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Author Topic: Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]  (Read 3636 times)

Offline tweetyhack

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« on: November 27, 2010, 05:39:03 PM »
I set my tce=sdb1 which supposedly points back to my usb flash drive.  I have /tce/optional on that flash drive but when I open Apps and click on local, it looks for the extensions under /tce/optional. I have to tell it to go to /mnt/sdb1/tce/optional. I got this info(tce=) from the docs. Don't seem to work though. What am I missing?

Offline tinypoodle

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2010, 06:25:39 PM »
I doubt that /tce/optional is an absolute path - and if it were, then that would be very unorthodox in the least.

Code: [Select]
cat /opt/.tce_dir
"Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster." Niklaus Wirth - A Plea for Lean Software (1995)

Offline Guy

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2010, 07:00:38 PM »
Quote
I set my tce=sdb1 which supposedly points back to my usb flash drive.  I have /tce/optional on that flash drive but when I open Apps and click on local, it looks for the extensions under /tce/optional. I have to tell it to go to /mnt/sdb1/tce/optional. I got this info(tce=) from the docs. Don't seem to work though. What am I missing?

Is it an older computer? If it is:

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=7942.0
Many people see what is. Some people see what can be, and make a difference.

Offline tweetyhack

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2010, 11:51:36 AM »
No, this is a HP netbook. Also tried on an older Dell tower. same thing. Looking at /opt/.tce_dir points to /tce which doesn't even exists.
 
I just tried to do the control panel thing(see http://tinycorelinux.com/faq.html#persist) but those instructions must be old because there is only hd/usb install, hybrid mode, etc. I clicked on hybrid mode and it created a /mnt/sdb1/tclocal folder.

Anyway, I just modifed my tce=UUID=##### and now it defaults to /mnt/sdb1/tce/optional.  Also add waitusb=5.  Solved for me. Thanks all.

Offline jerrylamos

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2010, 11:33:30 AM »
Confused mightily.  I'm a long time Ubuntu user/tester.

TinyCore is loaded into partition 7 of sda in directory /TinyCore.

There's a boot and a tce directory there.

Runs functionally but loading Chromium, OSS, and flash on every boot is a real drag.

This is a multiboot system with Lubuntu, Ubuntu Maverick, Ubuntu Natty.

I use Grub 2.

I don't see any actual examples of what to set tce= for this case.

Examples like xxabc don't mean anything to me.  Would it be sda7/TinyCore/tce or what?  I've tried a few, no luck yet.

Thanks, Jerry

Offline tinypoodle

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #5 on: November 30, 2010, 12:03:08 PM »
Confused mightily.  I'm a long time Ubuntu user/tester.

TinyCore is loaded into partition 7 of sda in directory /TinyCore.

There's a boot and a tce directory there.

Runs functionally but loading Chromium, OSS, and flash on every boot is a real drag.

This is a multiboot system with Lubuntu, Ubuntu Maverick, Ubuntu Natty.

I use Grub 2.

I don't see any actual examples of what to set tce= for this case.

Examples like xxabc don't mean anything to me.  Would it be sda7/TinyCore/tce or what?  I've tried a few, no luck yet.

Thanks, Jerry

If the prophet does not come to the mountain, then the mountain will go to the prophet

To simplify things, I'd suggest to make /tce a top level dir of /mnt/sda7
and then using the boot parameter
Code: [Select]
tce=sda7
"Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster." Niklaus Wirth - A Plea for Lean Software (1995)

Offline maro

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2010, 12:22:34 PM »
jerrylamos: I guess you might have a point insofar as the 'tce-setdrive' script only supports the 'tce=DEVICE' variation (meaning that TC is "guided" to search for a 'tce' directory in the root of said DEVICE).

The 'tce=DEVICE/directory' variation of the boot code is considered for advanced users and hence requires manual intervention. Nevertheless this has come up and been answered multiple times in this forum now, but here are (again) some pointers:
  • (1) When using the 'tce=DEVICE/directory' variation of the boot code the 'tce' directory name needs to be part of the argument (e.g. 'tce=sda7/TinyCore/tce')
  • (2) To confirm what TC has recognised as its extension storage area one has to look into '/opt/.tce_dir'
  • (3) For GRUB2 all boot codes have to go on to the 'linux' line.
  • (4) To confirm what boot codes were really specified use cat /proc/cmdline
  • (5) All extension files need to be saved in the '.../tce/optional' directory.
  • (6) If one uses a USB storage device for the extension the 'waitusb=X' boot code is vital (see the FAQ).

