Basic questions about TinyCore Linux

[Kevin]

Hello everyone,

I am relatively noob when it comes to linux and unix-based systems in general, but I successfully installed TinyCore onto a hard drive using the "CorePlus CD".
(to answer your question as to why do I want to use TC: I just need a distro with a really small footprint).

I went through documentation and forum threads, but it's all a little too overwhelming for me
Will someone be kind enough to help me understand and configure the following?

1) I have installed TC with no GUI (I have no need for it) but the text interface is tiny (no pun intended) - how do I change the size and make it permanent?
2) TC autologins as root at boot time; why and why is the root password not mentioned anywhere? I tried changing the password, and it works, but after reboot it's reset to whatever the default password is. How do I change it to something else and make it permanent?
3) I have installed OpenSSH following these instructions http://firewallengineer.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/how-to-install-and-configure-openssh-ssh-server-in-tiny-core-linux/

However, after reboot, the entire configuration will be gone. Is there any way to also make this permanent?

[bmarkus]

Read http://tinycorelinux.net/corebook.pdf

[Kevin]

Read http://tinycorelinux.net/corebook.pdf

Wow an entire PDF.
Very nice, thanks.

[Kevin]

OK I read through the PDF.
Seeing how I started a bit on the wrong foot, I decided to reinstall TC.

Before setting up anything else, I need it to work with my italian keyboard.
Using the installer, I specified the following bootcode:

kmap=it

Then I checked "Non-US Keyboard support" before proceeding with installation.

TC installed fine, but the keyboard layout is still US. Am I missing something?

[gerald_clark]

Install the kmaps.tcz extension to be loaded onboot.
Try the boot code 'kmap=qwerty/it'

[Kevin]

Install the kmaps.tcz extension to be loaded onboot.
Try the boot code 'kmap=qwerty/it'

Worked perfectly, thanks!

[Kevin]

When booting up I get the following message:

Code: [Select]

Undefined video mode number: 318
Press <ENTER> to see video modes available, <SPACE> to continue, or wait 30 sec
How do I fix this?

[gerald_clark]

Don't use an undefined mode in the vga= boot option.
See 10.12 in the book.

[Kevin]

Don't use an undefined mode in the vga= boot option.
See 10.12 in the book.

My "vga=" option was not undefined, but my mistake was to specify it after the "superuser" code.
I removed vga= and all is fine now. Thanks again.

Now on to my next challenge..

[gerald_clark]

The value you had for vga=xxx is undefined in your BIOS.

[Kevin]

The value you had for vga=xxx is undefined in your BIOS.

Ah!

[Kevin]

The value you had for vga=xxx is undefined in your BIOS.

Ah!

After some experimenting I set it to vga=885. It is not listed in the documentation but it seems to be the "highest res" mode supported by my BIOS.

[Kevin]

OK in order to save users and passwords I have edited .filetool.lst adding etc/passwd, etc/shadow and etc/group.

The automatic backup does seem to work, though: when I reboot or shutdown the machine I do not see any message indicating that the data has been backed up and indeed if I check the mydata.tgz archive I can see that it does not get modified.
If I manually launch the backup command then my data gets backed up correctly.

What could be wrong? I checked the .profile file and made sure that there exists the line "export BACKUP=1" as stated in the book.

[gerald_clark]

Reboot does not do a backup.
How do you shutdown the machine?
Use exitcheck.sh

[Kevin]

I would do sudo reboot or sudo poweroff.
exitcheck.sh is not mentioned anywhere in the book, but I found it under /usr/bin/ after doing a search.

Should I do  /usr/bin/exitcheck.sh every time I need to shutdown or poweroff? Is this how TC works?

EDIT: I tried typing "exitcheck.sh reboot" but nothing was backed up.