tiny core linux - how tiny is it actually?

[jur]

I was working with partedmagic yesterday. I noted that the distribution is around 50MB, and that includes Xorg, LXDE, Google Chrome browser plus a large number of other apps, with a very polished interface.

So I started to put together a fresh tcl with just a very limited number of extensions, to see how far I can get with around 50MB.

Answer: Not very far at all. I am already over 50MB and haven't even put Xorg in the mix.

How does this work?  Why is a working useful tcl actually so large when adding extensions?

[roberts]

Tiny Core and Micro Core is about choices.
If you choose to have large applications then you will have heavy demands.
It has already been stated that some run Tiny Core on very low end hardware.

[jur]

Perhaps I didn't make it clear that I put the same apps into the fresh tcl than what is found in partedmagic because I wanted to compare apples with apples.

Somehow, the partedmagic squashfs with all the apps in there is much smaller than tcl with extensions in /tce.

Could it be all the libs? Or are the apps themselves optimised?

[Jason W]

I have read that partedmagic uses squashfs-lzma for it's compression, which yields tighter compression at the expense of performance.  Not only do we use gzip compression, which yields faster performance, but we use 4kb block size as opposed to the standard 128kb block size.  

4kb block size along with gzip compression makes for tcz extensions that can be a bit larger than an alternative lzma compressed 128kb block ones.  But the gain is faster cpu performance due to gzip, and lower memory use due to the smaller block size.  We like small, but not at the expense of performance and the support of modest hardware.

Oh, and Partedmagic 4.8 is 73mb, not 50mb.

[spence91]

In comparison to other Linux distributions and Windows; i believe TCL is extremely tiny.

[althalus]

Aside from the obvious tiny core means that the CORE is tiny, not whatever you add to it, disk space is cheap nowadays, and more to the point, the pristine boot and exceptional speed are what I imagine most of us appreciate the most in tiny core anyway.

[alu]

Tiny Core and Micro Core is about choices.

it's exactly this. more than speed, disk space saved and so on, tc/mc is just about choices. and that's the right entry to make speed and disk space saved footnotes.

[Magil]

Did you remaster TCL? And did you experiment with higher levels compression? Also at what size do you get with the same programs as parted magic?

[jur]

I only took a tcl and started adding extensions to /tce, same ones as are found in partedmagic. But I haven't concluded the experiment. I am still looking at this in more details.

[tclfan]

I have read that partedmagic uses squashfs-lzma for it's compression, which yields tighter compression at the expense of performance.  Not only do we use gzip compression, which yields faster performance, but we use 4kb block size as opposed to the standard 128kb block size.  

4kb block size along with gzip compression makes for tcz extensions that can be a bit larger than an alternative lzma compressed 128kb block ones.  But the gain is faster cpu performance due to gzip, and lower memory use due to the smaller block size.  We like small, but not at the expense of performance and the support of modest hardware.

Oh, and Partedmagic 4.8 is 73mb, not 50mb.

I like the approach TCL is using, to minimize memory requirements and maximize performance. If it takes a few Mb more, this is no issue. Modular architecture, pristine state, low memory requirements, high performance and fast boot, this is the key. I hope it continues this strategy...
What is the difference in size comparing to partedmagic with the same set of apps, anyway?

[curaga]

Since Parted Magic's main goal is partition editing with utilities like a web browser for info searching, I think it doesn't include things like accelerated 3d which is a big part of the Xorg extension.

Et cetera