As this might be getting now off-topic from the OP I wonder whether one of the admins would like to split this off into a new thread ...

Offline jerrylamos

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2010, 03:16:14 PM »
Could not understand why tiny core extensions would not load with dependencies or stay permanent on three of my four test pc's.  They are a Compaq Presario 3.3 gHz, a 2 ghz IBM ThinkCentre, a 1.5 gHz Thinkpad T40, and a 1.0 gHz Thinkpad R31.    They are all multiboot with various levels of Ubuntu, Debian, Slitaz.

Backup didn't work either.  Device error.......see backup_status.  That file did not exist.

Prowling around the forums with dillo2 found a netbook entry which said they tried hda1 instead of sda1.  Dillo2 is a bit of a pain because it couldn't login.

Voila!  Up and running (I think) with tce=hda7/tinycore/tce.  At least backup works.  tce=sda7/tinycore/tce does not.  Except on the Presario.....

Forums worked again.

Jerry

Offline tinypoodle

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2010, 11:44:43 PM »
A long going confusion and controversy about certain (versions of?) ata drivers not adhering to traditional standards and indiscriminately renaming /dev/hd* to /dev/sd* (my personal knowledge about that being purely theoretical, I have never come across those in the wild so far). I'd guess your Presario might have a SATA disk, as opposed to [P]ATA.

dillo2 not working with forum has been discussed in other threads, a search would show

"Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster." Niklaus Wirth - A Plea for Lean Software (1995)

Offline jerrylamos

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2010, 04:39:14 PM »
Ubuntu thinks all four of the test pc's have "sda".  They are all ata drives.

Now the Presario has an ata and a sata.  The ata is where tinycore is and it calls it "sda".  Ubuntu thinks the sata is "sdb" but I'm not using it with tinycore.

The other three have ata drives, and tinycore calls them "hda".  I've run Ubuntu, Debian, Slitaz, Slax, Fedora, Suzi, ... and they all call them "sda".  Except tinycore with it's "hda".

Maybe the installation instructions might list trying hda if sda doesn't work....first clue, backup failed, referring to a /temp/backup_status file which did not exist. 

Up and running fine, minefield with flash10 video (with a little fiddling) and all,

Jerry

Offline gerald_clark

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2010, 04:48:03 PM »
The instructions are a roadmap, not absolute commands.
I personally avoid giving absolute commands as they can have disasterous consequences on other peoples machines, especially if
they have already installed software they wish to preserve.
We expect people to read the instructions on the wiki and apply the principles to their own machines, making adjustments
as necessary to accomodate differences in hardware BIOS settings.

Offline maro

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Setting tce directory [was Re: Set tce drive gone?]
« Reply #11 on: December 11, 2010, 05:07:53 PM »
Ubuntu (and others) are those that seem to be assigning '/dev/sdXY' to IDE (or P-ATA) devices where TC would use '/dev/hdXY'. This is a choice made by each distribution. In a way TC is following more the "traditional" pattern: using '/dev/hdXY' for IDE (or P-ATA) devices and '/dev/sdXY' for the likes of SATA, SCSI and USB pendrives and harddisks.

Now, all this is not that much of a big "guessing game" if one would pay attention to either the 'dmesg' output or what for example blkid /dev/[hs][dr]* reports. With the help of the label and file system type information and possibly even file system size information obtained from 'fdisk -l /dev/DISK' (with 'DISK' a device name like 'hda' and not a file system like 'hda1') it should not be rocket science to work out ones "TC names" for the devices in question. Running the equivalent commands using a different distribution would reveal "their names".

I'm pretty sure that "backup failures" are the result of using "forreign names". So please don't suggest to users to make "wild guesses" of which device names TC uses based on information obtained from a "forreign" system. The correct information can be identified on a running TC system using the commands suggested above (that also can be found probably now several dozend times in this forum here).

It might be worth to consider including a paragraph about this in the FAQ, but that's a call for the Core team.