piCore 5.0.alpha3

[bmarkus]

I'm pleased to announce piCore 5.0.alpha3 for the Raspberry Pi.

5.0.alpha3 changelog:

- kernel updated to 3.11.1
- udev/udevadm updated
- fixed USB hotplug issues
- zram/zcache enabled

5.0.alpha2 changelog:

- busybox, zlib, e2fsprogs, util-linux, bcrypt, zsync rebuilt with GCC 4.8.1
- libgcc_s.so.1 and libstdc++.so updated to GCC 4.8.1 libs
- removed visudo which was an x86 binary


5.0.alpha1 changelog:

- common TC 5 script base
- eglibc 2.18
- kernel 3.10.10
- busybox 1.21.1
- zlib 1.2.8
- e2fsprogs 1.42.8
- util-linux 2.23.2
- added bcrypt to base
- dropped scm type extension support
- cleanup, unneded files removed
- file reorganization
- updated Broadcom firmware


Download link: piCore-5.0.alpha3.img.gz md5

[bmarkus]

In this release zram/zcache is enabled as a built-in functionality, so you can use zswap. To enable, delete the nozswap boot option in /mnt/mmcblk0p1/cmdline.txt file. During next boot a 105M compressed swap will be enabled automatically on Model-B with 512M RAM.

To see open a terminal and type

Code: [Select]

cat /proc/swaps

About zswap:

Zswap is a compressed swap cache, able to evict pages from the compressed cache, on an LRU basis, to the backing swap device when the compressed pool reaches it size limit or the pool is unable to obtain additional pages from the buddy allocator. Its approach trades CPU cycles for reduced swap I/O. This trade-off can result in a significant performance improvement as reads to and writes from to the compressed cache are almost always faster that reading from a swap device which incurs the latency of an asynchronous block I/O read.

[sbp]

Hi bmarkus

Just tried to build my piCorePlayer on your piCore 5.0 alpha 3.

Overall it is working fine.

1. The USB mounting stuff of an extra USB stick is done automatically now - so that problem is solved.
2 /dev/mmcblk0p1 is still not mounted automatically - so I have to perform a "sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0p1" before I can manipulate the files here. Is that the way you want it to be - or?  Anyway it is different from previous versions where it was mounted automatically.

So thank you very much.

Steen

[sbp]

Hi bmarkus

I was wondering: you write that you now are using GCC 4.8.1  -  does it mean that I have to change anything on my end if I want to compile a single ALSA module which I will change in your ALSA package?

I mean should I update my cross-compiler or??

Steen

[bmarkus]

Hi bmarkus

I was wondering: you write that you now are using GCC 4.8.1  -  does it mean that I have to change anything on my end if I want to compile a single ALSA module which I will change in your ALSA package?

I mean should I update my cross-compiler or??

Steen

Keep as it is, no need to change. Kernel was crosscompiled with GCC 4.7.2, applications created with GCC 4.6.3 in piCore 4.7 with EGLIBC 2.13 are running fine with current EGLIBC 2.18, etc...

[bmarkus]

mmcblk0p1 is not used (no /tce nor /cde on) therefore not mounted. If you have been using piCore-X previously it was mounted due to the CDE directory.

[sbp]

hi bmarkus

I'm having trouble with a script I use for enabling HDMI output in piCorePlayer.

It is like this:
sudo echo hdmi_drive=2 >> /mnt/mmcblk0p1/config.txt

So it adds hdmi_drive=2  to the config.txt file and this is working both in version 5.0 alpha3 and version 4.7.7

However, it won't survive a reboot in version 5, whereas it is present in config.txt after a reboot in version 4.7.7.

Steen

[bmarkus]

piCore 5.0 doesn't use mmcblk0p1 at all. Do you mount partition before doing anything with it?

[paradigmInversion]

bmarkus,

First of all, I'm a newbie.  This is my first time on this forum.

Are you saying that you derived piCore 5.0 from Tiny Core Linux or from some other distro?  I ask because I'm attempting to rebuild Tiny Core Linux with serial debug support in the kernel.

Thanks,
ParadigmInversion

[bmarkus]

piCore 5.0 is the official Raspberry Pi port of TC 5.0

[sbp]

piCore 5.0 doesn't use mmcblk0p1 at all. Do you mount partition before doing anything with it?

Yes I do mount the partition, and I can see the files and cat /mnt/mmcblk0p1/config.txt will output the content of the config.txt file, so it is available.

The problem is that any change I do to the file is not maintained after a reboot. Whereas in 4.7.7 the changes was still there after a reboot.

Steen

[bmarkus]

How are you changing the file?

[sbp]

Like this

sudo echo hdmi_drive=2 >> /mnt/mmcblk0p1/config.txt

Steen

[bmarkus]

Like this

sudo echo hdmi_drive=2 >> /mnt/mmcblk0p1/config.txt

Steen

Do not overwrite system configuration file, just change the relevant parameter. First try it manually with an editor to see it is effective. For scripting use sed for example.

[sbp]

Hi bmarkus

It doesn't matter how I change the /mnt/mmcblk0p1/config.txt file

I have used :

1.  sudo echo hdmi_drive=2 >> /mnt/mmcblk0p1/config.txt     which by the way don't overwrite the file but just add a new line containing hdmi_drive=2 to the end of the file.

2. sudo vi  /mnt/mmcblk0p1/config.txt   -  and change a line and then saved it. And I verified by doing a cat  /mnt/mmcblk0p1/config.txt that the file was changed.

However, after a reboot the changes are lost.  In version 4.7.7. I did not have this problem, as any change was still present after a reboot.

Steen