TCL on a pendrive to run an Asus EeePC 1000HA?

[Zendrael]

What interested me about Tiny Core in contrast to Coreplus was, in particular, the x-windows interface and the simple, straight-forward way everything seems to be arranged in the windows. I'm tired of fancy GUIs. But perhaps the Tiny Core interface is an option in Coreplus?

Think this way:
MicroCore is only the base system and base tools without graphics.
TinyCore is MicroCore + graphical tools and (of course) graphical interface (Xvesa in this case).
CorePlus is TinyCore + extra drivers and tools to setup your environment easily.

All the "extra" components that builds TinyCore and CorePlus are just extensions added to the MicroCore packed in new iso images just to show how Core is extensible (and to help a lot of people!).

[Mike7]

Hi, Rich.

You want to be extremely careful with the  dd  command. If you get the  of=  parameter wrong, you can overwrite data you did not intend to.

Yes, it is worrying. I've been using of=\\.\e:  Is that correct?

[Rich]

Hi Mike7

Yes, it is worrying. I've been using of=\\.\e:  Is that correct?

I honestly don't know. The link that tinypoodle provided in Reply #14 looks to be pretty informative.

[Mike7]

Hi, Tinypoodle.

Thank you very much for the chrysocome.net link. I can't recall where I downloaded my copy of dd.exe from, but it appears to be the same one since it was also dd-0.5.zip.

I am studying the info chrysocome.net gives on how to use dd. Apparently I made some mistakes. For example, I noticed that dd has once or twice filled up my entire 4Gb pendrive from an input iso of 100Mb. Maybe the --size operator can solve this (although it's unclear whether they are talking about the file being read from or the file or device being read to).

The filter addition for safety is a great idea. But are their dd programs being run as full executables? The one I downloaded will only run in the command line/terminal (I put it into C:\Windows\system32 so it can be run at any level). As a Windows terminal command, how can you add a <filter>? Or will <dd-removable> actually work in the commandline?

Another very thorny question is the naming of if= and of=. I've been using the name of the iso as the input file, and \\.\e: as the name of the output file. I wonder if this is correct? In the chrysocome.net documentation, there are two different Windows designations, although it seems to suggest that for XP (my op sys) the \\.\x: designation will work. Do you think that's right? I wouldn't like to risk using the \\?\Device\Harddisk1\xxxxxx designation for a usb drive. Too scary.

Here's what I've been putting on the terminal commandline:
>dd if=xxxxx.iso of=\\.\e:
It either never stops running, or else after a whiles it returns:
xxxxxxx bytes in
xxxxxxx bytes out
In that case, it seems to be working. The problem is that it's writing to the whole pendrive! (What it may be writing beyond the 100Mb I have no idea.)

I'm also rather worried that I may have made my pendrives inoperable now by using the dd command incorrectly in some way. Is that possible? Won't re-formatting them restore them? This is my most serious worry of all. It could explain why I can't get anything to boot on them, regardless of the installation method used. Very worrisome indeed.

I really would like to figure out how to use this command properly because I think it could be the solution to my problem. It certainly seems like the easiest way to make a bootable usb stick from a hybrid iso.

I hope you and others in the forum will help me out with this.

Cheers!

Mike

[Mike7]

Thanks, Zendrael. That cleared it up.

Cheers!

Mike

[curaga]

Please consider using a live linux system (live cd for example) to create your usb sticks. dd under windows is much more difficult to understand and handle properly.

[Mike7]

Curaga-

 What actually is a ive linux system". I thought that all these linux distro iso files were "live", in the sense that they can be run without a full installation on a hard disk? Am I wrong?

I have no external CD for my netbook and no way to get on right now. I'm a New Yorker currently in Argentina, where all computer things are hugely expensive.

And it's kinda fun figuring out how to use all these tools, and learning what formatting and blocks and partitions and MBRs are all about.

Cheers!

Mike

[Mike7]

On the subject of dd

One thing I forgot to say about dd.exe is that apparently doesn't have the --partok operator available in the linux version of dd. This could be troublesome if writing to a partition on a usb stick. Who wants to use an entire 4Gb stick for a 130Mb iso?

But maybe they've eliminated --partok and made it the default if you don't specify anything else. Also, specifying the number and size of blocks to copy may resolve the lack of --partok.

[tinypoodle]

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,12235.0.html

[tinypoodle]

This could be troublesome if writing to a partition on a usb stick. Who wants to use an entire 4Gb stick for a 130Mb iso?

You could partition first and then have dd access per partition.

[Zendrael]

Mike7,

I understood that you are playing around with dd but, how about to give a try to UnetBootin using the DiskImage option? Here is where you can find it: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

I hope it helps you!

[aus9]

no idea if it works as linux only here

http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/help/guide

it appears to use virtual machine. But at least the OP can try it out?

hmm it does not mention latest TC,  http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/supported-linuxes hover on T for TinyCore versions

but AFAIK latest does use syslinux/isolinux bootloader so should work

Any Linux using syslinux

[Mike7]

[quote ]http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,12235.0.html[/quote]

Thanks for the link. I am planning to try core2usb if all else fails.

[Mike7]

Zendrael-

I understood that you are playing around with dd but, how about to give a try to UnetBootin using the DiskImage option? Here is where you can find it: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

I have had no luck with Unetbootin or any other installer. I tried four different installers on a variety of linux distros and bootable rescue disks, and none of the usb sticks would boot.

[Mike7]

Hi, Aus9.

http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/help/guide

Tried LinuxLive. Didn't work. At least not on the linux-based Rescue Disks I tried to put on bootable pendrives.

There must be a problem with:
a) My computer's BIOs (needs special script?), or
b) The pendrives I'm using (maybe dd messed them up).