Intro / Install / What I'm looking for

[gap]

My name's Steve.  I've been using linux for about 6 years, and while I can say I don't have a lot of experience maintaining a stable system (I'm admittedly an Ubuntu user) I've tried a lot of distros, including such micros as:  slitaz, DSL, puppy, etc.

I come to install tiny core to my hard drive with the goal of having only a base minimal install and installing exactly what I need/want and nothing more/nothing less.  Your philosophies seem similar to Arch, but more GUI user friendly, which I appreciate.

I have the Tiny Core current ISO and plan to install to my hd.  I have a partition set up and ready to go and am sure I can get the system installed on my hd.  Unfortunately, my network is not automatically recognized.  I can search the forums for the info on how to figure this out, but  wouldn't mind some help regarding this issue.  I don't know what information you need, but my IP is:

[EDIT]: Removed what appears to be your public IP.   Rich

I need this so I can network from the tiny core install and I can ask further questions from there.  At the moment I'm on my Ubuntu partition.

What I'm looking for are the following applications.

JWM - which I understand is selectable.
Skype - Video / Audio must work
Pidgin
CMUS - CLI based audio player
LibreOffice Suite
PDF reader of some kind
Flash based firefox
Php / mysql / phpmyadmin support

That's really about all.  I believe tny core can help me realize this, and so I come here bidding you all a pleasant hello and a fond temporary farewell.

Steve

[bmarkus]

My name's Steve.  I've been using linux for about 6 years, and while I can say I don't have a lot of experience maintaining a stable system (I'm admittedly an Ubuntu user) I've tried a lot of distros, including such micros as:  slitaz, DSL, puppy, etc.

I come to install tiny core to my hard drive with the goal of having only a base minimal install and installing exactly what I need/want and nothing more/nothing less.  Your philosophies seem similar to Arch, but more GUI user friendly, which I appreciate.

Steve,

welcome on board. All you are planning to achive is possible with TC. I understand your planned first step to install TC on HD, but... But TC is unique in this sense, you don't have to install it. To be honest, I have installed it HD only 2 or 3 times out of curiosity 2 years ago, thats all.

It is not a traditional LINUX distro. Better to take an USB drive expecting your PC can boot it, play with it, read forum posts. And if something is not clear, just ask. But please, postpone HD installation till you are getting familiar with TC.

[gap]

My name's Steve.  I've been using linux for about 6 years, and while I can say I don't have a lot of experience maintaining a stable system (I'm admittedly an Ubuntu user) I've tried a lot of distros, including such micros as:  slitaz, DSL, puppy, etc.

I come to install tiny core to my hard drive with the goal of having only a base minimal install and installing exactly what I need/want and nothing more/nothing less.  Your philosophies seem similar to Arch, but more GUI user friendly, which I appreciate.

Steve,

welcome on board. All you are planning to achive is possible with TC. I understand your planned first step to install TC on HD, but... But TC is unique in this sense, you don't have to install it. To be honest, I have installed it HD only 2 or 3 times out of curiosity 2 years ago, thats all.

It is not a traditional LINUX distro. Better to take an USB drive expecting your PC can boot it, play with it, read forum posts. And if something is not clear, just ask. But please, postpone HD installation till you are getting familiar with TC.

Thank you for your advice.  When in rome I will do as the romans do, as they say.

I'm excited for the potential, and I don't necessarily need to install it's merely a want.  I just want a custom system.  If I can boot from USB and maintain my OS as I wish and use the extra hd space for storage I would like that even better.

[bmarkus]

Read http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/faq.html USB installation section.

[Lee]

Hi Steve,

I come to install tiny core to my hard drive with the goal of having only a base minimal install and installing exactly what I need/want and nothing more/nothing less. 

I suspect Core will be just right for you. 

What bmarkus said about installing is right on the mark.  I have Core installed on a couple of systems' hard disks... in case I would happen to lose the usb stick that I normally boot from.

Unfortunately, my network is not automatically recognized.

Once you have tc running (be it from hd, usb stick cd-rom or whatever), there is a network setup tool accessible from the control panel.  If your only issue is that you are using a static IP, that will get you going.

[TinyCoreFltk]

first of all the network... there is a "network setup" control panel. open the control panel and you will see a "network" option. this asks you the router's internal IP and stuff (usually it's, IP:192.168.1.64-253, subnet:255.255.255.0, gateway:192.168.1.254, dns:192.168.1.254). don't write your IP like that, where everyone can see it (you don't want to get attacked)

second, the installation. since you have already installed OS, you don't need to create another partition for tinycore. it's very simple. just extract the iso somewhere. take the core.gz and vmlinuz files and throw them inside "/boot" (you need to be root to do that). then take the cde folder, throw it inside "/" (as root again) and rename it from cde, to tce (or else it wont find it and you wont be able to install stuff). open the bootloader and add something like this below after ubuntu boot options:...

title      TinyCoreE17 Linuks 4.1
uuid      2a626200-e228-493c-af6f-aae4902a886e < replace this with your own drive UID
kernel   /boot/vmlinuz root=sda1 tce=sda1 opt=sda1 home=sda1
initrd   /boot/tinycore.gz

and finally the stuff you need to install:...

instead of JWM, you can use the elegant DR17 (enlightement WM) with is way more feature-rich.

there is no skype for tinycore. there is only a skype plugin for pidgin. (i haven't tested the plugin to know if it works the same as skype -- pigdin works fine). for audio you need to install alsa from the appbrowser (without alsa you wont have any audio at all)

for this cmus thing, i don't know something to tell you.

the libreoffice suite is available, so you can install it

as a pdf reader, you can use evince or epdfview (epdfview is like "mini-evince")

in appbrowser you can find "firefoxandflash" which i suppose is firefox with readymade flash (i haven't seen it "in action" as i manually download and install flash)

for the php stuff i don't know sonething to tell you.

[ADDED AFTER INITIAL POSTING]

aw... i almost forgot. you also need some filemanager to be able to find and manage your files. there are many of them to choose from. nautilus (very rich-featured but heavy filemanager of gnome), rox-filer (lightweight and very generic xfce filemanager), pcmanfm2 (lightweight fairly-featured filemanager of lxde) and some other, i can't remember right now.

aw, and another thing i forgot to mention. if you have the backup feature enabled (it's enabled by default), don't include the "opt=sda1" and "home=sda1" options in the lines of the bootloader above, as this will "confuse" the system, and you will have trouble saving files and settings.

[Rich]

Hi gap
As TinyCoreFltk pointed out, you might not want to post you IP. I edited it out, you may put it back should you wish.

there is no skype for tinycore. there is only a skype plugin for pidgin.

There is  getskype.tcz

For PDFs, my preference is  foxit_reader.tcz

Php / mysql / phpmyadmin support

Maybe you are looking for Xampp, it's available as an SCM.

[tinypoodle]

rox-filer is the default file manager of the ROX desktop environment and totally unrelated to xfce.
It can be used as a file manager independently of any desktop environment.

[TinyCoreFltk]

rox-filer is the default file manager of the ROX desktop environment and totally unrelated to xfce.
It can be used as a file manager independently of any desktop environment.

now it came in my mind. xfce has thunar, not rox. sorry for the mistake. i know that you can use any file manager you want in any desktop. even nautilus from gnome in fluxbox for example (although you may have some issues with certain combinations. if you launch nautilus in fluxbox and xfce, it overlaps the fluxbox/xfce desktop with itself (its own wallpaper, icons and menus), disabling the native desktop -- i have done it (unfortunately) and i can tell that it's very irritating)