That was annoying: 3.5 => 4.7

[stleric]

So, I have a PII box w/ 128MB of RAM that runs TCL3.5 installed on an HDD (along w/ MSDOS on second partition, plus a third, swap partition).  I tried to run TCL4.7 from the CD and had a problem.  During boot there were a lot of what looked like repeating error message (couldn't tell what it was complaining about as the messages were scrolling by too fast but I saw some reference to 'udev').  Then it gets to the console login screen and starts complaining about "var/log/autologin" and "no space left on device".  It does this ad infinitum.

However.  I next tried to boot TCL4.7, but first I disconnected the HDD.  Booted fine no problems, didn't need any boot switches, just slick as can be.

Why does TCL do this?   What is it about having TCL3.5 on an HDD that causes 4.7 to not start and what do I do about it?

I'd like to upgrade to 4.7, what's the best/easiest way to do a major upgrade for an HDD installation?  I've seen instructions for minor upgrades (3.x => 3.z) but for major upgrades I get the impression I basically burn the old one down to the ground and start over.  Is that right?  How do I bring my add-on apps over?  Does TCL have some kind of upgrade tool?

TIA,
eric

[Rich]

Hi stleric
There were some major changes made going from 3.x to 4.x, including:
Some configuration files moved from /opt to /etc
Kernel changed from 2.6.33 to 3.0.21
Many applications were recompiled to run under the new kernel
If you can, my recommendation is to use gparted to create a new partition and install 4.7 there. Then do a fresh
install of your applications. Then copy any config files you modified and your home directory to the new partition.
This way you can keep your 3.5 setup intact while you set up 4.7.

[stleric]

Rich,

Thank you for cluing me in.  I was sort of afraid that would be the answer.  Fortunately, my TCL doesn't have a lot of stuff so nuking it and rebuilding won't be a huge amount of work.

But tell me, do these major changes explain my initial problem (not being able to start 4.7 in the presence of a 3.5 installation)?

Also does TCL maintain a list of user installed packages?  What I'm looking for is a list of "top level" packages that I've installed.

Thanks again,
eric

[Lee]

You really shouldn't need a separate partition for a new TC installation - just stuff the whole mess into a subdirectory and point the boot loader to the new kernel and core.gz files and add a boot code telling it where to find the new tce directory.

Code: [Select]

# assuming you want to install to sda1 and it is already mounted...
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/sda1/boot/core4.7/tce/optional

REPO=http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/4.x/x86

cd /mnd/sda1/boot/core4.7
sudo wget ${REPO}/release/distribution_files/vmlinuz
sudo wget ${REPO}/release/distribution_files/vmlinuz.md5.txt
sudo wget ${REPO}/release/distribution_files/core.gz
sudo wget ${REPO}/release/distribution_files/core.gz.md5.txt
for X in *.txt ; do md5sum -c $X ; done

sudo chown -R tc:staff tce
cd tce/optional
CORE_ELEMS="fltk-1.1.10 Xlibs Xprogs Xvesa flwm_topside wbar"
TYPS=".tcz .tcz.dep .tcz.md5.txt"
for CORE_ELEM in ${CORE_ELEMS} ; do {
  for TYP in ${TYPS} ; do {
    wget ${REPO}/tcz/${CORE_ELEM}.${TYP}
  } done
  # yeah, I know fltk-1.1.10 doesn't have to be in onboot.lust because its a dep of something else.  Don't care.
  echo ${CORE_ELEM} >>../onboot.lst
} done

Disclaimer - there are probably some typos in the above - I just typed it from memory - but it should give you the idea.

Add an entry to your boot loader's config file - this will vary depending on what boot loader you use - and include the boot code:

Code: [Select]

tce=sda1/boot/core4.7/tce
Once you reboot, selecting the new entry from the boot loader menu, you can use the apps tool or tce-load to grab new copies of the rest of your extensions from the repo.

---

Top level package list maintained by the system - no, but you can make such a list for yourself, then just loop through it and "tce-load -w" each item after a new install.  That's what I do.

===

For example if /mnt/sda1/core4.7/tce/packages.txt contains:

Code: [Select]

minefield7
sylpheed
filezilla
vlc
emelfm2

You can load them with

Code: [Select]

cat /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/packages.txt |while read PACKAGE ; do tce-load -w ${PACKAGE} ; done


Edit 2012-11-09 17:00 - added the list and load example below "==="

[Rich]

Hi stleric
For a list of top level packages, the contents of  onboot.lst  and  any entries listed in  tce/ondemand/  should
give you what you need.

[curaga]

It sounds like you ran out of RAM. The TinyCore iso works with 64mb, perhaps you ran the coreplus iso?

[stleric]

It sounds like you ran out of RAM. The TinyCore iso works with 64mb, perhaps you ran the coreplus iso?

Nope, my .iso is ~12MB so it's TinyCore.

[stleric]

You really shouldn't need a separate partition for a new TC installation - just stuff the whole mess into a subdirectory and point the boot loader to the new kernel and core.gz files and add a boot code telling it where to find the new tce directory.

Lee,

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'm sure it works well for you but my initial impression is it would probably cause me more problems than it would solve.  My TCL is small enough that etch-a-sketching it is probably the way to go (again, for me).  I'll probably take a closer look at what you posted later though, it looks interesting.

Thanks again,
eric

[stleric]

Hi stleric
For a list of top level packages, the contents of  onboot.lst  and  any entries listed in  tce/ondemand/  should
give you what you need.

That's exactly what I want, thanks (maybe I knew about it and forgot, it's been over a year since I used TCL). 

Hey Lee, did you know about this?  Mine's is in '/mnt/<root partition>/tce/onboot.lst.

Thanks again,
eric

[tinypoodle]

You could try to see what happens when you boot from CD with hd connected and boot codes "base norestore"

[stleric]

Just about done installing and I'm in a complaining mood.

Why is tc-install not a part of the "standard" TCL 4.7 distribution?  I had to download tc-install and it took me forever to realize that that's what I had to do.  Didn't 3.5 come with an install tool?  That was my recollection, but I could be mistaken.  Is HDD installation not a popular use case for TCL?

Grub2 was also a project but that's par for the course for me.

Anyway, I'm over the hump.  Thank you all for all your help.

eric

[gerald_clark]

If you want a CD with installation programs, use the CD with the installation programs, CorePlus.

[stleric]

If you want a CD with installation programs, use the CD with the installation programs, CorePlus.

*shrug* I guess.  I looked at the description of core+, saw a whole bunch of stuff I didn't need.  I did want a live CD and I have no idea what "CorePlus is an installation image and not the distribution." means in the context of a live CD.  Figured since I installed off of TC last time (3.5), should work this time.  I presume gutting the installer serves some purpose.

"Well, we took the scenic route but we ended up in the same place."

eric

[gerald_clark]

If you want to run a live CD you don't need an installer.
If you want the installer, you either need to install it or use the CD that includes it.

[Rich]

Hi stleric

Didn't 3.5 come with an install tool?

As did 3.4. It was available through ControlPanel as a terminal based app driven by a script. It is now a GUI
based app and has a perl5 dependency which adds 12Mbytes to its size, and would double the size of
the Tinycore ISO.