Help Setting Up Tiny Core!

[tinyuser7]

So after DAYS (literally, days...) of trying an endless amount of different distros, I have finally decided to go with Tiny Core for my needs! I have an old HP Compaq T5000 Thin Client with barely any memory, but just enough to do what I need to do, which is the following:

I have TC installed to a 2GB USB drive (overkill, I know) and the thin client boots it up just great. What I need it to do is boot up, doesn't need to go into X at all, need it to connect to a wireless network and start cron. That's it! Sounds simple enough, but I've been having the hardest time with this, which is why I'm finally reaching out to you guys!

Oh, and for some reason it isn't saving anything (like my cron jobs) when I shut down, even though I tell it to backup.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. I'm glad I finally found TC and can't wait to dig in!

[curaga]

Use the text and cron bootcodes, have your wireless connection made in /opt/bootlocal.sh.

[Rich]

Hi tinyuser7
Welcome to the forum. If you have not already done so, you should read the FAQs and browse the Wiki, links
are at the top of the page. If you created or modified any configuration files, you need to add them to your
/opt/.filetool.list  file so that they are included in your backup.

[tinyuser7]

Thanks for the push in the right direction, guys! I did a reinstall to USB, but this time with some boot codes added (like cron, etc.) I added "quiet", but for some reason it doesn't seem to be working.

The trouble I'm having now, is if I understand this, once you start using "Backup," your files should be automatically saved and restored upon a reboot, correct? That seems to be the case as I've changed the wallpaper, and it comes up just fine after a reboot, but for some reason all of my cron jobs are erased. I "sudo crontab -e" to edit the job, save it, make sure it's running, then I reboot and the cron job is gone. Anybody know what is happening?

[solorin]

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,4983.0.html
perhaps wiki should be updated?

[Rich]

Hi tinyuser7

your files should be automatically saved and restored upon a reboot, correct?

Only if they are listed in your  /opt/.filetool.list  file. Read the reply by roberts in the link provided by solorin.

[herrMnnn]

I've just got a HP T5700 up and running with Tiny Core, no GUI, but no wireless yet (wifi adapter turned up in the post today).  It's sitting silently on a desk in my office, logging data from an rs232 connected modbus radio receiver to a usb drive via a python script and cron, administered using SSH, data downloaded to windows machines via Rsync/SSH.  It's sending me system status updates via email.  A few weeks ago I had no idea how to do any of this.

All I can say is, read the wiki, search this forum, but most of all, persevere with it.  Once you get your head around the persistence thing it works really well.

[tinyuser7]

I've just got a HP T5700 up and running with Tiny Core, no GUI, but no wireless yet (wifi adapter turned up in the post today).  It's sitting silently on a desk in my office, logging data from an rs232 connected modbus radio receiver to a usb drive via a python script and cron, administered using SSH, data downloaded to windows machines via Rsync/SSH.  It's sending me system status updates via email.  A few weeks ago I had no idea how to do any of this.

All I can say is, read the wiki, search this forum, but most of all, persevere with it.  Once you get your head around the persistence thing it works really well.

That is great to read! These thin clients are perfect for little tasks like that. I've got three more in the closet... maybe I'll build an army!

I'm about 90% where I'd like to be, still tinkering with having the wifi automatically connect to the network upon reboot, but so far, this quiet little dream is running my every-minute cron jobs just great! I had a full-blown desktop doing the same task, but it kept overheating and shutting off after about 3 days. Haven't had the little guy on for quiet that long, but he seems to be doing great so far.

I'm not 100% unfamiliar with Linux as I did a lot of tinkering a few years ago, but it's nice being able to revisit "the scene" and see what has changed/improved over the years. I hadn't even heard of Tiny Core back when I first dove into things (I was a fed up Windows user, I have since switched to Mac and haven't looked back), but boy am I glad I found it now! Perfect for my needs and such a great little distro overall!

Much thanks to all of the hard workers who have made TC what it is today. And thanks to all the forum members who help out n00bs like myself!