RPI-0 (not W) Headless Setup

[RustyRebar]

Hello.

I am creating this topic as i do not find information regarding how to headless configure, pre-install and run this OS with TCZs plugins without internet.
I do read rules: http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/board,47.0.html

Devices i have
2x RPI-0 (not Wifi)
1x RPI-3A

I noticed that the OS image is suitable for RPI-3B (not own) and running OS is just bare metal like the description say.

I did try universal version (V12) 32bit on both boards an i was hoping the wifi one (RPI-3A) will be able to download some TCZ.
I did find out that required TCZ for RPI Wifi is not in image.

Why i ask for help?
I managed to create simple "analog-audio to Lan" injector using RPI-3A + USB_SoundCard (StereoIN) + Ubuntu + Soundwire Server.
Problem is that the Ubuntu loads many stuff i do not need and i noticed that TinyCore loads just in few seconds and runs only in RAM.

As i read the Boot Partition (Fat32) is not used by Tiny OS but i will like to store some TCZs locally (like Htop) and maybe run simple script.sh at boot to copy that TCZ to linux Ext4 partition same as  some "other" distros use file wpa_supplicant.conf for auto config wifi at boot.

I am not Linux wizard so i am asking here for some guide on this topic.

[Rich]

Hi RustyRebar
Welcome to the forum.

Did you read this:
http://tinycorelinux.net/12.x/armv6/releases/RPi/README

[RustyRebar]

Hi, Thank you for reply.

Yes i do read the file (readme) during burning image to SD card.
OS start to cloud mode as the readme say but the boards i own have only usb ports and on the RPI-3A, the OS cannot find TCZ for wifi.
Also running command tce-load -iw TC.tcz will give me error message.
I also read corebook.pdf that is handy but not describe headless setup i am after.

1. Burn SD image
2. Copy all TCZs i need to boot partition
3. Copy script that put that TCZs on EXT4 Partition with edited onboot.lst
4. Power board and see on HDMI if OS and all stuff works.

Regards

[RustyRebar]

Anybody know where i can find PiCore for RPI-0 that has GUI enabled by default?

[Rich]

Hi RustyRebar
I don't think any of the piCore image files come with a GUI installed. You can take an existing image file and
make it bigger to hold more extensions. Then edit the  onboot.lst  file to load them automatically.

Instructions for expanding an image file can be found here:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,24015.msg151428.html#msg151428

[Ripley]

Im pretty new to all this, not sure it will work (as I have not tested it) but there are some usb devices that can plug into your pi zero that allows for ethernet connection. This would allow you to hook up your pi zero to the internet via ethernet and thus install all the required extentions to get your GUI working. "Three Port USB Hub with Ethernet (micro B) - by Pimoroni" is one that 'reviews' say works. They don't state what kind of OS they are using at the time of 'it working', and perhaps TinyCore does not have the drivers required to make this work, but its an idea.

There are other usb splitters with ethernet ports that 'users' say work with the pi zero (without wifi), so you may not be limited to the one stated above.

Honestly I am planning to buy one and test it out at some point, but won't be for some time, so if you get it to work, then let me know!

[zharr]

For future reference, made a script that automatically sets up a headless Pi and installs extensions and sets up whatever your project needs (e.g. program source code).
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,25760.0.html
With this I can set up a new SD card with everything I need, without needing a keyboard and monitor.
If you use a wifi enabled pi, you can also set it to autoconnect to best available known wifi, so you can connect to it over SSH no matter where you are.
If you don't have wifi, you probably want to remove some stuff from the script, but it's documented.
Also made DataSave/DataWrite scripts so that you can compile on one system, then easily copy your build files into storage, and then copy those over for every new setup so you can make a copy of the script for your dev machine (maybe with build dependencies and an automatic build script in bootlocal) and a use machine (that just has the necessary dependencies and the built program).