changing boot options

[littleknowledge]

Good day, please allow me to begin by saying I am new to tiny core (not new to linux) and I have to say this flavour is AWESOME! (a heck of a learning curve from ubuntu) 
I am in a little jam, I have searched for an answer high and low and i am sure the answer is simple. I installed TC onto a hard disk the installer allowed me to specify boot options and now (after the install) would like to change the boot options the system begins with, but i cannot find the files to edit, normally i would just edit grub conf, then update-grub and done. but it doesnt seem to be like that with TC,

Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

[Rich]

Hi littleknowledge
Check for a   boot   directory, probably under /mnt/sda1.

[TinyCoreFltk]

if you have used the tc-install there is a different bootloader configuration. you should see a file //mnt/sda1/tce/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf. open this as root (with a text editor). you should see something similar to the file shown below (menu.lst of the classic grub bootloader).the difference is that in the extilinux bootloader (the one than tc-install uses) the bootcodes (or boot options if you prefer) are not beside kernel lines (as shown below), but in a new line starting with "APPEND". you just do the same as in grub, delete the bootcodes you don't want, or leave a space at the end of the line and add the bootcode you want. save it and done.

timeout   2

title      TinyCore Linuks 4.1
uuid      0f38de3b-0068-43b9-b898-619115df2157
kernel      /boot/vmlinuz norestore nozswap noicons xsetup root=sda1 tce=sda1 opt=sda1 home=sda1
initrd      /boot/tinycore.cpio

title      TinyCore Linuks 4.1 (Recovery Mode)
uuid      0f38de3b-0068-43b9-b898-619115df2157
kernel      /boot/vmlinuz norestore nozswap noicons xsetup root=sda1 tce=sda1
initrd      /boot/tinycore.cpio

title      TinyCore Linuks 4.1 (Live Mode)
uuid      0f38de3b-0068-43b9-b898-619115df2157
kernel      /boot/vmlinuz base norestore nozswap noicons xsetup root=sda1
initrd      /boot/tinycore.cpio

title      TinyCore Linuks 4.5
uuid      0f38de3b-0068-43b9-b898-619115df2157
kernel      /boot/VmlinuzUpgrade norestore nozswap noicons xsetup root=sda1 tce=sdb1 opt=sdb1 home=sdb1
initrd      /boot/CoreUpgrade.cpio

title      TinyCore Linuks 4.5 (Recovery Mode)
uuid      0f38de3b-0068-43b9-b898-619115df2157
kernel      /boot/VmlinuzUpgrade norestore nozswap noicons xsetup root=sda1 tce=sdb1
initrd      /boot/CoreUpgrade.cpio

title      TinyCore Linuks 4.5 (Live Mode)
uuid      0f38de3b-0068-43b9-b898-619115df2157
kernel      /boot/VmlinuzUpgrade base norestore nozswap noicons xsetup root=sda1
initrd      /boot/CoreUpgrade.cpio

why does this thing here keeps saying that i cant post links, when i try to post simple code? (like this one above). it's not a link it's CODE...

[littleknowledge]

Thank you TinyCoreFltk this information is exactly what i was looking for.


.... although i still cant figure out why it does not save changes upon reboot.... i thought the kernel options of home=sda1 and root=sda1 and tce=sda1 would save all my changes.... but on reboot it goes back to default.

[Rich]

Hi littleknowledge

root=sda1

No such thing, maybe you meant   opt=sda1

[gerald_clark]

Do not use home= or opt= until you completely understand the changes you need to make to make them work properly.
Changes will only be saved if you have a tce directory that resides on persistent storage, and you do  a backup.
Even then, only files and directories listed in  /opt/.filetool.lst will be saved.

Please read the wiki articles on persistence.

[TinyCoreFltk]

aw, i suppose you use the backup, and the system doesn't know what to do. use the persistence of the bootloader, or the backup feature? (it also happened to me when i forgot to use the "norestore" bootoption -- you can't have both enabled without some "hacks" to work properly).

if you use the "norestore", backup is disabled, and the system automaticaly creates the home and opt folders on the disk, provided that you use the "opt=sdx" and "home=sdx" options in the bootloader.

if you don't use "opt=sdx" and "home=sdx" (and also have the backup disabled with "norestore"), the system will "reset" itself after reboot.

the persistent home and opt make the system much lighter (much more RAM free) and it boots much faster, as your files (opt and home folders) are not loaded on RAM after boot. on the other hand, some apps need the backup to be enabled, to work properly (such as gnome-desktop)

Hi littleknowledge

root=sda1

No such thing, maybe you meant   opt=sda1

no, it's "root=sda1", and for some reason, if i remove this, TinyCore doesn't boot at all (i haven't done something to find out and "fix" it, as it is something insignificant for me)

[Rich]

Hi TinyCoreFltk

no, it's "root=sda1"

Last I checked that is not a Tinycore boot code. Maybe it's a boot loader directive you are referring to?

[tinypoodle]

"root=" is a kernel parameter which must be omitted by any means with systems based on initramfs.

[TinyCoreFltk]

no i didn't find it in the tinycore bootcode list. i can't remember right now, as i have TinyCore installed for over a year, and i found it by experimenting with my ubuntu grub. but since it did it's job and booted the system as it should, i didn't made any further research, what it does and why. maybe it's some "incomatibility" between ubuntu grub loader and TinyCore in the particular system, i can't tell for sure. (i have another system dualbooting ubuntu and Tiny, and it boots fine without the "root" thing)

[tinypoodle]

root=           [KNL] Root filesystem
http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt

With pre initramfs initrd based systems, something like "root=/dev/ram0" was in use, but with initramfs the parameter needs to be omitted entirely.