TinyCore x86 boots to black screen with underscore

[curaga]

Regarding your Xorg steps, if you didn't install xf86-video-intel, you're using the modesetting (unaccelerated) driver. The Intel driver should give better performance; and in case it causes any issues, reverting would be a matter of booting with the "text" bootcode and removing it from onboot.lst.

[GNUser]

Thank you, curaga. I installed xf86-video-intel and no issues. I'll probably notice the better performance once I have a few more GUI applications running.

[remabr]

SOLVED!

1. use text boot command
2. install graphics-KERNEL and Xorg-N.N extensions
3. remove Xvesa from onboot.lst
4. reboot

Then the whole boot process completes normally, ending at a nice minimalistic desktop with a dock at the bottom.

Just one final quick question: What if I want to use a different WM (e.g., fluxbox)? What's the easiest way to change the default WM? Do I do it in ~/.xsession then backup .xsession using /opt/.filetool.lst?

Wow! I've been struggling for hours on this and now it boots properly awesome find!

[PDP-8]

Field Note:

If this happens on a syslinux booted box, early modesetting of the vesamenu can be dealt with this on the kernel line:

Code: [Select]

vga=current quiet splash ...
vga=current was the key

Mucho thanks the the Archlinux wiki in the
"White block in upper left corner when using vesamenu" section

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux

Just something for the mental notebook and catch-22's like that.   Worked for me with another distro that was giving me the same fits..