</P>
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<br>
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<P align="center">
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<b>Download gBootRoot</b></P>
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<P align="center">Stable version</P>
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<p align="center"><A href="http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gbootroot/">
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Old versions</A></P>
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<P align="center">
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<IMG ALT="" SRC="images/gbootroot.jpg">
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</P>
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<P align="center">
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<b>How to Use gBootRoot</b></P>
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<P><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/gBS.jpg" align="right">The most important button to
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familiarize yourself with is the Submit button which starts the whole process;
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dialogs are presented as the process continues asking you if you want to
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continue "OK" or stop "Cancel".</P>
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<p>
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The <u>first row</u> presently has only one Boot Method choice:
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"2 disk compression."  
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Clicking on the menu on the right selects the Boot Method.</p>
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<P>The <u>second row</u> allows you to select the kernel for the Boot/Root set. You
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may either use the file selector button on the right hand side, or you may
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type in the location on the left hand side.</P>
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<P>
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The <u>third row</u> allows you to select the compressed filesystem you are
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providing, using either of the two ways mentioned before. You may use a
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pre-made root filesystem or you may create one using one of the Methods
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provided in the Advanced Root Section.
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</P>
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<P>The <u>fourth row</u> allows you to select the device you want to use. The default
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device is the first floppy disk - /dev/fd0.</P>
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<p>
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The <u>fifth row</u> allows you to choose the size of the device being used.
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The default size of 1440 assumes you are using a floppy drive (Note: You may
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want to experiment with 1722 which works fine with many floppy drives.), but
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can be used with other sized devices like tape drives. Click on the
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appropriate radio button to choose either gzip or bzip2 compression if the
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program doesn't automatically detect it.</p>
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<P align="center"><b>Verbosity Box</b></p>
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<IMG ALT="" SRC="images/verbosity_box.jpg" align="right">
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The <u>slider bar</u> on the right allows the output of the verbosity box
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to be
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changed from the highest (2) to the lowest setting (1) or to be turned off (0)
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or on again.
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At times it may be advantageous to turn off the verbosity box
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since large quantities of output to this box may cause gbootroot to use too
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much cpu power; however, output may still be found in the text file "verbose"
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in /tmp/gbootroot_tmp'time-date'.</p>
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<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
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<p><P align="center"><b>
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Using the Advanced Boot Section</b></p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/ABS.jpg" align="right">
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"Stripping" On by default for libraries and binaries. The stripping
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behavior for libraries may be changed by clicking on the right mouse button
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to change from --strip-debug to --strip-all.</p>
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<p>
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"Devel Device" If the device used for development is different than the
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actual boot device, use this field to indicate that device. You will have to
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run lilo -v -C brlilo.conf -r "device mount point" manually at a later time
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on the actual boot device.</p>
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<p>
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"Opt. Device" Add devices to the boot disk which are necessary for the
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kernel to function properly.
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Put a space between each device.
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For instance, /dev/fb0 for frame buffer devices.</p>
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<p>
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"Kernel Module" Add the modules found in
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/lib/modules/kernel-version which are necessary for the Boot Method to work
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properly.
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If these modules aren't found in the modules directory it is assumed
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that they either are in the kernel or they do not exist.
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In the case of 2 disk compression, floppy needs to be included in the
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kernel or included as a module.
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Kmod inserts the modules, and kmod needs to be built into the kernel along
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with initrd and ramdisk.",</p>
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<p>
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"append =" Add append options to brlilo.conf. If you are using a frame
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buffer device you could add something like video=matrox:vesa:402,depth:16.</p>
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<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
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<P align="center">
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<b>Using the Advanced Root Section</b></P>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/ARS.jpg" align="right">
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"Root Device"
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This is the device used for the root filesystem when
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constructing the Boot/Root set.
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You may choose a device which is different
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than the Boot device, but presently only floppy devices are supported.</p>
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<p>
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"Root Device Size" The size of the actual media used for the Root Device.</p>
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<p>
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"Root Filename"
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The name give to the root filesystem when initially made
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in the temporary creation location.
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The save button allows the creation to
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be saved in the permanent default location when the
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Accept button is pressed.</p>
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<p>
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"Filesystem Size"
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Root Methods make the filesystem the size which is
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specified here.</p>
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<p>
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"Compression"
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Off by default to allow user-mode-linux testing. Turn on
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compression when you are ready to use a Boot Method
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which requires compression.</p>
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<p>
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"Method" The root filesystem creation method.</p>
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<p>
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"Template" The template associated with a Root Method.
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Not all Root Methods
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have templates.</p>
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<p>
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"Generate" This puts the chosen Root Method in action.</p>
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<p>
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"UML" Abbreviation for user-mode-linux.
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This is a linux kernel which runs on
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top of the host system's linux kernel and allows a you run a live root
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filesystem.</p>
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<p>
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"Accept"
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This accepts the created root filesystem if it is found in the
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temporary creation directory.
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The UML box and the main section will now
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reflect the path to this root filesystem.
