Tiny Core and games

[byteshaman]

Hello world,
It is my hopes that this post gets clearance from the audience that has more familiarity with linux and tiny core. I must say that I have done my youtube research, I have read all of the core concepts, I have looked through the wiki. It is unfortunate that I am limited in comprehension, and time. With help, we can remedy this. I have dedicated several hours over several weeks and i intend to keep doing such. but as a human on earth i only have 24 hours a day and many of those require sleeping and eating.

I am imagining this thread will keep my questions into one thread if all goes well. I will begin with my first question : how do I add CJK locales into tiny core? I mean foreign language program fonts and support? is this possible? I have followed some guides - of each I hit a roadblock of some sort. I will post links to the guides that didnt work if need be. If there is an easy routine process, then my ineffective research references should not be necessary.

My intent with tinycore is to learn linux. and my method will be an attempt to create something similar to puppy arcade linux. essentially a portable, bootable usb stick os with persistence that I can take with me and use on whatever hardware allows.

What I have done : I have learned alot of windows. I have installed coreplus onto virtualbox, and used virtualbox to install to my usb. The usb install keeps files, keeps extensions.

My forte is web programming, not much on linux. I have got a book, the no starch press linux cookbook, but i have come to find that its commands dont all work with tiny core.
I have messed with lubuntu, slitaz, damn small linux, and a few other distros. i really like the idea of ground up. in 2003 i built my first computer and spent about 3 weeks trying to get slackware working. honestly, I DID have it up and working, there was a hardware conflict that just destroyed my efforts. I was unable to diagnose it as a n00b and had bought windows xp before final diagnosis that I needed to take my machine to the computer scientist guy. i have not revisited linux since, until about a month ago.

would it be possible to get all the game emulators loaded and working like puppy arcade linux? since the site scottjarvis is down - my puppy arcade linux distro will not work or configure. and i really dont care for a turnkey solution - i want to learn howto. i also want to get WINE on it, so that I can use additional games. I also want to get CJK for even more game compatibility.

My first intent - is to just get various locales into tiny core. I have done a forum search - and each post got into technicalities which required my questions as a response. might as well do that here if need came about. How do I CJK tiny core? Is there a routine process, or should i do another attempt, and post my failed routine here for evaluation and modification? thanks for reading, thanks for the help.

I am using tinycore installed into virtualbox on a compaq laptop. it has a synaptics ps/2 touchpad. click and dragging of tinycore desktop windows works in virtualbox, but does not work when i boot directly to my tinycore os, btw. so much to do, so much to do...

[gerald_clark]

The forum has many categories.
Post your questions in the correct catagories, not all in one thread.

[theYinYeti]

Hi byteshaman,
I wrote an article some time ago for having a portable Linux on a USB stick, and some followup too, about locales and UTF-8. I don't know if this will help with CJK, though… My web site: http://yeti.selfip.net/ Look for:
- Bootable flash drive for both Linux and Windows: part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
- Time zone in TinyCore Linux
- UTF-8 everywhere in TinyCore Linux

[byteshaman]

G_C : I will use my time and efforts to explore and hopefully find answers. I will not post everything in one thread. I will also try to refrain from cluttering up the forum with foolish attempts.

YY : thank you for the information. i am following the directions now.

if anyone is interested - my website is http://byteshaman.us
i havent updated in a while and probably wont anytime soon due to my efforts being directed elsewhere (getting off of the windows environment).

[byteshaman]

well, i want to get used to using the terminal. I am not in the direction of success there.
YY article "It is quite easy: you install the getlocale extension"
I know how to use the app browser to install apps, but i am trying to build my terminal command reference.
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:install_apps

:~$ tce-load -i getlocale
getlocale.tcz not found!


well, then i suppose i'll use the app browser to install it....I have it installed.

next i am to use it to generate a custom "mylocale" extension. I do not know how to generate a custom extension. I am faced with the task of doing the research to generate a custom extension, I have come across a web page about tcztools.

