Thanks beerstein.
I did think it was something like that. tried usbwait=10.
But it was getting late and could not remember the syntax.
waitusb=10 added to cmdline.txt worked.
Now have piCore busy doing installing x11 - tce-load -wi TC.tcz
Yep X11 up and running
Boot is much slower, getting toward normal PC times, but not as long as Windows
Might have to get a M2 SSD and caddy, turn piCore into a real desktop.
Hey do USB CDROMs work on Pi?