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Author Topic: basics of TCL  (Read 2294 times)

Offline vinceASPECT

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basics of TCL
« on: August 05, 2019, 03:19:56 AM »
Hello Forum,

Sorry for such basic questions but when you boot TCL off CD disc

1) Does it , or should it, require a Swap drive?...... and if so, does TCL auto make one...?
    If NOT......what user steps are required to make a swap drive?....and must it be in a Linux
    ext partition...?

2) I believe that by default TCL does not remember new users changes on reboot.

So, while booted,  the new user must SET a physical area for storing the  /tce/optional folder and it's
subsequent contents.
Does that first involve mounting a drive?
and does the mounted drive need to be a Linux partition? (does it need to be a partition?)

thanks

VInce.






Offline Rich

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Re: basics of TCL
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2019, 07:27:15 AM »
Hi vinceASPECT
1) Does it , or should it, require a Swap drive?......
No, a swap drive (or file) is not required.

Quote
and if so, does TCL auto make one...?
No.

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If NOT......what user steps are required to make a swap drive?....
You can create a  swap partition.  I use  gparted  when doing that.

Quote
and must it be in a Linux ext partition...?
No, it must be a  swap  partition.

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2) I believe that by default TCL does not remember new users changes on reboot.
That is correct. The mind reading software that knows what you want to save and where you want to save it has not been written yet.

Quote
So, while booted,  the new user must SET a physical area for storing the  /tce/optional folder and it's
subsequent contents.
Or one could use the  tc-install-GUI.tcz  extension.

Quote
Does that first involve mounting a drive?
If you plan on setting it up manually, then yes.

Quote
and does the mounted drive need to be a Linux partition? (does it need to be a partition?)
It can be a  VFAT  partition.

Offline vinceASPECT

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Re: basics of TCL
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2019, 10:29:25 AM »
Rich,

Thanks very much for your reply.

Vince




Offline PDP-8

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Re: basics of TCL
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2019, 02:56:31 PM »
Hi vinceASPECT and RICH ..

This is a note mostly for lurkers really new to the concept about question 2 .... and might need just a slight head-start before delving into the very fine book and wiki's.

As delivered, TC assumes a read-only CD environment where nothing by default is saved after reboot.  It uses the "cde" directory and contents to get the desired extensions and so forth.

To actually SAVE changes, we need to tell TC that it is no longer a cd type of environment.

The simplest way to do that is to manually create a "tce" directory in the root of a drive.  Tinycore will search for it, and use that directory structure for persistent changes and optional extensions.

But, by manually creating that tce directory, you'll be missing the extensions that were part of the cd distribution itself in the cde directory.  Some new users to Tinycore find themselves at the commandline after reboot, rather than the say the gui interface.

An easy solution to this is instead of manually creating the "tce" directory in the root of a drive, COPY the existing fully populated cde directory to the root of a drive, and RENAME it to tce.  Or simply rename it to tce if the cde directory is already in the root depending on how you built it.

That's the magic part, but there can be issues with this simplicity.  For example, the magic starts to break if there are multiple tce directories hanging around.  This can happen if in a pique of excitement about TC, you start experimenting and forget you've already made one!

This is where specifying the location and drive of where the tce directory is located can come into play.

To be very specific about it, one changes their variable in the kernel boot line by either specifying a LABEL or UUID.  These can also include more specific paths.

One common example would be to see something like this in the kernel boot line if you have a drive with a label you created with say "MYLINUX"

Code: [Select]
tce=LABEL=MYLINUX
Again, instead of using a LABEL, the use of UUID's is even more exacting.  Like what if you have two drives with the same label?  Yeah, UUID's for you!

When you reboot, even if you have other tce directories hanging around for testing purposes, etc, this will direct your current TC session to use the tce directory on THIS drive.  Instead of temporarily changing the boot line all the time, one can manually edit their sylinux/extlinux or grub bootloader's line to make this permanent.

Is this the best or only way to do it?  Not necessarily - refinement comes with experience, but this will at least get one off the ground and see the aha moment as described in the book or wiki. :)

That's my take on it - not being a technical writer ...



« Last Edit: August 05, 2019, 03:05:09 PM by PDP-8 »
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