microcore_2.3RC3

[roberts]

Setup and tested on a 64MB usb pendrive, ext partition via the usbinstall script.
No booting issues.

I do see that opt/jwmThemes needs to be removed from the default backup list.

[Juanito]

I've tried many things without any luck...

My setup - extlinux - works fine with microcore_2.3RC2 and the latest Xprogs.core.tczl.

When I change microcore.gz to 2.3RC3, the usb stick is not mounted on boot. If I mount the usb stick after boot and load Xlibs.core.tczl, Xvesa.core.tcz, Xprogs.core.tczl, flwm.tcz and wbar.tcz, I cannot start X - I get a black screen and the big "X" cursor. If I <ctrl-alt-backspace> out of this, there are no error messages displayed and nothing in dmesg.

I do not use a back-up, but to double-check, I copied .xsession and .profile from /etc/skel with no change to the result.

At present my boot options are:

quiet vga=773 noswap tce=UUID=aaab6273-4a6c-4118-8eb2-e31a9b31edb3 waitusb=10 noscan text

I forgot to try without "noscan" - is it depreciated? Would it make a difference?

[curaga]

Try booting with "debug pause" and take note when the stick is recognized.

[Juanito]

Another bout of troubleshooting...

Using extlinux.conf:

Code: [Select]

display boot.msg
default tinycore
label tinycore
kernel /boot/bzImage
append initrd=/boot/microcore.gz quiet vga=773 noswap tce=UUID=aaab6273-4a6c-4118-8eb2-e31a9b31edb3 waitusb=10 text
implicit 0
prompt 1
timeout 300
F1 boot.msg
F2 f2
F3 f3
I tried varying "waitusb" from 5 -> 20 with no change

Using additional boot codes "debug pause" with microcore_2.3rc2 first, I get:

Code: [Select]

usb-storage: device scan complete
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Sony     Storage Media    0100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 31326208 512-byte hardware sectors: (16.0 GB/14.9 GiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 31326208 512-byte hardware sectors: (16.0 GB/14.9 GiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sda: sda1
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Scanning hard disk partitions to create /etc/fstab
Setting language to C done
Setting keymap to us done
Setting timezone to UTC done
Squashfs version 4.0...
Ignoring swap partitions as requested
Checking for tinycore applications...
Xlib.core Xprogs.core Xvesa.core beaver emelfm flwm glib1 gtk1 gtkfind wbar
Setting up window manager flwm done
Boot time config completed

Now changing only microcore.gz from rc2 -> rc3, I get:

Code: [Select]

usb-storage: device scan complete
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Sony     Storage Media    0100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 31326208 512-byte hardware sectors: (16.0 GB/14.9 GiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 31326208 512-byte hardware sectors: (16.0 GB/14.9 GiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sda: sda1
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Scanning hard disk partitions to create /etc/fstab
Setting language to C done
Setting keymap to us done
Setting timezone to UTC done
Squashfs version 4.0...
Ignoring swap partitions as requested
Boot time config completed

I also tried with additional boot codes "debug base norestore nolocal pause" and got the same result.

The last few dmesg entries, which come mixed in with the coloured tinycore boot messages  are:

rc2

Code: [Select]

Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
intel_rng: FWH not detected
tg3 0000:09:00.0: wake-up capability disabled by ACPI
tg3 0000:09:00.0: PME# disabled
tg3 0000:09:00.0: irq 27 for MSI/MSI-X

rc3

Code: [Select]

Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
tg3 0000:09:00.0: wake-up capability disabled by ACPI
tg3 0000:09:00.0: PME# disabled
tg3 0000:09:00.0: irq 27 for MSI/MSI-X

One of the keys to this would seem to be that something in the change from rc2 -> rc3 causes my usb stick not to be auto-mounted - but what?

In the case of rc3, after manually mounting sda1, manually loading Xlib.core Xprogs.core Xvesa.core flwm wbar, and running "startx", I noticed that the display appears to briefly show the standard blue background before dropping back to black with the big "X" cursor. Was this sort of thing cured by adding a "wait" somewhere way back when?

Since I do not have a backup and nothing else changed between moving from rc2 -> rc3 (I am using the latest Xprogs.core in both cases), I do not understand why this should happen...

[curaga]

In rc3, is there an entry for sda1 in fstab?

No entry - something in rebuildfstab?
An entry - for some reason not getting mounted. Add tons of debug echo statements and remove error redirection from mount commands in tc-config.

[Juanito]

rc3 fstab (before manually mounting sda1):

Code: [Select]

# /etc/fstab
proc            /proc        proc    defaults          0       0
sysfs           /sys         sysfs   defaults          0       0
devpts          /dev/pts     devpts  defaults          0       0
tmpfs           /dev/shm     tmpfs   defaults          0       0
/dev/hda        /mnt/hda        auto     noauto,users,exec    0 0 # Added by TC
/dev/hda1       /mnt/hda1       ntfs     noauto,users,exec,ro,umask=000 0 0 # Added by TC
/dev/hda2       /mnt/hda2       ntfs     noauto,users,exec,ro,umask=000 0 0 # Added by TC
/dev/sda        /mnt/sda        auto     noauto,users,exec    0 0 # Added by TC
/dev/sda1       /mnt/sda1       ext2     noauto,users,exec,relatime 0 0 # Added by TC

According to diff, tc-config in rc2 and rc3 is identical, so I'm lost as to why sda1 would mount in rc2 and not rc3.

