### Help

WELCOME to antiX Linux: Lean and Mean!

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

- F1 Help System
- F2 Select Language
- F3 Select Timezone
- F4 Miscellaneous Options
- F5 Persistence Options
- F6 Select Desktop Program
- F7 Set Console Resolution
- F8 Save Bootloader Settings

- Main Menu Entries
- Main Menu Boot Options
- Other Boot Options
- About antiX Linux

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.

- [Up Arrow] -- highlight previous link
- [Down Arrow] -- highlight next link
- [Left Arrow], [Backspace] -- return to previous page
- [Right Arrow], [Enter], [Space] -- follow link
- [Page Up], [Home] -- go to first link on page
- [Page Down], [End] -- go to last link on page
- [Esc] -- leave help

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

Go to General Help

Return to the Main Menu

### 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:

- Main Menu
  [Up Arrow] and [Down Arrow] select which program to run and some boot options. [Enter] starts the boot process.
- Boot Options
  [Left Arrow], [Right Arrow], and [Backspace] edit some main menu options directly. You can also type in new options.
- Function Key Pop-up Menus
  [F2] through [F8] open menus. Navigate them with the arrow keys. [Enter] selects highlighted option. [Esc] leaves the pop-up menu without selecting an entry.

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

Go to Using the Help System
Return to the Main Menu

### 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.

Return to the Main Menu

### 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.

Return to the Main Menu

### F4: Miscellaneous Options

You may select one of these options. If you want more than one, type them manually at the boot line. 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 usb2 devices. This helps a few older systems boot.
acpi=off ... Disable acpi. This helps on some older laptops.
i915_invert ... Some laptops with intel graphics eg lenovo s21e need this to avoid booting to a black screen.
no_invert ... If you used i915_invert cheat running live with persistence, you might need to revert on other hardware
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)
password ... Change default root and demo passwords before booting for increased security
vcard=on ... Detect hybrid graphics then disable the non-Intel video drivers
vcard=off ... Disable video card detection
vcard=menu ... Show video card options
conwidth=off ... Disable console width (if previously set)
store ... Enable LiveUSB-Storage feature.
nostore ... Disable LiveUSB-Storage feature.
bootchart ... Create /var/log/bootchart.tgz
live_swap=off ... Do not enable swap
savestate ... Save some files across reboots eg alsa sound, networking (LiveUSB only)
nosavestate ... Do not 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.
Return to the Main Menu

### 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.

Back to Miscellaneous Options
Return to Main Menu

### 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.

- automount -- mount drives when they are plugged in
- noautomount -- do not mount drives when they are plugged in
- mount=usb -- in addition, mount all usb drives at boot time
- mount=all -- in addition, mount ALL devices at boot time
- mount=off -- disable all extra mounting

Note: Your automount choices are saved on persistent systems.

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

Return to Main Menu

### F5: Persistence Options

off ......... No Persistence/No frugal
persist_all ..... Save rootfs in RAM, save home on disk (save root at shutdown)
persist_root .... Save rootfs and homefs in RAM then saved at shutdown
persist_static .. Save root and home on disk with homefs separate on disk
p_static_root .. Save rootfs and homefs on disk together
persist_home .... Only home persistence
frugal_persist .. Frugal with root in RAM and home on disk
frugal_root ..... Frugal with root and home in RAM then saved at shutdown
frugal_static ... Frugal with root on disk and home separate on disk
f_static_root ... Frugal with root and home on disk together
frugal_home ..... Frugal with only home persistence
frugal_only ..... Only Frugal, no persistence

See Persist Details for details on some of these options.
Return to the Main Menu

### F5: Persist Details

- Frugal
  Copy files from the install media (LiveCD/USB) to an internal hard drive partition and finish booting from that. Think of this as a to-disk analogy of toram boot parameter.
- Root Persist
  Save all the changes to the file-system in RAM and then transfer these changes to disk right before you shutdown or reboot. Fast, but space is limited by how much RAM you have.
- Static Root
  Saves all your file-system changes directly to a file. This can be slow but it requires no extra RAM and no changes need to be transfered when you shutdown.
- Home Persist
  Only save changes to files and directories under /home. This will include all of your bookmarks and personal settings. Changes are stored immediately and speed is almost never an issue.

Return to the Main Menu

### F6: Select Desktop Program

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

Desktop names that start with Rox- (Rox pinboard) or zzz- (zzzFM 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.

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.

Return to the Main Menu

### F7: Set Console Resolution

This menu enables 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.

- vga=788 800×600
- vga=791 1024×768
- vga=794 1280×1024
- vga=895 1366x768
- vga=980 1600×900
- vga=842 1600×1200
- vga=839 1600×1200*
- vga=ask ask

Return to the Main Menu

### Frugal Install

Return to the Main Menu

### 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.

- save
  Save the current function key popup menu settings as the defaults and create/replace a custom main menu entry if needed for options that are typed if they don't exist in the popup menus.
- reset
  Restore the original menu defaults. Does not affect the custom main menu entry (if one was created).

Return to the Main Menu

### 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.

Return to the Main Menu

### 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

Return to Main Menu

### antiX Boot Options

These are options that are only available in antiX

- lean -- disable some services for a fast boot
- mean -- disable any pre-set Internet connection
- Xtralean -- disable more services including NFS shares for a faster boot
- nodbus -- disable dbus service
- dpi=XX -- set dpi. Default is 96
- deskdelay=X -- set time delay to desktop (in seconds). Default is 2

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

- L/l lean - disable some services
- M/m mean - disable all networking
- X/x Xtralean - disable more services
- d/D disable dbus
- v disable vbox services
- n disable NFS service
- g disable gpm service
- F Enable fbcondecor (console decoration)
- k Do not set the console or X keyboard layout
- S nostore
- P enable standard PAM message-of-the-day
- s don't save state on LiveUSB systems
- r don't localize repos based on timezone
- a disable acpid
- c disable connman

Back to Boot Option Instructions
Return to Main Menu

### Kernel Boot Options

Select a Boot Option to learn more about it.

- ACPI -- Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
- IDE DMA -- enable/disable DMA for IDE-Drives
- noXXXX -- skip detection of specific hardware
- PCI -- options for non-working PS2 mice and bad PCI controllers

Back to Boot Option Instructions
Return to the Main Menu

### 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:

- pci=noacpi -- do not use ACPI to route PCI interrupts
- acpi=off -- turn off ACPI completely
- acpi=force -- turn on ACPI, for pre-2000 BIOS

Return to Boot Options | Main Menu

### noXXXX

Skips detection of or enables support for specific hardware.

- noauto -- turn off hardware autodetection
- noparallel -- turn off parallel printer support
- nopcmcia -- turn off PCMCIA support
- nousb -- turn off usb device probing
- nousebios -- enable NoUseBios mode needed for some Savage cards
- smouse -- enable only a serial mouse
- swcursor -- enable sw_cursor mode needed for some ATI and Trident cards

Return to Boot Options | Main Menu

### PCI

Some PCI options:

- pci=irqmask=0x0e98 -- try this if your PS/2 mouse doesn't work
- pci=bios -- workaround for bad PCI controllers

Return to Boot Options | Main Menu

### nodma

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

ide=nodma -- switch off dma for IDE drives

Return to Boot Options | Main Menu

### 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-full on a hard drive, at least 5 GB of free space is required and a minimum of 7 GB is recommended. antiX-base requires at least 3,5 GB of free space and a minimum of 5 GB is recommended.

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