Here I feel as if I am going down a different rabbit hole that is not a part of my original intention. If I proceed further, I am under the impression I will find myself struggling with something I do not know how to do - while also not sure if this is the correct solution. (two problems instead of one)

This looks like an advanced technique, and i do not understand the technical language of linux yet. My technical gibberish is php/mysql/javascript.
I appreciate your direction YY, but your instructions on
http://yeti.selfip.net/cms/index.php/post/2013/06/21/UTF-8-everywhere-in-TinyCore-Linux
is for advanced comprehension.  I'm very sorry, my current comprehension level is low. It is my intent to raise my comprehension levels, but I must choose direction and struggle wisely - with help. You all should have seen me getting the Dada engine working on damn small linux. I began with no prior knowledge of linux since that 2003 effort. i got it working but it was probably 300% more difficult for me than it should have been.

I need a comprehensive explanation of the advanced context clues before proceeding forward with that particular article. I will now research the getlocale extension and how it is applied.

Thank you for your help.

[gerald_clark]

If you want to download and install extensions using tce-load, you need to include the -w option.
Without '-w' tce-load installs previously downloaded extensions only.

Run 'tce-load' to see the options.

[byteshaman]

i type


:~$locale --all-locales
C
POSIX

and i am under the assumption i should see something referencing languages.
a google search says i should just install japanese fonts into the /usr/share/fonts/ folder?


i did read more of the UTF-8 everywhere page, and decided to install the xfonts-unifont extension.
i downloaded firefox to test if japanese fonts will show. nope.

I downloaded mikachan font http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/mikachan/
and put it into the /usr/share/fonts folder. viola. i see japanese fonts are now working.

Thank you for the tip G_C. I will do it right from now on.

[tinypoodle]

I downloaded mikachan font http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/mikachan/
and put it into the /usr/share/fonts folder. viola. i see japanese fonts are now working.

~/.fonts could work as well.

[theYinYeti]

Hey Byteshaman!
Indeed my articles are rather geared toward people with knowledge in Linux, and even TinyCore. But don’t hesitate to ask for help: these forums are there for this purpose

As a general advice, I suggest you read the TC Wiki pages concerning the topics you address. Besides, with Linux, it is common usage to read documentation for commands using the “man” command. Sometimes, there is no manual page; in this case, you can use the command --help or -h, which is the equivalent of Windows’ “/?” switch.

As gerald_clark said, you have to use tce -w for downloading a package. As for generating a custom "mylocale" extension, that is the _purpose_ of “getlocale” I don’t remember the exact command, but if I remember correctly, the description for “getlocale” in the package browser gives the exact directions.

Good luck, and don’t hesitate to ask: we’re here to help you get started with Linux, and with TinyCore

tYY.

[byteshaman]

I understand I now have japanese fonts displaying. is this equivalent to japanese locale support?

I did find this : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Locale
but i think its a different distro so i can only use the info with limited application.

I was typing 
:~$ getlocale

which you are all probably aware didnt do anything.

I typed in
:~$ getlocale()

and the prompt turned into
>

I dont know what that means or what to do. i typed in
>q

to get back to regular command prompt....


ok. my simple comprehension level probably needs more simple objectives and questions.
question :
if I type in

:~$ locale -a

the response is

C
POSIX

If japanese locale support was available, I am under the assumption I should see something like
C
POSIX
jp_JP

is that correct? I am possibly assuming wrong. I am possibly making this more difficult than it is.

I did a search for "locale" in the tc wiki, I came across this page :
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:grub2_from_grub1?s[]=locale#locale_settings
the directory /usr/local/share/locale does not exist, but
/usr/local/share/getlocale does exist

I looked in this directory and found the file : SUPPORTED
I opened it in nano editor and i see a big list. what is this list i am looking at and how can i use it? I am assuming it is relevant. I am posting this question here. from here i will proceed to use the super duper information superhighway to get lost in a bunch of stuff i probably wont understand.

I have installed the wine extension. I am going to attempt to play a japanese game in WINE. this is all in virtualbox by the way.
wondering why i would intall WINE in virtualbox? VB is a test environment. when i get things working in virtualbox, i will use the tech to update my TC OS that is on a bootable drive. I hope to eventually move over to linux, whatever distro, completely over time.

thanks for reading. thanks for any help.

[theYinYeti]

Hi byteshaman,
To tell the truth, my difficulty here is that I'm stuck on Windows right now so I cannot check and I rely only on my memory…)
Arch's Wiki is very good, but it is indeed different from TinyCore in this matter.

