install to USB

[Dave_Kimble]

This was my first attempt to set up tinycore on a USB stick.

After a day on it, I'm still not there yet, my CD doesn't seem to have bzImages and tinycore.gz on it (I know, it MUST have, but it doesn't), so I can't copy those files to my /mnt/sdb1/boot and of course the boot doesn't work.

How can I get hold of the files?

I downloaded the recommended 16 MB .iso file (it was actually 18.9 MB), so how do I get the files out of an .iso file?  Booting from that left me stuck in CLI, and I had to do "tce-load -wi Xvesa Xprogs flwm_topside wbar" and "startx" to get to the GUI desktop. Then the desktop didn't have a terminal or tc-install, so I had to get back to the CLI to get them.  The base system needs a file manager (xfe) as well.  There should also be a script to automate the install to HDD/USB.  I can understand why you left them out, (because you can), but it means everybody has to start with all this work before they are ready to start trying it out.

Presumably the window manager is flwm, so why doesn't bmpanel like it?

[Rich]

Hi Dave_Kimble

... my CD doesn't seem to have bzImages and tinycore.gz ...

You want  vmlinuz  and  core.gz  which should be in the  boot  directory of your CD.

[Dave_Kimble]

My problem is:
# ls -l /mnt/sr0/
total 0
#

[Rich]

Hi Dave_Kimble
Did you try mounting  sr0?

[Dave_Kimble]

Yes it was mounted. I think xfe had a glitch because when i tried again just now it was there. Copied the files out, and rebooted : load ldconfig32 not found.

[curaga]

Booting from that left me stuck in CLI, and I had to do "tce-load -wi Xvesa Xprogs flwm_topside wbar" and "startx" to get to the GUI desktop

Your CD drive was not recognized for some reason, and so TC couldn't load extensions from it. The TinyCore iso includes a terminal on the desktop, but you didn't install it from the internet in your command.

The CorePlus iso is meant for installing and other such uses, it comes with both a graphical and command-line installer. Though in your case, since the CD drive is not recognized, you may have to try another computer, or maybe run it in a virtual machine.

[Dave_Kimble]

Yes, I think the CD might be faulty, at least the GUI desktop part.  I did have to download and install aterm, tc-install, xfe,

I really miss my LXDE desktop, in particular lxpanel. Has anyone done the work to get it into the repository? It feeds off /usr/share/applications and ./.local/share/applications, which don't seem to be set up quite correctly.

[Dave_Kimble]

OK, I've got as far as being able to start booting from USB pendrive, but I get this:

====
udhcpc: sending discover
tc@box: ~$ udhcpc: sending discover
udhcpc: sending select for 192.168.0.3
udhcpc : lease of 102.168.0.3 obtained. lease time 86400
deleting routers
route: SIOCDELRT: No such process
adding dns 192.168.0.1
====

DHCP in the router has this machine's MAC address reserved for 192.168.0.3, and in Ubuntu my DNS server is set as 192.168.0.1 (my router), which has settings to forward DNS lookups to OpenDNS servers, so all this could be OK, but it hangs at that point.  Why?
Pressing Enter brings up the "tc@box ~$ " prompt.
Then "startx" is not found.
"tce-load -wi Xvesa Xprogs" fails "wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 404 not found
md5sum: Xvesa.tcz.md5.txt: No such file or directory"
I get this error quite a lot from repo.tinycorelinux.net - does the repo change a lot?

flwm is OK, but it is very annoying that all new windows are positioned to cover the wbar, which is on the left.  I know you can set it to be --above-desktop so that it is always visible, but can't you tell flwm to reserve the area and not use it?

[NewUser]

How did you burn the .iso to your USB drive?

[coreplayer2]

I think it's sad when folks come here with preconceived expectations of how their system should function, when in reality TinyCore is different and better as a result..
It helps if folks come to Tinycore with some basic Linux knowledge, a few commands, any more than that is often dangerous..  We are here because Tinycore is different than most other distro's, but above all we are free to build our system/toolbox as we choose.    To really appreciate Tinycore's benefits we have to come with an open mind, have a willingness to learn and let all these expectations go..  After all, these operational expectations are based on other systems which are rarely applicable to Tinycore. 

I've been there, confused and a little frustrated because of expectations.  Someone here once said to me  "You're doing it all wrong!!"   and in retrospect they were so right!!!     One has to come with a fresh mind and when we see the light the experience is so rewarding.
We are here to help you through this process, there are some very knowledgeable and helpful people here.  So be prepared to roll up the sleeves and get one's hands dirty.   Above all (at least temporarily) forget anything we have learned previously..

Here are some extremely helpful Tinycore reference materials, just spend a few minutes absorbing this information and life will be so much easier;
http://tinycorelinux.net/faq.html
http://tinycorelinux.net/book.html

[coreplayer2]

OK, I've got as far as being able to start booting from USB pendrive,

Ok but please show the contents of your boot config file

and show the result of

Code: [Select]

sudo find / -iname tce

...
but I get this:
...
DHCP in the router has this machine's MAC address reserved for 192.168.0.3, and in Ubuntu my DNS server is set as 192.168.0.1 (my router), which has settings to forward DNS lookups to OpenDNS servers, so all this could be OK, but it hangs at that point.  Why?
Pressing Enter brings up the "tc@box ~$ " prompt.
Then "startx" is not found.
"tce-load -wi Xvesa Xprogs" fails "wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 404 not found
md5sum: Xvesa.tcz.md5.txt: No such file or directory"
I get this error quite a lot from repo.tinycorelinux.net - does the repo change a lot?

Besides being curious why the distrust of DHCP, what is the result of:

Code: [Select]

wget --spider www.tinycorelinux.net

Code: [Select]

tce-load -wi Xvesa XprogsThis is misuse, plain and simple...
Xprogs is a dependency of Xvesa so will be download and installed along with Xvesa using just this command

Code: [Select]

tce-load -wi Xvesa
But I don't understand why you're attempting to download these extensions when we supposedly have a USB installation?

flwm is OK, but it is very annoying that all new windows are positioned to cover the wbar, which is on the left.  I know you can set it to be --above-desktop so that it is always visible, but can't you tell flwm to reserve the area and not use it?

AFAIK, all new windows are tiled to the first window which is placed at top left.   Maybe you need to increase the screen resolution?

[Dave_Kimble]

Thanks for your help but since the wiki appears to be out of date, I have got hopelessly messed up with trying to do on the terminal what it doesn't quite say in the wiki.  A keyboard with sticky keys 6 to 9, 0, -, =, backspace, doesn't help.

I downloaded Puppy Xenial-Pup 7.5 and had the reboot on USB stick working in 10 minutes. And I had installed and configured all my apps within a few hours. lxpanel running too.

[jls]

Before leaving core you could have tried dCore

[coreplayer2]

Well, I felt bad after ranting a little..  So I took a look at the Wiki..   

While the basic items were covered, I updated the wiki a little and added a few important items that get overlooked by the new tinycore user

http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:install_usb



Note: it's a work in progress..