Difficulties with CorePlus installation to a pendrive

[Mike7]

Hi, coreplayer2.

You know, perhaps we could have avoided a lot of problems by letting the installer use it's defaults?

Hopefully the label curaga is going to put on that Installer page, warning people like me who don't know what they're doing not to put in any boot codes, will prevent this mess in the future.

I think I said before, I'd start over.

That's the easy way out. It's no fun.

M.

[Mike7]

juanito-

due to the fact you had both a back-up and persistent home and opt set, the backup is probably messed up.

I don't mind deleting mydata.gz again and doing a re-boot with no backup if you really think it will help. But don't forget that I removed those home and opt boot codes from extlinux.conf before shutting down the first time. So those codes weren't active when I re-booted and then shut down with a backup.

Extensions should be on persistent storage and not in your backup.

 I forgot.    Okay, I'll boot up TCL again, delete mydata.gz, and shut down with no backup. Then I'll re-boot and see if the mess disappears.

M.

[coreplayer2]

Well, you can't keep blaming the tools..  the mess is self-induced IMHO   Why not start over then install a web browser and start learning how core works?

It's no fun watching you not get it right

[coreplayer2]

boot codes have so many uses, while the defaults will work adequately for most systems.  Just to show how wildly different they can be here are the bootcodes from this evening's machine as an example.

Code: [Select]

tc@box:~$ showbootcodes
initrd=/tce/boot/rootfs-520.gz,/tce/boot/modules-3813.gz loglevel=3 noswap lst=onboot32xorg.lst mydata=mydata32xorg tce=sda1 opt=sda1 home=sda1 desktop=hackedbox blacklist=bcma,ssb,b43,rtl8192cu,iwlwifi BOOT_IMAGE=/tce/boot/vmlinuz-3813
My advise is accept the defaults and adjust later only if needed

[Mike7]

Hi, coreplayer2.

Sorry I took so long in replying, but I have health issues that distract me.

My advise is accept the defaults and adjust later., . . Why not start over then install a web browser and start learning how core works?

I think that's good advice. I'd like to re-install using the default boot codes. However, there's an unresolved issue for me with the Installer: only "Frugal" allows installing to a partition, but the documentation says to use USB-HDD for a pendrive. This is a predicament for me as I am trying to keep my 8GB pendrive in two partitions so I can save and backup files outside the TCL partition.

So, what should I do when re-installing, choose Frugal  (to partition 1), or re-format the pendrive as a single partition and choose USB-HDD?

Mike

[gerald_clark]

It's your choice.

[Mike7]

Hi, Gerald.

It's your choice.

I'm afraid that's really not much help. I can't make a choice if I don't know what the differences and consequences are.

Also, like I said, the documentation says to use USB-HDD for pendrives. Why? Does that mean a frugal install to a partition is the wrong thing to do for some reason?

People in the forum have told me to do a fresh installation, but if I don't get a little help using the Installer app I won't be able to.

After all the time invested, I hate to give up and Install using core2usb.exe.

Cheers.

Mike

[coreplayer2]

Ok so I grabbed a spare 16GB  USB stick of my bench, then fixed it up just the way you want it.

I created partitions, (first) FAT32 | (second) EXT2

Using coreplus installer, installed core + X/gui to sda2    and voila!  booted right up


knowing that pictures speak a thousand words

If required, create partitions on USB drive using gparted & e2fsprogs (downloaded and installed to the currently booted coreplus filesystem just for the task)
1. delete previous partition(s)
2. create partition table > from Device menu, select "Create Partition Table" (Note the warnings, eg; be sure you have the correct drive selected)
3. create partitions as required


TC-Install selecting sda2 (second partition previously formatted with ext2) with these options


nothing more than this (no extra boot codes, only x/gui applications for a desktop),
continue using forward arrows then finally the "Proceed" button to complete


Unnecessary but to show the partitions with completed install,
I opened gparted once more then selected the USB thumb drive to verify desired results


To the best of my knowledge I did not make any other install selections.  Also the above operation took 15 minutes tops (actually took longer to post  the screenshots).

Note we have a FAT partition available to transfer doc's etc. etc.   Additionally, with a FAT partition created first on the removable drive, Windows will not complain about the ext2 partition every time you plug in the drive


reboot, then select your USB thumb drive from the BIOS boot menu. 

ok here is the finished product, installed to USB drive complete with tce directory which booted up without issue


good luck

[coreplayer2]

A couple of interesting links

Frugal install of tinycore to USB devices is described in the wiki, here
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:install_usb


Also see Core concepts for explanation of "Frugal" install
http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/concepts.html

Hope that helps

[Mike7]

Hi, coreplayer2.

Some of these questions are being resolved in our personal messages, but I'm still unclear about whether (and why) I need a FAT32 partition. Maybe just so I can read Windows files placed there while booted into the pendrive? (But can TCL read Windows-formatted files?)

Also, note that the images did not appear in your post above (or is there a problem with my browser?).

Here's a query: When partitioning a pendrive, should the partition table be created before or after the partitions? (I see in your steps that you created it before making the partitions.)

Cheers.

Mike

[Rich]

Hi Mike7
A FAT32 partition is only required if you need to be able to transfer files to/from a Windows machine with the pendrive.

The images are there, it's probably your browser.

In gparted, you can tell it what partitions you want to define first. It doesn't actually do anything until you click the apply button.

[coreplayer2]

Hi, coreplayer2.

Here's a query: When partitioning a pendrive, should the partition table be created before or after the partitions? (I see in your steps that you created it before making the partitions.)

On an empty drive, create the partition table then create partitions as desired.
note: if your drive already has partitions you would like to keep, then don't create a new partition table

[Mike7]

I'm planning to re-use my 2-partition 8GB pendrive for the new installation. I suppose I could simply reformat each of the partitions (both ext2) and leave the partition table alone?

OTOH, I'm not certain that reformatting the two partitions separately will leave things exactly as they were when I originally created the partitions. It might be best to really start from scratch by reformatting the whole pendrive in FAT32 and then recreating the two ext2 partitions. If I did that, would I need to make a new partition table first?

Sorry if these questions sound silly or arcane, but my knowledge of partitions, formatting, partition tables, and using Gparted is rather limited.

Mike

[gerald_clark]

Just quit talking about it and do it.
Try it several different ways and see which suits your needs.
It's not our job to make all your decisions for you.

[coreplayer2]

Hi, coreplayer2.

....but I'm still unclear about whether (and why) I need a FAT32 partition.

Mike

This is one reason, a non Windows recognizable file system on a connected drive will result in this massage with "Format drive" highlighted.  potentially disastrous should you hit Enter..

Unless you have files to transfer, a FAT partition seems a waste of space.  I normally go with one partition on such small USB thumb drives.