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Author Topic: Problems to PXE boot TinyCore  (Read 3142 times)

Offline beta-tester

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Problems to PXE boot TinyCore
« on: March 30, 2020, 05:23:28 AM »
hello,
i have a PXE-Server project, where a pxe-client can boot into different linux distributions.
for TinyCore. i want to have at least the same behavior as when booting the ISO from a physical CD/DVD/USB.
i made TinyCore mostly working to boot into its X desktop.
but now, i have the problem that i can't install any apps. the application tries to find the fastest mirror, but because of the /mnt/nfs/cde folder is readonly.
booting TC from CD/DVD i can install apps temporary but not when i boot TC via pxe booting.

i tried different boot options, but no combinations made it working like as booting from the ISO file.
the best i could archive is with the following options:
Code: [Select]
LABEL tinycore-x64
  MENU LABEL tiny core x64
  KERNEL http://192.168.1.1/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/boot/vmlinuz64
  INITRD http://192.168.1.1/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/boot/corepure64.gz
  APPEND nfsmount=192.168.1.1:srv/nfs/tinycore-x64 tce=/mnt/nfs/cde noswap norestore

i can not make the nfs as read-write, because it is mounted directly from an TinyCore-ISO image on the server.
when i try to PXE-boot the ISO image directly i am only able to boot into TinyCore text console, because there is no mountpoint for the ISO-image in RAM to find the additional files for the X desktop.
i have to use the nfsmount=192.168.1.1:srv/nfs/tinycore-x64 tce=/mnt/nfs/cde options, otherwise it will not find the additional files to load the X desktop.

any ides, how i can signal TinyCore to load the additional files from /mnt/nfs/cde but use the default /tmp/tce for apps installation?
« Last Edit: March 30, 2020, 05:28:42 AM by beta-tester »

Offline curaga

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Re: Problems to PXE boot TinyCore
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2020, 02:17:17 PM »
Such a mode is not supported (read-only cde dir on NFS, otherwise RAM). I recommend loading the built-in extensions to RAM via any supported method (http, tftp, or packing them into an initrd).
The only barriers that can stop you are the ones you create yourself.

Offline beta-tester

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Re: Problems to PXE boot TinyCore
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2020, 07:10:26 PM »
thank you for your hint with http.
it took me quite some time to find httplist option and what it means...
BTW: are the wiki.tinycorelinux.net pages not working? i get always an empty page, when trying to open a wiki page.

the boot parameters are now like this:
Code: [Select]
LABEL tinycore-x64
  MENU LABEL tiny core x64
  KERNEL http://192.168.1.1/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/boot/vmlinuz64
  INITRD http://192.168.1.1/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/boot/corepure64.gz
  APPEND httplist=192.168.1.1/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64.xbase.lst noswap norestore

and the content of tinycore-x64.xbase.lst is:
Code: [Select]
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/aterm.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/bzip2-lib.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/fltk-1.3.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/flwm.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/freetype.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/glib2.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/graphite.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/harfbuzz.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/imlib2-bin.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/imlib2.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libffi.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libfontenc.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libICE.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libjpeg-turbo.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libpng.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libSM.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libX11.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libXau.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libxcb.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libXdmcp.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libXext.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libXfont.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libXmu.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/libXt.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/pcre.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/wbar.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/Xfbdev.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/Xlibs.tcz
/srv/nfs/tinycore-x64/cde/optional/Xprogs.tcz

but now i get an error after moste of the packages in TC and at the end a permission denied error:
Code: [Select]
...
wbar.tcz /usr/bin/tce-load: line 147: desktop.sh: not found
wbar.tcz: OK
Xfbdev.tcz /usr/bin/tce-load: line 147: desktop.sh: not found
Xfbdev.tcz: OK
Xlibs.tcz Xlibs.tcz: OK
Xprogs.tcz Xprogs.tcz: OK
Done.
...
mkdir: can't create directory '/home/tc/.local/': Permission denied
mv: can't rename '/tmp/.xsession': Permission denied
failed in waitforX
tc@box:~$
« Last Edit: March 30, 2020, 07:29:13 PM by beta-tester »

Offline beta-tester

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Re: Problems to PXE boot TinyCore
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2020, 07:41:03 PM »
ok, i found out, that the missing desktop.sh is coming from Xlibs.tcz package... so i moved that package to the top of the httplist.
now all the desktop.sh errors are gone.
but i still have the Permission denied error at the end and no X/GUI is coming up.

Online Rich

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Re: Problems to PXE boot TinyCore
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2020, 07:54:22 PM »
Hi beta-tester
... BTW: are the wiki.tinycorelinux.net pages not working? i get always an empty page, when trying to open a wiki page. ...
That server hasn't been responding for a few days now:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,23664.0.html

Another member posted an alternate link for the Wiki:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,23673.0.html