Dell Mini 9

[roberts]

I am posting this from a Dell Mini 9. It is the base model. 1GB ram and 4GB SSD. It came with Ubuntu.
The SSD is seen as hda with a tiny first partition, id de Unknown, the second partition, hda2 is home to Ubuntu.
I started off by editing the existing grub menu at /mnt/hda2/boot/grub/menu.lst
First comment out the hidemenu, then add a typical Tiny Core boot entry.

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title Tiny Core Linux
kernel (hd0,1)/tinycore/bzImage quiet embed ht=on hpet=disabled quiet tz=PST+8PDT,M3.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2 home=hda2 opt=hda2 norestore nodhcp
initrd (hd0,1)/tinycore/tinycore.gz

I created a tinycore directory on /mnt/hda2/tinycore and then copied via pendrive the bzImage and tinycore.gz files.
The grub line as above shows that I want to have user tc added to the existing /home from currently setup from Ubunutu.

Same for /opt. I will share the current /opt directory for my persistent storage. With both persistent opt and home I chose norestore.

Note that I only created the tinycore directory and copied two files. The rest Tiny Core handles automatically.

Once I rebooted I was running tinycore. However, you will need some support files from the repository for wireless and proper screen resolution.

Again, using the pendrive, I placed the following extensions on the pendrive.

1. wireless-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tczm
2. wireless_tools.tczl
3. wl.tczm
4. 915resolution.tcz

The first three are for wireless and 915resolution is for native screen 1024x600
Copy these from pendrive to /mnt/hda2/tce

The wireless card in my mini9 is eth1, so I next edited /opt/bootlocal.sh adding:

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iwconfig eth1 essid "mynetworkname" key FDFDFDFD
udhcpc -i eth1
I shutdown the mini9 and upon next boot I have wireless and proper screen resoultion!

Now from the mini9 I grabbed OSS, opera, getFlash10
Sound worked without any configuration. Opera started up fine. Then ran getFlash10 from the menu.
Now youtube video and sound work fine. Be sure to edit Opera preferences to limit cache size,
or the browser that you may choose instead.

That's it mini9 with Tiny Core has been awesome. Boots much faster than Ubuntu. Browser works better than Ubuntu. Videos play better too. In fact, I have now removed Ubuntu from the SSD.

[jls]

.....Same for /opt. I will share the current /opt directory for my persistent storage..........

What do u use /opt for?

[roberts]

My backgrounds and bootlocal.sh, which has a collection of public wifi settings.

[h-munster]

Thank you for the info on your Mini 9 setup.

How does one adjust the Mini 9 screen brightness?  I would try xbacklight, but I don't think that it will work with Xvesa.  I wonder if there is a way to make the Mini 9 brightness keys work on the BIOS level.

Also, it would be great to have the volume keys working.

Not sure I understand all of your grub commands or the reasons why.  For instance, why do you have "nodhcp" and then put "udhcpc -i eth1"in your /opt/bootlocal.sh?  Are you trying to disable eth0?

With the your grub commands, I get two udhcp processes running:  one for eth0; and one for eth1.

Furthermore, it is very difficult to grasp all the different persistence permutations, but that is topic for another thread...

Thanks!

[roberts]

The nodhcp is to stop the default behavior of the system broadcasting for an IP on eth0, the wired port.
I never use Dell Mini 9 wired.

As for the nuances of the Mini 9, I just had not had the time to mess with them. The default brightness and sound work fine for me. Also, the fact that the Mini 9 begins to flash red, I don't even run a battery application.

You might be interested in the extension flit.tcz as it provides clock, battery indicator, and sound adjustment. It has been tested on the Mini 9.

[h-munster]

Thanks for the explanation of "nodhcp" and for the reference to flit.tcz.

So, your brightness and sound keys on your Mini 9 are working in TC?  Wow!  They don't on my Mini 9.

I have been playing around with the brightness keys during boot-up, and the brightness can sometimes be adjusted with the keys, when viewing the grub menu.  It doesn't always work.

However, the brightness keys have no effect when TC is running.

What do you mean "that the Mini 9 begins to flash red?"

[roberts]

No. I am saying that I don't need any adjustments to my brightness or sound.
The flashing red is the battery led indicator, warning when battery is low.

