Help

WELCOME to antiX Linux: Lean and Mean!

The demo user password is "demo" (no quotes)
The root password is "root" (no quotes)

Tip: press [Esc] at any time to leave the help system.

Using the Help System

The help system consists of a set of linked pages that you can navigate through with the following keys.

Tip: use [Left Arrow] or [Backspace] to go back to your place (same highlighted link) on the previous page.

Go to General Help

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General Help

This bootloader lets you select what to boot: antiX Linux, hard drive boot, or memtest. In the case of antiX Linux you can select which boot parameters (cheat codes) get set. There are three ways to enter information:

Tip: press [F12] to see all the currently selected boot options.

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F2: Select Language

Press [F2] to get a list of supported languages. Select your language. In addition to setting the language, this option will also set the keyboard layout and timezone. If your country has more than one timezone then use the F3 Timezone menu to explicitly set the timezone for your area.

This menu is an easy shortcut for entering lang=[language-code] directly on the boot options line.

The default language is American English.

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F3: Select Timezone

Press [F3] to get a list of cities in various time zones. The cities are listed in time zone order so they circle the globe eastward. If your area uses Daylight Savings Time then make sure you select a city that does also. These cities are marked with a trailing * (asterisk). Your system will be started using the timezone selected.

The menu is an easy shortcut for entering tz=[your-timezone] directly on the boot line.

The default time zone is Eastern Time (EST or EDT depending on the time of year).

Tip: you do not have to use this menu if you have set a language and your country/area has only one time-zone.

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F4: Miscellaneous Options

You can only select one of these options. If you want more than one then you will need to type some of them in manually. Normally checkfs, savestate, and nosavestate are only useful on the LiveUSB or a frugal install.

checkmd5 ............ Check integrity of the install media.
checkfs .............. Check integrity of the LivUSB and persistent file systems.
toram .................. Copy the compressed file system to RAM.
from=usb ............ Sets default booting device to a LiveUSB
nousb2 ................ Disable all usb-2 devices. This helps a few older systems boot.
acpi=off ............. Disable acpi. This helps on some older laptops.
hwclock=ask ..... Have the system help determine the clock setting
hwclock=utc ...... Use UTC for hardware clock (Linux-only systems)
hwclock=local .. Use localtime for hardware clock (Windows systems)
private .............. Change default root and demo passwords before booting for increased security
nostore ......... Disable LiveUSB-Storage feature.
bootchart .......... Create /var/log/bootchart.tgz
savestate .......... Save some files across reboots eg alsa sound, networking (LiveUSB only)
nosavestate ...... Don't save files across reboots (LiveUSB only)

See Mounting Options for the rest of the F4 menu options.
See Option Details for details on some of these options.
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F4: Option Details

Check File Systems (checkfs)
Check all ext2/3/4 file systems used by the LiveUSB/frugal-install and by persistence. Will not check a LiveCD or a LiveUSB made with a fat32 file system.

To Ram (toram)
Copy the linuxfs file to RAM. This takes some time during the boot but it will make LiveCDs and USB-1.0 LiveUSBs run much faster after the boot is complete.

Hardware Clock (hwclock=[utc|local])
The hardware clock saves the time and date between boots. If you are dual booting with Windows then use local, otherwise utc is best.

Saving State (savestate, nosavestate)
These options should only appear on a LiveUSB/frugal-install. Even if persistence is not enabled we will save some files for you across reboots which can be handy. See the directory /antiX/state/ on the LiveUSB which will be created on the first boot.

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F4: Mounting Options

The Live system will dynamically update the fstab file whenever a usb drive gets plugged in. You can also choose to have drives mounted automatically when they are plugged in.

Note: Your automount choices are saved on persistent systems.

See Miscellaneous Options for the rest of the F4 menu options.

