labeas, we realize it's frustrating to learn a new system and how it handles program (extension) installations. So I think it's best we derail your current methodology and suggest you download coreplus.iso then burn it to disk. That way when you boot it with wifi support selected, you'll know immediately how to load and run the WiFi connection utility. I believe all required 32bit extensions are supplied in coreplus.iso, however in worst case scenario you might have to download and install only one extension, maybe..?
Learn the 32bit tinycore using coreplus.iso before diving head first into corepure64.
Don't try to complicate the experience by using corepure64, or core64, or even using MC. Without question, None of these are needed to have a working desktop environment. I'll be honest, I've never figured out how to use MC. If you're more comfortable with MC, then go for it.. However, the Terminal is king, learn to use it, please
Know that when you load wifi.tcz and firmware-rtlwifi.tcz automatically at boot using onboot.lst to load extensions, all dependencies listed within dep files are loaded automatically and in the correct order. The important issue here is
"firmware must be loaded first", heads up here because there's little or no exception to this rule;
"firmware must be loaded before the driver". Otherwise the driver when it loads will never ever find it's firmware and will not work, end of story! You'll have to reboot to try again when attempting manual loading.
Almost every extension has a dep file and md5 file, these are not considered optional. Life will definitely be more relaxing if you download ALL these at the same time.
eg:
wifi.tcz
wifi.tcz.dep
wifi.tcz.md5.txt
Manually loading firmware-rtlwifi.tcz and wifi.tcz requires
all extensions and their dep file lists (for those that have dep files) as well. They all need to be installed within mnt/sdb1/tce/optional/ directory.
When you have all required extensions and their supporting files in place within /tce/optional directory the process of connecting to an access point becomes easy.
We're here to help, just ask