extensions load from iso in VM but not once burned to CD

[RedB]

Hi All,

I'm after some help please.
- I have made modifications and extensions etc to my USB stick tinycore. All good.
- I have turned it into a bootable iso using isomaster. (open base tinycore iso and add my tce folder). All good.
- the iso boots perfectly in virtualbox loading my extensions from the tce folder. All good
- Once I burn the iso to CD my extensions don't load and only the base build loads.

What's going on?

Thanks
Rob

[RedB]

UPDATE

- the iso I created works fine in VirtualBox (my extensions loaded)
- burning it to a CD and making VirtualBox boot off it works fine too. (my extensions loaded)
- Leave the CD in the drive, reboot my physical machine and boot off the CD and I get the default/base TinyCore build with none of my extensions loaded.

When booting the physical machine, it seems to fly past the "Loading TinyCore Applications....." line where as in the VM it sits there for a few seconds searching for the tce folder then loads my extensions and settings.

As the iso and CD seem to work fine in the VM I'm ruling out an isomaster or similar issue but am stuck as to why it behaves differently.

Cheers

[maro]

What is the device used for your CD-ROM (e.g. /dev/hdc) when
[1] booting in VB,
[2] booting on "real" PC?

My hunch is that the result is different. But the result for the two situations for case [1] (the ISO image or  the CD) should be the same.

Furthermore, what is the result if you execute (in a terminal): "autoscan /tce d"?

[bmarkus]

Are extensions placed into /opt/tce dir on the CD ?

Quote from TC 2.5 reelase notes:

Re-implemented /opt/tce boot time support.

[RedB]

Maro

Thanks for the reply.

the result of "autoscan /tce d" returns hdc as you suggested. I added tce=hdc to the bootcode and it worked! I can hard code this into the image but can I guarantee every machine will be assigning the CDROM to hdc? Is there a way to make it scan all devices?

Thanks again,

Rob.

UPDATE: It didn't work on my other laptop. Bugger
Also, if I turn that iso (with hardcoded bootcode) into a USB it obviously stuffs up as well. I really need a way to make it scan properly and find the tce folder itself.

[roberts]

For a CD use /opt/tce not /tce and be sure to use the latest version.

For removable flash device use LABEL or UUID see FAQ
http://www.tinycorelinux.com/faq.html
or use the usbinstall program as provided.

[RedB]

Thanks Roberts

Unfortunately, putting my extensions in /opt/tce doesn't work with either VirtualBox booting from the iso OR from a physical CD.

Any other ideas?

I'd prefer not to use the UUID as my plan is to have many USB sticks created from my iso by people with no IT skill.

I'll explain... I have made modifications to make a dead simple and fast booting portable and secure TS client for people at work. All users see is a connect button, a vpn button and a shutdown button. The TS server is pre-configured and the VPN is setup for our corporate VPN server. If staff are at work, they click the connect button, if they are at home, they VPN first then connect. 
 
My iso(s) at present:
Option1
- I have created an iso with my modifications
- I have actually put that iso, unetbootin and some dead simple instructions into a "Make Live USB" folder
- I then make another iso (with the same extensions) but include on it the Make Live USB folder
This means people can download a 40mb iso and burn to a CD. If they choose, they can also easily (within Windows) create a USB stick from that CD where ever they may be.

Option 2
- make 1 iso with my changes
- Put my Make USB Folder in the same location and people choose which to do, CD or USB

Option 3 (3rd and final stage and not finished yet)
- Make Option 1 iso but include qemu as well. The concept is that users could also plug their USB/CD into a 'running' Windows PC and fire up tinycore in a VM to connect to work. 1 image for 3 scenarios and total flexibility!

I don't believe my ideas for the best way to distribute my modified TinyCore should in any way be causing the problems I am experiencing, but it does mean that typing in bootcodes or identifying UUIDs etc will be too complicated for my target audience. I need it to just find the tce dir at boot.

Thanks heaps, tinycore is the best distribution I have found so far for my needs.

[Guy]

If you make a CD with appropriate extensions, and that part is working (I have done this with an earlier version, and it worked. I have not tried it with the latest version).

I used this method.
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/tiki-index.php?page=Integrating_extensions


You can, from the menu, select Tools -> USB Installation.

Another option is to open the terminal and type: sudo usbinstall

I used the Ext option.

It will automatically detect UUID for the tce directory.

[gwalther]

What boot codes are you using?
I once had similar problems using the ....noswap....boot code!

[RedB]

OK. Thanks for all the replies guys.

I've decided to just bail on the CD option and only use USB sticks. I can't get it to reliably work on CD. With the waitusb bootcode, it seems to work fine on usb.

I also have qemu (for windows) working now and I'll look at adding qemu linux files to the stick. Then I should be able to use any PC, (currently turned off, running Windows or Linux) to securely connect to work and TS in about 30seconds!

I'll be a happy chappy

Cheers
Rob

[danielibarnes]

What boot codes are you using?
I once had similar problems using the ....noswap....boot code!

Yes, that was fixed a while back though. You can see in tc-config that there is a "wait $fstab_pid" right before it loads the extensions. This waits for the drive detection to finish before checking for a /tce directory.

@RedB
I realize you found a workable solution, but you also identified a failure mode. That is of interest to me because it means something isn't right somewhere. I'll look into it. What was the latest version of TC that you tried?

[RedB]

I'm using 2.6.1

My process for modification was
- Made USB with unetbootin
- made modifications and created tcz as per wiki instructions
- used isomaster to add the tce folder from my usb to the base tinycore iso thus creating my new customised iso

- Nothing I tried would make a physical CD in a physical PC successfully 'autoscan' to load my modifications. (specifying tce=hdc worked for one PC but not another so was deemed a failure)
- The physical CD and iso work fine a VM.

Good luck
Cheers
Rob.

[tclfan]

I've decided to just bail on the CD option and only use USB sticks. I can't get it to reliably work on CD. With the waitusb bootcode, it seems to work fine on usb.
Cheers
Rob

It appears to me that if you do give up on making CD with integrated extensions work for you and rely only on USB to be distributed to users, then some users may potentially experience extremely slow boot, if they boot on older machines which have still USB 1.1 instead of the new USB 2.0.
I was trying this on my older laptops and desktops and booting from CD Live was the only realistic option in this context. USB 1.1 booting worked of course, but you can as well make yourself a cup of coffee waiting for the boot to finish...
In result, if I boot from my new laptop I use USB stick, but for my older laptop I need to use my TC CD to make it realistic.

[^thehatsrule^]

RedB: if you have the time, could you try that with version 2.5 and report the results?

[Guy]

I tried this myself to see if it would work.

I used a conventional installation of Tiny Core 2.6.1.

I made a cd, as explained here.
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/tiki-index.php?page=Integrating_extensions

I ran the cd on a computer with the hard drives disconnected, and it ran with all extensions loaded, and programs working.

I used this computer, running from the cd, to install on a usb drive, and it worked. I ran Tiny Core from this usb drive on another computer, and it worked, with all programs working. (you need appropriate extensions included in the cd to install on a usb drive.

I used a normal tce directory on the cd, not /opt/tce.

You need to copy the extensions from the tce directory on the cd, to the tce directory on the usb drive, after installing Tiny Core on the usb drive.

I suggest anyone having problems use this method.
http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/tiki-index.php?page=Integrating_extensions