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F5: Persistence Options

off ......... No Persistence/No frugal
persist_all ..... Fast. Saves root and home (uses RAM, saves at shutdown)
persist_root .... Fast. Only saves root (uses RAM, saves at shutdown)
persist_static .. Slow. Saves root and home (no RAM use, saves constantly)
persist_home .... Only home persistence
frugal_persist .. Frugal with both root and home persistence
frugal_root ..... Frugal with only root persistence
frugal_static ... Frugal with home and static root persistence
frugal_home ..... Frugal with only home persistence
frugal_only ..... Only Frugal, no persistence

See Persist Details for details on some of these options.
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F5: Persist Details

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F6: Select Desktop Program

On full and base systems, there are a number of desktop programs (window managers) available. The F6 menu allows you to choose which desktop program to use.

Desktop names that start with Rox- (Rox pinboard) or Space- (SpaceFM desktop) provide desktop icons, convenient for people who are just starting out. The min- prefix, however, boots the selected window manager with the least amount of additional bells and whistles.

If you are running a persistent system and you install new window manager programs then you can boot into them by typing desktop=program-name. Look in the /usr/share/xsessions/ directory to see what names should be used.

New for antiX: The F6 menu also provides Dark theme and Light theme options. Since light is the default, use Dark theme to change the color scheme of all the desktop programs (Fluxbox, IceWM, etc). There is also the option to set the font-size.

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F7: Set Console Resolution

This menu allows you to set the resolution of the virtual consoles using the deprecated vga kernel boot parameter. This works well on many older systems but on newer systems with wide screen displays the codes used are non-standard. For example the 1600x1200* resolution works in Virtual Box but may not work elsewhere.

Most newer systems support Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) which lets the video driver handle the consoles and automatically sets the highest resolution possible.

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Frugal Install

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F8: Save Bootloader Settings

On LiveUSBs and Frugal installs, the F8 Save menu should appear. A LiveUSB made with the "dd" command acts like a LiveCD and does not have the F8 Save menu.

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Main Menu Boot Options

These are the options that show up in the Boot Options box.

quiet
Tell the kernel to not print a lot of debugging information to the screen.

splash=v
Enable background decoration on the virtual (text) consoles. Delete it or set it to off to disable these decorations.

disable=lx
Disable some startup services for faster booting and less RAM usage.

nomodeset
Do not let the video driver take over the console. If the screen goes blank early in the boot process then you probably need this option.

xorg=safe
Disable the hardware video driver from controlling graphics mode. Some drivers have trouble with older hardware.

failsafe
Load all drivers early in the boot process and enable safe video mode. Use this if the live media fails to boot. To only load all drivers use load=all.

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Boot Option Instructions

There are many boot options available. They are usually only necessary if your system will not boot properly. To use the boot options just place the appropriate code in the Boot Options box at the bottom of the main screen. You may also need to edit or delete options that are already in the Boot Options box.

You can't make permanent changes on a LiveCD or a LiveDVD. You have to enter them each time you boot. You can make permanent changes on some LiveUSBs.

Go to antiX Boot Options
Go to Kernel Boot Options

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antiX Boot Options

These are options that are only available in antiX

NOTE: Four of these options are combined into the single disable= option. For example disable=lmx.

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Kernel Boot Options

Select a Boot Option to learn more about it.

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ACPI

ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) is a standard that defines power and configuration management interfaces between an operating system and the BIOS. By default, acpi is switched on when boot detects a BIOS newer than the year 2000. There are several commonly used parameters to control the behavior of ACPI:

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noXXXX

Skips detection of or enables support for specific hardware.

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PCI

Some PCI options:

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nodma

To mitigate some hardware problems that occur with IDE hard drives, try this kernel parameter:

ide=nodma -- switch off dma for IDE drives

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Information about antiX

Web site: https://antixlinux.com
Forums: https://www.antixforum.com

antiX is pronounced like the word antics, which means amusing, frivolous, or eccentric behavior. It is distributed as CD or ISO images that contain many quality Linux applications.

antiX is compiled to work with Pentium-class Intel and AMD processors or better. antiX will not work with 386 and 486 class processors. To install antiX on a hard drive, at least 1.5 GB of free space is required and a minimum of 2.5 GB is recommended.

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