[h-munster]

Still searching for a way to adjust brightness.  If I could do that, I'd wipe the stock Ubuntu from the SSD.

Will try flit for sound adjustment -- thanks!

Been using "cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/state" to see charge level.

[h-munster]

Still trying to find a way to adjust brightness on the Mini 9 with Xvesa.

I was able to adjust brightness on the Mini 9 with some other distros by using:

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echo num > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
(where "num" is a value from 0 to 15.)

This worked in the Dell stock Ubuntu and also with the latest Puppy Linux.  The command did not work in TC nor in Slitaz.

Ubuntu uses Xorg, and Puppy allows one to select Xorg or Xvesa at boot, but I chose Xvesa.  Both TC and Slitaz default to Xvesa.

I soon realized that there is no /sys/class/backlight directory in TC nor in Slitaz.

The Mini 9 has an Intel 945GME Graphics controller.  Ubuntu and Puppy seem to load the Intel drivers by default:  "agpgart" and "intel-agp" (and, additionally in Ubuntu, "drm" and "i915").  None of these Intel drivers are loaded/found in TC nor Slitaz with the default Xvesa.

I think that the lack of these Intel drivers could be the culprit.

I Found this thread on manually compiling the Intel drivers for TC:  http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=620d386150e9d11f7dc5f814e78e8e89&topic=280.msg1696#msg1696
  This process seems a little unwieldy.

If I install the Xorg extension, would these drivers automatically be installed/loaded?  Could I then save the drivers and purge Xorg to revert back to Xvesa with the new drivers?

It is probably inconsequential to try the Xorg install/purge, but I was wondering if anyone just happens to know the answer.

One good thing that has come out of this trial and error process:  I have discovered that Puppy works almost perfectly on the Mini 9.  So, I can wipe the Ubuntu bloat from the Mini 9's SSD and replace it with Puppy, until I get TC up to speed.

[curaga]

The extension graphics-2.6.29.1 has the intel agp modules.

[h-munster]

The extension graphics-2.6.29.1 has the intel agp modules.

Thanks!  Will try that next!

[h-munster]

Installed the graphics-2.6.29.1 extension and "agpgart" and "intel-agp" both appeared.

However, no /sys/class/backlight directory.  I even restarted Xvesa and rebooted.  Of course, the setpci trick didn't work, either.

I also tried installing Xorg, however, the brightness control inherent in Ubuntu and Puppy work without an X server running.  Furthermore, in Puppy, the brightness buttons on the keyboard still work without an X server.

Wondering if there is something else on the module/kernel level.  Ubuntu also has "i915" and "drm" modules running.  Puppy additionally has "pci-hotplug" and "shpchp."

I'm going to study the Ubuntu and Puppy modules, and look more closely at the running processes of each compared to those in TC and Slitaz.

Maybe the way TC uses acpi is involved in the problem.

In the meantime, if anyone has a clue as to why the /sys/class/backlight directory doesn't appear, please chime in.

Thanks!

[Juanito]

My dell d430 needs the "agpgart", "intel-agp", "i915" and "drm" loaded to have everything enabled graphics-wise with xorg - only two (I can't remember which) of the modules are loaded automatically and I have to load the other two manually.

[h-munster]

@Juanito
Thanks for the info.  I just modprobed "i915" and "drm" and they appeared (and stayed in subsequent boots).  Don't know if they came from an extension or not.

I finally wiped Ubuntu off of my Mini 9 and reinstalled TC.  No more searching for TC files within the Ubuntu clutter/bloat.  Now, it is a lot easier to see what is going on in TC.

However, still no way to adjust the backlight brightness with TC.

Going to look into the acpi bootcodes when I get the chance.  Just need to make "/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness" appear.

[Juanito]

@Juanito
Thanks for the info.  I just modprobed "i915" and "drm" and they appeared (and stayed in subsequent boots).  Don't know if they came from an extension or not.

yes, from the graphics-2.6.29.1-tinycore extension

However, still no way to adjust the backlight brightness with TC.

Going to look into the acpi bootcodes when I get the chance.  Just need to make "/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness" appear.

Maybe the acpid extension is required?