For Japanese support, you'll have to address these things:
- Japanese fonts (already done if I read you correctly),
- UTF-8 (that's a part I can help with),
- Kanji / katakana / hiragana characters input for X11 (the windowing system in Linux)

According to http://tinycorelinux.net/4.x/x86/tcz/getlocale.tcz.info the script is called getlocale.sh. So you should just open a terminal, and launch "getlocale.sh". This should ask you what locales you want to have. Be sure to select the ones you want (jp_JP.utf8 I guess), and I suggest you also pick an English locale as a backup. This process will create the mylocate.tcz extension, which will give you the requested locales, if enabled on boot.
And your assumption is correct as to what "locale -a" should then return

[byteshaman]

according to David attenborough on living planet - the hardest part for any animal that in the process of taking flight - is getting off the ground.

took me a while to realize i could select more than one language in the menu after
:~$getlocale.sh

by clicking on the list with my mouse pointer.
I rebooted, and nothing changed. I did, what i think was - the routine all over again -
and getlocale -a does show the japanese language support.
cheers! thank you YY!

this is proving to be insanely difficult for me.

my two problems now.
1. whe i reboot - the /usr/share/fonts folder is not persistent. or at least it doesnt appear to be persistent.
the mikachan-P.ttf does not show when i
:~$ ls

yet when i copy it over to /usr/share/fonts - it asked me if i wanted to overwrite it....
i will diagnose that later.
when i did a :
:~$ wine mugenjapanesegame.exe

my cpu usage went to 100% and all sorts of errors popped up. I am aware that if i have questions with WINE I should post a question in the appropriate category.

well. honestly I have made progress yesterday and today - however minor. i have other priorities like eating and sleeping which must be tend to. so i thank YY for your help once again.
i will continue to do general linux studies and will probably be back tomorrow.

[theYinYeti]

Congratulations byteshaman! Progress can be hard sometimes but you do well.
For your fonts, I suggest you read "Getting tinycore to save your documents and settings" on this page:
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:persistence_for_dummies
Also, you should know that ~/.fonts/ (that is: /home/tc/.fonts/) is also a perfectly good place to put fonts, maybe even a better place since directories under /usr are usually left to be managed by the distribution's package manager (although TC is a bit special in this regard).
As for Wine, I'm afraid I won't be able to give any help It depends on the software to run, and sometimes even depends on the hardware: remember, Wine Is NOT an Emulator but instead it is a compatibility layer for Linux, implementing the Win32 API and some more. So the hardware counts too. You may have different results with a real PC and VirtualBox…

I realized I forgot to talk about characters input in my previous post. Usually this is done with an accompanying program, several of which exist, but I don't know which ones work in TinyCore. For example, there are SCIM, iBus…

[byteshaman]

I seem to have no
/home/tc/.fonts/ folder... in fact, I am putting the mikachan-P.ttf font into the /usr/share/fonts/ folder - and its not showing them like it was previously.

recap of the current status (keep in mind this is in virtualbox):
when I
:~$ locale -a

response is :
C
POSIX
en_US
en_US.iso88591
en_US.utf8
ja_JP.eucjp
ja_JP.utf8

I have downloaded the mikachanfont, untarred it, and moved it to /usr/share/fonts/mikachan-P.ttf

now, when i go to http://yahoo.jp in bon echo all I get are a bunch of where japanese glyphs are to be.

when I go to the /home/tc/mikachanfontP-8.9/README.ja file and open it in nano - I DO see japanese characters.
when I create a text file in windows, copy and paste japanese characters to it, save to usb, mount usb in virtualbox tinycore os, and open the text file - no japanese characters show.

when I tried to configure and use wine it was absolute fail. I'll deal with WINE later.

do I have the japanese locale working? I mean I see the characters in nano, from the README.ja file....but I do not see them in Bon Echo.

I'm so confused. however I have put in over 2hours today messing with it. and I'm going to be done till tomorrow or so.

Thank you for your help. I did read the article on persistence, and I will keep it in my lessons to apply from now on. Gracias amigo

[tinypoodle]

I seem to have no
/home/tc/.fonts/ folder...

Code: [Select]

mkdir ~/.fonts