what to do: boots to a blinking cursor

[enigmaaaaa]

Just downloaded tiny core and when i boot it from my Toshiba Portege 3500 laptop, it simply boots to the following text on the screen:

login[1475]: root login on 'tty1'
xauth: creating new authority file /home/tc/.Xauthority
xauth: creating new authority file /home/tc/.Xauthority

And below those lines is a blinking cursor.

What do I do?  It's supposed to boot into some kind of desktop gui?

[tobiaus]

usually it boots to a graphical desktop.

for your toshiba, have a look at this: http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/tiki-index.php?page=Display+Modes

but first, try this (from the same page)

1. Boot using the 'tinycore textmode' boot code at the 'boot:' prompt

2. Issue the command 'Xvesa -listmodes' (note the capital 'X'!)

[roberts]

Tiny Core defaults to vga=791 or 1024x768 your machine may not be able to support that resolution.

At the first boot prompt type

tinycore xsetup

This boot code creates a selectable table from the Xvesa -listmodes so it is easier to use.

If you get a blinking cursor after the Xauthority lines, try hitting Ctl-Alt_Backspace to get back to text prompt then type xsetup.sh and try another screen resolution option. From text prompt type startx.

Note: Xvesa -listmodes displays what your video card is capable of, not necessarily what your monitor is.
If you system does not support Xvesa then perhaps framebuffer as was mentioned.

Last resort is to use the Xorg extension.