Using CD boot and then changing to USB for installer

[brian-au]

Not sure if this is a bug, or a tip/trick, but here goes:

I downloaded the (current) ISO and burnt to a CD to do first boot of tinycore. [Edit: No I didn't burn it I went from ISO direct to USB]

Then I followed the menu steps to make a bootable USB stick, which worked ok.
[Edit: I used the Universal-USB-Installer which carries a listed entry for Tiny Core Linux]

But being a noob, I didn't realise a fundamental problem that happened, and this was preventing me from installing packages...

When the USB bootable was created it made the subdirectory cde (instead of tce)
When the USB was booted, the download path was set to "tmp" something, and the "Set" button only allowed to make the path /mnt/sda1/tce/optional, this could not be edited to be cde.

So...I put the stick into a windoze box, renamed cde to tce, then went into boot/isolinux and edited isolinux.cfg using WORDPAD (note do not use NOTEPAD), change append cde to be append tce, save in wordpad.

Put USB stick back in tinycore target, boots as before except now from tce path, and the apps folder correctly lights up correctly pointing to mnt/sda1/tce/optional, and downloaded onboot packages go into the correct place for startup.

1. Hope this helps others
2. Maybe the 'make USB' process can be altered to use tce instead, this took me quite a while to figure out as a tc noob

[Edit: I note now with benefit of hindsight and re-tracing my steps that I was not using the 'recommended' core2usb installer and so this issue was created by my own customised installation method, but since the Universal-USB-Installer does actually 'work' this post may still help others (end edit)]

[gerald_clark]

Then I followed the menu steps to make a bootable USB stick, which worked ok.

Which menu steps?
The installer should not have created a cde directory.

'tce' is not a valid boot code.   Please read about boot codes in the documentation/book/wiki.

Make sure you have the boot code 'waitusb=5' or one of its variants.

[Rich]

Hi brian-au
It is generally not a good idea to edit Linux files under Windows. Linux ends line with a LF while Windows uses CR LF. You saw
the result of that when you tried opening the file using Notepad and all the lines ran together because Notepad didn't see
any CRs. Wordpad has no trouble reading this type of file but might "fix" it when saving by adding the "missing" CRs. This can
cause problems with some files under Linux. There is a utility in Linux called  unix2dos  that will strip the CRs back out. You
might want to consider opening a terminal and running:

Code: [Select]

sudo dos2unix /mnt/sda1/boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfgjust to be safe.

[gerald_clark]

unix2dos will add a CR before each LF.
dos2unix will change any CR-LF pair to a LF.

[brian-au]

There is a utility in Linux called  unix2dos  that will strip the CRs back out.

Yep, I know about that util (dos2unix), but...I have windoze and a tc that didn't work properly, I'm assuming that those utils would not be part of the standard iso/tc install anyway?

I know that for the most part WORDPAD works ok for this task.  Obviously editing the files in unix is better, but it's a mid-line edit and does not involve creation of a new line or pressing enter.

Anyway it seems from below that I did the wrong thing anyway.  To answer the question about "what menu steps", I'm not near that machine just now but I thought I followed the howto guide.  I will check back and reply here...

[Rich]

Hi gerald_clark
Thanks, my brain wasn't in gear, post fixed.

[Rich]

Hi brian-au

I'm assuming that those utils would not be part of the standard iso/tc install anyway?

Yes they are. Open a terminal and enter  busybox  and you'll get a list of available commands.

[brian-au]

Then I followed the menu steps to make a bootable USB stick, which worked ok.

Which menu steps?
The installer should not have created a cde directory.

'tce' is not a valid boot code.   Please read about boot codes in the documentation/book/wiki.

Make sure you have the boot code 'waitusb=5' or one of its variants.

As promised I have retrace my installation steps and discovered some issues. 
I have edited my original post to reflect what I actually did.
On the day that I first started with tinycore, I also tried DSL and Puppy first.  DSL uses a menu method to go from the CD to a USB, and Puppy uses the Universal-USB-Installer.  So arriving at tc third I used the Universal-USB-Installer which 'supports' Tiny Core Linux and fed it the current-ISO, but it appears that it doesn't quite do everything correctly.

It does boot, but the (partial) line "append cde" appears in boot/isolnux/isolinux.cfg, I made the _assumption_ that I could swap cde to tce (since the documentation says that both are valid paths (but I did not check the boot code lists)). 

The action of changing cde to tce actually made my boot process work correctly, but perhaps the tce is just being ignored and not actually referenced.

[roberts]

See FAQ: http://tinycorelinux.net/faq.html#pendrives