PCLinuxOS Cheatcodes & Boot Parameters

PCLinuxOS CheatCodes and boot parameters; These cheat codes or boot codes allow you to override the PCLinuxOS boot parameters from their defaults by modifying the Live USB booting process to suite your specific needs or adapt to specific system hardware. The codes can be used on their own as specified on the syslinux initial boot command line or can be combined with more than one boot code option listed below.

What are PCLinuxOS CheatCodes?

These are special boot parameters that you can use to modify or override default settings during the boot process. For example, typing livecd xres=1024x768 at the boot prompt sets the screen resolution to 1024x768.

PCLinuxOS Boot Parameter Descriptions

Below is a table of commonly used PCLinuxOS boot parameters (aka: cheat codes), along with their descriptions and use cases. Note that these cheat codes can be applied individually or combined to suit your specific needs. Whether you're troubleshooting hardware issues, customizing the desktop environment, or adjusting device probing, these parameters allow you to fine-tune your boot experience.

PCLinuxOS Cheat Code example: livecd xres=800x600 keyb=us

PCLinuxOS Cheat Code	Description
initrd	Only boot the initrd, not the actual CD/USB. Useful for developers.
livecd debug	Prints debug information during boot, useful for troubleshooting or developers.
livecd fstab=auto	Automatically generate the fstab file at boot.
livecd home=usb	Uses a USB device to save the guest account settings.
livecd noeject	Prevents the USB/CD from being ejected on shutdown or reboot.
livecd nousb	Disables USB device probing during boot.
livecd nonetwork	Disables network device probing during boot.
livecd xbpp=24	Sets the screen color depth to 24 bits.
livecd xres=1024x768	Sets the screen resolution to 1024x768.
nomodeset	Disables kernel mode setting, useful for troubleshooting graphical issues.
acpi=off	Disables ACPI, often necessary for booting on older hardware.

Available Keyboard Layouts

You can specify the keyboard layout using the keyb=<layout> parameter. For example, to use the US keyboard layout, type livecd keyb=us.

Shown below are all supported keyboard layouts:

al    Albanian
am    Armenian (typewriter)
am_old Armenian (old)
am_phonetic Armenian (phonetic)
ar    Arabic
az    Azerbaidjani (latin)
be    Belgian
ben   Bengali
bg    Bulgarian (BDS)
bg_phonetic Bulgarian (phonetic)
br    Brazilian (ABNT-2)
bs    Bosnian
by    Belarusian
ch_de Swiss (German layout)
ch_fr Swiss (French layout)
cz    Czech (QWERTZ)
cz_qwerty Czech (QWERTY)
de    German
de_nodeadkeys German (no dead keys)
dev   Devanagari
dk    Danish
dvorak Dvorak (US)
dvorak_no Dvorak (Norwegian)
dvorak_se Dvorak (Swedish)
ee    Estonian
es    Spanish
fi    Finnish
fr    French
ge_la Georgian ("Latin" layout)
ge_ru Georgian ("Russian" layout)
gr    Greek
gr_pl Greek (polytonic)
guj   Gujarati
gur   Gurmukhi
hr    Croatian
hu    Hungarian
ie    Irish
il    Israeli
il_phonetic Israeli (Phonetic)
ir    Iranian
is    Icelandic
it    Italian
iu    Inuktitut
jp    Japanese 106 keys
kan   Kannada
kr    Korean keyboard
la    Latin American
lao   Laotian
lt_b  Lithuanian "number row" QWERTY
lt    Lithuanian AZERTY (old)
lt_new Lithuanian AZERTY (new)
lt_p  Lithuanian "phonetic" QWERTY
lv    Latvian
mal   Malayalam
mk    Macedonian
mm    Myanmar (Burmese)
mng   Mongolian (cyrillic)
mt    Maltese (UK)
mt_us Maltese (US)
nl    Dutch
no    Norwegian
ori   Oriya
pl2   Polish (qwertz layout)
pl    Polish (qwerty layout)
pt    Portuguese
qc    Canadian (Quebec)
ro2   Romanian (qwertz)
ro    Romanian (qwerty)
ru    Russian
ru_yawerty Russian (Phonetic)
sapmi Saami (norwegian)
sapmi_sefi Saami (swedish/finnish)
se    Swedish
si    Slovenian
sk_qwerty Slovakian (QWERTY)
sk    Slovakian (QWERTZ)
sr    Serbian (cyrillic)
syr_p Syriac (phonetic)
syr   Syriac
tel   Telugu
th    Thai keyboard
tj    Tajik keyboard
tml   Tamil (ISCII-layout)
tr_f  Turkish (traditional "F" model)
tr_q  Turkish (modern "Q" model)
tscii Tamil (Typewriter-layout)
ua    Ukrainian
uk    UK keyboard
us_intl US keyboard (international)
us    US keyboard
uz    Uzbek (cyrillic)
vn    Vietnamese "numeric row" QWERTY
yu    Yugoslavian (latin)

PCLinuxOS Boot Code Examples

Below are some common scenarios where cheat codes can enhance your boot experience:

• Low Screen Resolution: Use livecd xres=1280x720 to set a specific resolution for your monitor.
• USB Boot Failure: Disable SCSI probing with livecd noscsi if the system fails to detect your USB device.
• Save Guest Settings: Use livecd home=usb to save changes and settings for the guest account on a USB device.
• Graphical Issues: Use nomodeset to resolve black screen or graphical boot issues.

Troubleshoot Live USB Boots with Cheat Codes

If you experience Live USB booting issues, you might use the following cheat codes to identify and help resolve them:

• Debugging: Use livecd debug to print detailed logs during a Live boot.
• Disabling Probing: Disable device probing with livecd nousb or livecd nonetwork to skip specific hardware detection steps.
• Resetting Hardware Detection: Skip hardware detection scripts entirely with livecd hwdetect=no.

Using PCLinuxOS cheat codes allows you to customize your PCLinuxOS Live USB boot process for optimal performance. Whether you're trying to resolve system hardware compatibility issues or tailoring your LiveUSB bootup experience, these parameters give you control over the boot process. For more advanced options and combinations, visit the official PCLinuxOS documentation.