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You can now test with the UML
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button or a put together a complete Boot/Root set with the Submit button.</p>
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<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
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<p><P align="center"><b>User Mode Linux Box</b></p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/uml_box.jpg" align="right">
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"Xterm" Choose an xterm with its executable options switch.</p>
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<p>
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"Options" Enter uml command-line options like: mem=64,
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devfs=nomount.</p>
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<p>
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"Root_Fs" Choose an uncompressed root filesystem.
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Append with ubd?=.</p>
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<p>
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"Abort" Abort user-mode-linux kernel processes. </p>
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<p><P align="center"><b>
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About the Yard Box</b></p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/yard_box.jpg" align="center"></p>
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The Yard Box is a Root Method which is "Generated" from the Advanced Root
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Section after a Template is chosen.
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It has several interesting features.
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<p>
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The check boxes at the bottom represent the different stages involved in
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creating a root filesystem.
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The behavior of these stages may be altered in
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three ways: Edit->Stages->one-by-one (default) will perform each stage
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sequentially, stopping between each stage, the user may continue the process
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by pressing the Continue button.
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Edit->Stages->continuous proceeds non-stop
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through all the stages.
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Edit->Stages->'user defined' allows the user to
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choose any stages the user wants, and will then proceed through all the
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chosen stages.
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Choosing only 'Check', 'Links & Deps', 'Create" is a good
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example.</p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/tests.jpg" align="center"></p>
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<p>
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The behavior of some of the stages may be altered.
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For instance Alt-T allows
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you to choose which tests to run on the newly created
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root filesystem.</p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/template_search.jpg" align="center"></p>
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<p>
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Press Alt-S to enable template text searching in either
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direction.
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Find exact matches or ignore case with the case sensitive check
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box.</p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/file.jpg" align="center"></p>
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<p>
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Use Ctl-S to save the changes to an open template, and Alt-A to save the
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template with a new name.
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bOOTrOOT will not allow read-only templates or template links to be saved
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with their own name.
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A few of these example files are included.
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You may make changes to them or clear their buffers.
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Then you may save the template with a
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different name.</p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/stripping.jpg" align="center"></p>
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<p>
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Edit->Settings->Stripping allows you to turn off/on stripping for
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Libraries, Binaries, and Modules.
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--strip-all is the default for binaries and libraries,
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and --strip-debug is the default for modules; however libraries may
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be changed to --strip-debug in the settings.</p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/paths.jpg" align="center"></p>
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<p>
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Edit->Setting->Paths allows you to prepend a new search path to your
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environments $PATH variable.
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</p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/filesystem.jpg" align="center"></p>
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<p>
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Edit->'File System" may alter the type of filesystem used to make the root
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filesystem.
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Because the filesystem is created on a loop device, some
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filesystem types may complain or not be created at all.</p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/replacements.jpg" align="center"></p>
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<p>
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Edit->Replacements in your $HOME/.gbootroot/Replacements directory using
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an editor of your choice.
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</p>
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<p><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/create.jpg" align="center"></p>
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<p>
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Create->Replacements creates special replacement files.
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Presently it creates
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an fstab configuration file as Replacements/etc/fstab.new in
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$HOME/.gbootroot/yard/.</p>
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<P>Little things you may want to know:</P>
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<P>* gBootRoot requires ash for initrd. Ash is a feather weight version of Bash.</P>
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<br>
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<P><IMG ALT="" SRC="images/gBSicon.jpg" align="center"> <b>FAQ</b></P>
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<P><b>What does the 2 disk compression method do?</b></P>
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<P>This Boot Method creates a boot disk with lilo, a kernel and an initrd
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image. The
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initrd script mounts another root disk with a compressed (gzip or bzip2)
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filesystem.</P>
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<P><b>What's the advantage of using this program?</b></P>
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<p>
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(Explanation from the first gbootroot.)<br>
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"You can use a bzip2 compressed filesystem, this program is easy to use, and
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it provides a framework showing a simple initrd method which you can freely
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modify.
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I wrote this program as an extension to BootRoot which was written
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as a solution to help oster at EE (www.experts-exchange.com) create separate
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boot and root floppies for an emergency system for his customers."</P>
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<P><A href="./bootroot.html">BootRoot</A>
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was the original program, but I decided that a GUI approach
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provided the user much more versatility and power in creating distributions.
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Since the first gBootRoot,
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bOOTrOOT has become a full blown distribution creation program.</P>
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<P>If you make a cool change to this program, or if this program helps you I'd love to know, that's better than receiving pizza. :)</P>
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<P><b>How can I test gBootRoot?</b></P>
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<P>1. Download
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<a href="http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/user-mode-linux/root_fs_tomrtbt_1.7.205.bz2">
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root_fs_tomrtbt_1.7.205.bz2</a> from
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<a href="http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/user-mode-linux">
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user-mode-linux</a> at Sourceforge to your
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$HOME/.gbootroot/root_filesystems. </p>
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<p>
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2. bzip2 -dc root_fs_tomrtbt_1.7.205.bz2 > root_fs_tomrtbt_1.7.205.
