Tiny Core 3.0 Alpha 2 Testing

[u54749]

>>> Check for a BIOS update for your machine.

This does not explain why Alpha1 (and 1.x and 2.x) boots correctly and Alpha2 does not.
The configuration of the machine has not changed

[^thehatsrule^]

You could compare any relevant messages from `dmesg`

[u54749]

I have overwritten Alpha1 by  Alpha2 on my system. I can't find Alpha1 any more in the TC download area.  So I can't do the comparison at this time.

[roberts]

All was running fine up to the point I did a 'Build dep reporting database' in AppsAudit. Then all the deps containing abc-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz became abc-KERNEL.tcz, and my system stopped working because it can't find those KERNEL dependencies.

KERNEL seems not getting parsed...?

Found it. Fixed it. Thanks!

[roberts]

I see some strange boot behavior in Alpha 2

with "quiet" boot mode enabled
In Alpha 1
-  shows GRUB4DOS messages
-  shows "Booting Tinycore_3.0alpha1" below the GRUB4DOS messages
(boot continues with more messages and finally TC desktop is shown)

In Alpha 2
-  Shows GRUB4DOS messages
-  Overwrites the GRUB4DOS messages on top of the screen with error message:
pci 0000:01:00.0: no compatible bridge window for [mem 0x80000000-0x8001ffff pref]

- after a fraction of a second clears the screen completely (you have to read really fast...)
- then shows "Booting Tinycore_3.0alpha2" on the top of the screen
(boot continues with more messages and finally TC desktop is shown)

It's the first time I see this particular error message

Did you download distribution files or the iso?
Did you check md5sum to ensure a good download?

Since there was no change in kernel or modules for alpha1 to alpha2 and
since you are seeing error before "Booting Tiny Core.." I would start by checking that the download is good.

The only change, early in the boot proces, but after "Booting Tiny Core" was a change to permission on ramzswap. You could also try to boot using the 'embed' option to eliminate that change.

[bmarkus]

What is ramzswap ?

[roberts]

From change log of Alpha 1:
* compressed swap in ram -> able to run more and longer, less crashes due to out of ram

The system will use a portion of ram for compressed swap. Look in /etc/fstab.

[jano]

Boot errors in Tiny Core 3.0 Alpha 2 (not present in Alpha 1 or 2.10 or 2.11).
I have TC installed in an ext2 sd card, from which I boot. After the EXTLINUX greetings, usual boot messages, when loading the  Tiny Core Extension I get  error messages and after a while the system boots.
Things go very fast, so I have only been able to read something like:

/etc/init.d/rcS : line 460 : usleep : text file busy
repeated about 20 times
after taht, sometimes it says 'done' and continues booting, while other times I get another error message before the 'done' and booting.

After rebooting with syslog enabled, I've found the following messages:

daemon.err udevd-work[594] exec of program '/sbin/modprobe' failed 
daemon.err udevd-work[593] exec of program '/sbin/modprobe' failed 
.... up to 10 times total (with different numbers inside the brackets), and then:

daemon.err udevd-work[671] exec of program '/bin/sh' failed 
daemon.err udevd[93] can not read '/etc/udev/rules.d/56-lsusb.rules'
daemon.err udevd[93] can not read '/etc/udev/rules.d/64-md-raid.rules'

and then a lot of more info that seems normal to me (messages about mounting things from tce/optional)

I've booted several more times, and the syslog seems to vary:
* sometimes the daemon.err udevd-work[xxx] exec of program '/sbin/modprobe' failed are missing
* sometimes  the daemon.err udevd[93] can not read '/etc/udev/rules.d/56-lsusb.rules' or daemon.err udevd[93] can not read '/etc/udev/rules.d/64-md-raid.rules' is missing

Hope it helps

[u54749]

I downloaded the ISO for alpha2.
I have checked the md5 and it was correct
I boot already with "embed"

[bmarkus]

From change log of Alpha 1:
* compressed swap in ram -> able to run more and longer, less crashes due to out of ram

The system will use a portion of ram for compressed swap. Look in /etc/fstab.

Yeah, I have seen it there but never seen ramzswap before in other distros. Does it have a fixed (max) size? How is it determined? What is about low mem systems? Is it always there or can be disabled (boot code)?

[curaga]

@bmarkus: LWN article on it http://lwn.net/Articles/334649/

Many live cds use it nowadays, including Ubuntu. It's set at 25% of ram, and can be disabled with the embed bootcode.

Even on really low-ram systems it usually helps more than it hurts.

[bmarkus]

@bmarkus: LWN article on it http://lwn.net/Articles/334649/

Many live cds use it nowadays, including Ubuntu. It's set at 25% of ram, and can be disabled with the embed bootcode.

Even on really low-ram systems it usually helps more than it hurts.

Thanks! Just a side note, I'm not using UBUNTU, LUBUNTU, EDUBUNTU, XBUNTU, ... In the last 9 monthes using only TC or trying other distros for a short time to see which packages they are using, how DE configured, etc. And running CentOS 5 for home file and mail server, VoIP switch, special amateur radio applications, etc.

[curaga]

Didn't mean Ubuntu like that, just thought of a high-profile user of the project.

[sci_fi]

Is there a 3.0 version of firewall-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tcz? Perhaps  the name changed for 3.0?

Enjoying 3.0 alpha. Great work TC team!!!!

Best regards,

sci_fi

[jur]

Pure idle curiosity: How did the team pick a kernel version?