Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Extensions => TCE Talk => Topic started by: crafty on March 12, 2010, 10:25:24 AM

Title: Really hard QUESTION needs answered.
Post by: crafty on March 12, 2010, 10:25:24 AM
Hi guys im new here & was wondering if there were a way i can open a .tce extension offline after booting inside tinycore.

the reason i ask this is because im running dial-up and im sure there is an extension for my modem drivers. if not i have a rpm driver i could use.

i also dont wanna have to take the time to download a 78mb parted magic iso cd in order to make me an extension folder and drop extensions in.

can someone please walk me through the commands i can make in order to extract a rpm or tar.gz file or simply open a .tce extension inside tiny core so i can get these drivers going?
Title: Re: Really hard QUESTION needs answered.
Post by: robc on March 12, 2010, 10:35:08 AM
The .tce files are just .tar.gz files. This command will work:
Code: [Select]
tar zxvf /path/to/extension.tce -C /path/to/extract/to
The .tcz files are squashfs files. To extract them you can do this with the base tc:
Code: [Select]
mkdir tmp myfiles
sudo mount /path/to/extension.tcz tmp -o ro,loop
sudo cp -a tmp/* myfiles
sudo umount tmp
The extension files will be in the directory myfiles
Title: Re: Really hard QUESTION needs answered.
Post by: crafty on March 12, 2010, 10:52:30 AM
wow talk about quick! thanks alot rob love the quick support.
Title: Re: Really hard QUESTION needs answered.
Post by: crafty on March 12, 2010, 12:03:27 PM
The .tce files are just .tar.gz files. This command will work:
Code: [Select]
tar zxvf /path/to/extension.tce -C /path/to/extract/to
The .tcz files are squashfs files. To extract them you can do this with the base tc:
Code: [Select]
mkdir tmp myfiles
sudo mount /path/to/extension.tcz tmp -o ro,loop
sudo cp -a tmp/* myfiles
sudo umount tmp
The extension files will be in the directory myfiles



one more quick question sorry im still having trouble. would i be able to read the files from mycdrom if i burned them to cd?

that way i can copy em to my tinycore desktop & extract them with the command you gave me?
Title: Re: Really hard QUESTION needs answered.
Post by: robc on March 12, 2010, 12:26:02 PM
You can burn them onto a cd and copy them into the filesystem, you can also use a usb drive, that would be quicker...

If you are looking for modules then you should start with the firmware extension. If you know what module you are looking for then you can search through the repository online, all of the extension file lists are available (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/tcz_2x.html (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/tcz_2x.html))

Also the tcz extensions should be used since the tces are deprecated for TC 2.x.
Title: Re: Really hard QUESTION needs answered.
Post by: crafty on March 12, 2010, 02:16:35 PM
so does this mean i will not be able to use any tar.gz files in tinycore?

bc the driver is in tar.gz format that i need to use.

i dont see any drivers that will work for my modem in tce or tcz.

maybe i can make a request to add some?

the tar.gz file i have is called slmodem would i still be able to install it if its a tar.gz file?
Title: Re: Really hard QUESTION needs answered.
Post by: robc on March 12, 2010, 04:03:05 PM
You can put in a request for an extension here: http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=349.255 (http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=349.255)

tc supports tar.gz files, the autoloading of .tce files is not longer supported, ie the .tce files will not be automatically installed by tce-load
Title: Re: Really hard QUESTION needs answered.
Post by: Guy on March 12, 2010, 05:16:24 PM
As mentioned, you can make a request, but if someone else makes the extension, they cannot test it unless they have an appropriate modem.

You could experiment yourself. (I am not sure how successful you will be.)


Extract it like this

tar -zxvf /path/to/tar.gz-file

You may need to do more than extract it. I am not familiar with the particular driver. See if there is any info where you get the driver, or in a file within the driver.


To make a new extension you need the squashfs-tools-4.0 extension installed.

Create a directory for your new extension. For Example:

mkdir -p /home/tc/myext/

Paste all files and directories for the new extension to /home/tc/myext/.

To create an extension:

sudo su
cd /home/tc
mksquashfs myext/ name-of-new-extension.tcz

Paste the new extension to the /tce/optional directory.

Include it in On Boot or On Demand.

To start it, you may need to use an appropriate command in the terminal.


If you do get it working, share what you learn.