Mode of Operation?

[1bolsen07]

I have a fair amount of experience with linux but I am new to Tiny Core and other minimal distributions. I do not fully understand Tiny Core's different modes of operation and I am looking for suggestions. I want to boot Tiny Core from a usb drive and run entirely from ram. However, I want a place where I can save installed packages/settings but only as they are changed.

What I hope to accomplish is this: have Tiny Core boot from usb and load all installed applications into ram. I do not want Tiny Core to access my hard drive in any way. I do not want TC to refer to the usb drive in order to launch applications (I could pull out the drive if I wanted and TC could still run), but if I install new packages they are installed to the usb drive so that I don't have to reinstall them when I reboot. I also want to be able to save config files and documents to the flash drive.

Ultimately, I'm trying to get my laptop battery to run as long as possible. I want to avoid using the hard drive to squeeze out every bit of charge I can, hence the flash drive. I only plan to install firefox, abiword, some sort of file manager, maybe one or two other applications but I'm not installing a bunch of applications. Pretty much, just enough to boot quickly and get online or write papers.

Can anybody recommend which mode of operation I should follow or point me in some sort of direction?

[^thehatsrule^]

It sounds like PPR/TCE may fit your description.  Since you are using a usb device, the uuid option may also be useful.

[tim2092008]

I have a question here to do what he is saying can you run tiny core from the usb drive and save everything or do u have to run tiny core and install it to usb drive from tiny core. Because i made my tiny core usb with unetbootin..would it work better if i made it with tiny core?

[Juanito]

I want to boot Tiny Core from a usb drive and run entirely from ram. However, I want a place where I can save installed packages/settings but only as they are changed.

You can do this by creating a folder named /tce in the root of the usb stick and copying extensions to this folder. You can also designate the usb stick for your backup via the control panel "backup/restore"

What I hope to accomplish is this: have Tiny Core boot from usb and load all installed applications into ram. I do not want Tiny Core to access my hard drive in any way. I do not want TC to refer to the usb drive in order to launch applications (I could pull out the drive if I wanted and TC could still run), but if I install new packages they are installed to the usb drive so that I don't have to reinstall them when I reboot. I also want to be able to save config files and documents to the flash drive.

As long as you install only tce extensions you will be able to do this. Note that you will need to "umount" the usb stick prior to unplugging it. "backup/restore" will take care of your config files - for documents, I would recommend making a folder named /docs or similar on the usb stick, rather than using /home/tc

Ultimately, I'm trying to get my laptop battery to run as long as possible. I want to avoid using the hard drive to squeeze out every bit of charge I can, hence the flash drive.

the laptop-mode-tools extension will turn off your hd after a short period of inactivity.

[curaga]

I have a question here to do what he is saying can you run tiny core from the usb drive and save everything or do u have to run tiny core and install it to usb drive from tiny core. Because i made my tiny core usb with unetbootin..would it work better if i made it with tiny core?

The method of install shouldn't matter.

[Juanito]

The method of install shouldn't matter.

..except that you might have to change the ownership of folders like /tce to tc:staff if you installed from another distro.

[1bolsen07]

Thanks for the info guys. This helped a lot.

[roberts]

The advantage of using the usbinstall from within Tiny Core, sets up your tce directory, inital backup, and UUID. Otherwise, you should read the FAQ to do this setup.

[tim2092008]

Thanks roberts the usb install within tiny core works much better and this is alot easier now. Now i just need to find that code to load icewm at start up or find a way to move the panel to the bottom to the bottom of the screen and add a main menu and get rid of the date to only show the time and get rid of the quick launcher and find the right drivers for my wifi atheros 5007g nothing i try works

[tclfan]

Thanks roberts the usb install within tiny core works much better and this is alot easier now.

I find USBINSTALL much better for TCL than UNETBOOTIN. It sets partitions nicely (in ZIP mode), and installs TCL in first (16M) FAT partition. The second partition (FAT32) is for /tce and data. Both partiions can be accessible from other operating systems (if you have proper USB stick, if your USB stick is not proper, then the second partition will not be accessible in Windows). UNETBOOTIN does not apper to handle properly USB sticks partitioned in HD mode.