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</p>
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<p>
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3. Run gbootroot.
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Click on the Advanced Root Section, click on
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the UML button. Select root_fs_tomrtbt_1.7.205, and click on the Submit
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button.</p>
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<p>
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4. Click on the Advanced Boot Section.
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Root_fs_tomrtbt is about 16M, so add ramdisk_size=16384 to
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the 'append=' entry.
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From the main box choose '2 disk compression', and
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press on the Root Filesystem button and select root_fs_tomrtbt_1.7.205.bz2.
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</p>
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5. Click the Submit button on the main box.
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Have two floppy disks ready.
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<p>
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6. When you see Lilo you may access the menu using [Ctrl] and
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[Tab] to see the available images.
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<P><b>My root filesystem doesn't start in single mode when started like
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this:   "bootdisk 1?"</b></P>
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<P>
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When you start a kernel image with 1, you are telling it to start in runlevel
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1, not in single mode.   Use "single" instead.</p>
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<p>
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Why on the subject, it should be pointed at the setting up init and its
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runlevels is one of the
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most challenging areas of creating a bootable root_fs.   Often
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your creation will only work with "single" until all the conflicts
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are resolved.   Things are complicated even futher by the fact that
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devices can now be set up in two majors ways: tty? or ttys/? (devfs).
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  Fortunately, user-mode-linux comes in very handy for hunting
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down all the bugs.
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</P>
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<p><b>There isn't enough room left on my 1440 floppy to make a Boot or Root
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disk. Is there any way to free up more space apart from reducing
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the size of the kernel?</b></p>
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<p>
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Move the device size to 1722. This is a trick that <a href="http://www.toms.net/rb/">tomsrtbt</a> uses on his famous rescue disk.</p>
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<p>
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(Update 10/05/2001) <br>
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Up until mke2fs version 1.19 you were able to do
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`mke2fs -F /dev/fd0 1722` on a 1440 device without any problem, but since
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then mke2fs has become much more particular about enforcing actual device
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size. . Mke2fs will complain:</p>
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<p>
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"mke2fs: Attempt to write block from filesystem resulted in short write
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zeroing block 1600 at end of filesystem."</p>
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<p>
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I understand Theodore Ts'o reasoning for doing this, but I strongly believe
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that the old behavior was very useful for people creating
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mini-distributions so I have issued Feature Request (#) at (here).
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It should be noted that fdformat is an unacceptable solution because it tends
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to be machine specific, and the original mke2fs behavior made floppies that
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worked everywhere.
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Feel free to add your comments to the Feature Request. Thanks.</p>
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<p>
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<b>gBootRoot doesn't start because it can't locate Gtk.pm?</b></P>
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<p>This program requires Gtk-Perl available from <a href="http://www.perl.com/CPAN">CPAN</a>, <a href="http://freshmeat.net/projects/gtk-perl">Freshmeat</a> or most GNU/Linux distributions.</p>
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<p><b>If you roll the floppy density counter down to 0 and then try go back
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up towards 1440 and 1722, you get very funny figures.</b></p>
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<p>
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This is because of the way Gtk works. There are two adjustments,
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step and page increments. When you press your first mouse button the step
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has been set to 282 so that a person can easily switch between 1440 and 1722.
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When you use your second mouse button the page is set at 360. You can go
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down to zero by pressing your third mouse button on the down arrow. Now
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page up with the second button to 1440 and step with the first button to
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1722. Pretty cool, eh?</p>
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<p>Why we are on this subject please check out these keyboard shortcuts for Gtk.</p>
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<P>Motion Shortcuts
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<UL>
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<LI> Ctrl-A Beginning of line </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-E End of line </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-N Next Line </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-P Previous Line </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-B Backward one character </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-F Forward one character </LI>
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<LI> Alt-B Backward one word </LI>
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<LI> Alt-F Forward one word </LI>
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</UL>
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<P> Editing Shortcuts
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<UL>
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<LI> Ctrl-H Delete Backward Character (Backspace) </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-D Delete Forward Character (Delete) </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-W Delete Backward Word </LI>
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<LI> Alt-D Delete Forward Word </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-K Delete to end of line </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-U Delete line </LI>
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</UL>
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<P>Selection Shortcuts
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<UL>
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<LI> Ctrl-X Cut to clipboard </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-C Copy to clipboard </LI>
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<LI> Ctrl-V Paste from clipboard </LI>
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</UL>
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<IMG ALT="Larry Ewing's Penguin celebrates in gBootRoot." SRC="images/peng-movie.4.gif">
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<br><br><br>
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Contact me: Jonathan Rosenbaum <<a href="freesource@users.sourceforge.net">freesource@users.sourceforge.net</a>>
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<br>
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Submit a Bug: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=9513">gBootRoot Bug System</a>
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<br>
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Join or browse the mailing lists: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=9513">gbootroot-{devel,user} mailing lists</a>
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<br>
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Ask a question: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=29639">Help Forum</a>
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<br>
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Start a discussion: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=29638">Open Discussion Forum</a>
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