I'm not sure where the correct place in tc-config would be to insert debug echo statements to track this down, but if somebody could point me in the right direction, I could modify tc-config, remaster rc3 and see what this brings

[curaga]

The autoscan and find_mountpoint functions in tc-functions might be a good place to start, I think.

[Juanito]

A cack-handed attempt at inserting debug lines in tc-config like this:

Code: [Select]

 if [ "$TCVD_DEVICE" == "$TCVD_LOOPFILE" ]; then
    echo Testing $1 for autoscan point 1
    TCVD_DEVICE="$(autoscan $TCVD_LOOPFILE 'f')"
...
   # Next search for tce and setup tce folder
   echo Testing $1 for autoscan point 2
   [ -z "$TCE" ] && TCE="$(autoscan 'tce' 'd')"/tce
   if [ "$TCE" != "/tce" ]; then
      echo Testing $1 for autoscan point 3
      TCE_DEVICE="${TCE%%/*}"
      echo $TCE_DEVICE
      TCE_DIR="${TCE#*/}"
      echo $TCE_DIR
      if [ "$TCE_DEVICE" = "$TCE_DIR" ]; then TCE_DIR="tce"; fi
      echo Testing $1 for mount point 1
      find_mountpoint "$TCE_DEVICE"
      echo $MOUNTPOINT
      if [ -n "$MOUNTPOINT" ]; then
         echo Testing $1 for mount point 2
         echo "${BLUE}Checking for Tiny Core Applications... ${NORMAL}"
..gave this:

Code: [Select]

Ignoring swap partitions as requested
Testing for autoscan point 2
Testing for autoscan point 3
UUID=aaab6273-4a6c-4118-8eb2-e31a9b31edb3
UUID=aaab6273-4a6c-4118-8eb2-e31a9b31edb3
Testing for mount point 1

Done
..then I ran out of time for today. I'll continue tomorrow, but feel free to give hints at where to go next...

[roberts]

What does /etc/sysconfig/tce.mount show?

[Juanito]

rc2 - tce.mount=/mnt/sda1
rc3 - tce.mount=[empty]

[roberts]

Therein lies the problem. I set that file immediately after mountpoint determination.
I wish I could replicate the issue here.

However, tc-config should not be identical between rc2 and rc3.
rc3 has the autoscanning for tclocal and notcloal sections removed.

But also note, that Tiny Core and Micro Core share the same tc-config so I would think that there would be other reports of Tiny Core failing on use of pendrives. Still I do not know how wide spread community testing of this or any RC is.

Still works for me on three test devices.
Perhaps if you rebuild using tc-config from rc2 and let me know.
I will continue to test at my ending hoping for a failure that I can diagnose.

[bigpcman]

Therein lies the problem. I set that file immediately after mountpoint determination.
I wish I could replicate the issue here.

However, tc-config should not be identical between rc2 and rc3.
rc3 has the autoscanning for tclocal and notcloal sections removed.

But also note, that Tiny Core and Micro Core share the same tc-config so I would think that there would be other reports of Tiny Core failing on use of pendrives. Still I do not know how wide spread community testing of this or any RC is.

Still works for me on three test devices.
Perhaps if you rebuild using tc-config from rc2 and let me know.
I will continue to test at my ending hoping for a failure that I can diagnose.

I just installed tc 2.3rc3 on a usb stick using the usb installation tool and it boots and runs fine on my eeepc 900A.

[Juanito]

Finally some progress...

The tc-config files in rc2 and rc3 are indeed different:

Code: [Select]

$ ls -l /tmp/extract_rc3/etc/init.d/tc-config
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        17338 Sep  1 10:21 /tmp/extract_rc3/etc/init.d/tc-config
$ ls -l /tmp/extract_rc2/etc/init.d/tc-config
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        17742 Sep  1 10:21 /tmp/extract_rc2/etc/init.d/tc-config
..I must have confused the files at one point or another.

When I replace tc-config in rc3 with the tc-config from rc2 everything works fine, so it would seem that there is something in the rc3 tc-config that stops things working for me.

[roberts]

I just started to look further into this. However, not too much time today
I am able to replicate your issue by using your specific boot codes. That's good, as now I have something to diagnose. So by process of elimination, dropping 'noswap' worked.
Try dropping noswap and see what happens. What I suspect is that wait $fstab is not being found.
The logic with that construct could be cleaned up. Will look further into tonight when I return,

[Juanito]

That's it 

When I drop "noswap" everything works as expected