booting from USB without a HD

[douglas]

Hello, I am a total newbie. I want to be able to boot, get on the Internet and use firefox all from by USB on my laptop. I know that I can boot from the USB with an Ubuntu .iso. So can it be done with TC? How should I go about this? I am still unsure about how to add firefox to the mix also. I have booted the CD with TC, so I know that much works.

It was also not clear how to get my wifi USB stick working. I guess I could plug into the lan with a cable, if that is what is needed. The wifi will work with Ubuntu. All I have to do is give the wpa2 password and connect. What did I miss here?

Thanks all!

[curaga]

When already running the cd, it's very easy to install to an usb stick: use the Usb install from the menu.

After it's done, boot from the usb stick, and install whatever you want. They will persist on the usb stick.

Wifi, you'll need the drivers, tools, and if you want, a gui. See the wiki:
http://tinycorelinux.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Setting+up+Wifi

[trinity]

Just tried this. It offered (if I remember correctly) an HDD (fat), an EXT (ext2) and a ZIP install and I chose HDD.
However when I install a tcz (I chose dillo) it doesn't save it.
What am I doing wrong?

[douglas]

I am with trinity. Can I save stuff with any of the 3 choices, or just with zip? What is the best pick? My first instinct is to go with ext because I am not a big fan of MS. Also when I tried to do any of these, it says I need more software. I am assuming that when I get connected to the net it will get that automatically.

[gerald_clark]

You need to install the listed packages before you can run usbinstall.

[curaga]

All choices should save. @trinity, it's possible your usb stick needs more time than the default 5 seconds. See if changing to 10 helps (waitusb= parameter in your bootloader config file).

[trinity]

Yes increasing the waitusb to 10 fixed the problem. I assumed that as TC was booting correctly the wait was okay...but apparently not.
Thanks

[douglas]

I tried the ext install but that failed to boot. Does it need grub on a HD? So I am now trying zip. Hope that was the right way to go. Thanks for the hand holding!

[curaga]

No, there doesn't need to be anything on the HD. The zip option is for some quirky bioses, so if your issue was about that, it might help.

[douglas]

OK, I am at a loss. I can't get tiny to boot from my USB. It just says to insert a bootable medium and will go no farther. I got it to work one time with X-ubuntu. Any ideas?

Update HHD worked!!

Now do I need to do anything to keep my USB drive from burning out do to over use or is that done already?

[curaga]

If you didn't enter any additional boot codes, the stick is only written to during backup (which by default is on shutdown) or extension download. This is just about the best for the stick's life.

[Guy]

It is not clear what you are doing.

You need to run Tiny Core from the CD.

Connect to the internet.

Install dosfstools and syslinux. (If you will select Zip, you also need to install per15.)

Run USB Installation.

Selecting Ext is ideal for most people.

After installation is complete, boot from the USB drive (if it won't boot, you may need to change BIOS settings.)

When running from the USB drive, connect to the internet and install programs you want on the USB drive.

If you can't do it this way, for some reason, there are other ways.