Does anyone here know if TCL will work on non-PAE systems?

[jasonjacob]

Pretty much just the question in the title, I have an old Lacie I want to up and running again, but I need a distro that works on non-pae enabled processors. previously I tried using Antix, but it ended up being too heavy, and I don't need a gui so I thought I might try Tiny Core Linux. I was hoping someone could confirm that TCL will work for this before I try it, because in order to do the install I would have to burn it to CD, and take the Lacie apart to attach PATA cd drive, as it does not support boot from USB at all.

[Juanito]

did you type "pae" in the forum search box 

[mocore]

Pretty much just the question in the title, I have an old Lacie I want to up and running again, but I need a distro that works on non-pae enabled processors. previously I tried using Antix, but it ended up being too heavy, and I don't need a gui so I thought I might try Tiny Core Linux. I was hoping someone could confirm that TCL will work for this before I try it, because in order to do the install I would have to burn it to CD, and take the Lacie apart to attach PATA cd drive, as it does not support boot from USB at all.

don't need a gui

then only "Core" (previously "MicroCore") 

Code: [Select]

/core.gz   is required ( see "Core Concepts" > "overview of the system architecture for mount mode."  > http://tinycorelinux.net/architecture.html )

>> will TCL work on non-PAE systems

realy i think this is "Linux kernel" problem!
 ... wiki says "The Linux kernel includes full PAE-mode support starting with version 2.3.23"  : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension#Linux

so for tcl or any other Linux *i guess* check the kernel config strings , and if needed *try* building kernel with modified config

*it appears* any tcl kernel version above  2.3.23  could support PAE

in order to do the install I would have to burn it to CD, and take the Lacie apart to attach PATA cd drive, as it does not support boot from USB at all.

if you are willing* to use the command line
it is possible to "manually" install tcl  ( install bootloader , copy files , set bootloader config path strings to file locations )
 
  .. for an example installing from linux see this post : http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,22546.msg141259.html#msg141259

the wiki has some pages about setting up tcl & bootloaders

in the past i have successfully installed grub4dos + core + grub4dos-menu-config.lst from  windoze
probably working from this ( now old and perhaps out dated guide ) : http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/Grub4dos.htm

++ "Linux on NTFS" http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,19399.0.html

goodluck!

&& http://tinycorelinux.net/book.html


*"The vodka is good, but the meat is rotten"

[andyj]

It is possible to support PAE systems on later 32-bit processors but it has to be compiled in, which it is not in TC so you should be fine. If you need more convincing boot 32-bit TC on a 32-bit machine with > 4GB and all you will see is the lowest 4GB (this is easiest to do in a VM). I have built a PAE-enabled kernel for 32-bit that I boot into to compile certain extensions which will let me access 8GB, but that is of my own making.