need recommendations for test installation

[jamtat]

I've volunteered to setup and maintain a small computer lab (3 machines) in a retirement community. I use donated hardware which, of course, is outdated. I'm interested in exploring tinycore as the OS that will run on these machines. Thus the following initial points and questions.

The machines currently run DSL (2 of the 3) and Fluxbuntu (1 of the 3). So I now have Linux installed on these computers, and they all boot with GRUB. For the initial test install what I'm hoping to do is to copy necessary files to the primary partition/filesystem of one of the machines, then add a GRUB boot entry pointing to those files. I assume it will be possible to do this?

First of all I'll need to point GRUB to the kernel: I've managed to locate bzImage at http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/2.x/release/distribution_files/, so that seems fairly straightforward. At that same address I see tinycore.gz, doubtless the compressed filesystem containing the rest of the distro. What I don't see there or anywhere else is an initramfs or similar. Of course that's an optional GRUB entry but most modern distros use an initial RAM disk, as I understand it.

So I will need some clarification on this. Is tinycore.gz both an initramfs and a the filesystem the OS runs from once booted? In other words, can I specify something like initramfs=/tinycore/tinycore.gz in my GRUB entry and expect that to work (having specified something like kernel=/tinycore/bzImage as well, of course)? Or do I maybe need to loop-mount the iso and extract the initramfs from there--it not being available for separate download?

This pretty well completes my intial query. Answers to the above questions and/or additonal tips or pointers will be appreciated.

Thanks,
James

PS After testing and confirming the suitability of this distro for mylittle lab, I'd probably opt for something like the mount option for a more permanent installation of tinycore.

[OldAdamUser2]

Try following the advice in my tutorial on installing TC on my Eee900. I think it will work for you with minor modifications.

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=3611.0

Since you probably have a single partition, you would put everything on sda1 (or whatever your drive is called) instead of dividing things up between sda1 and sdb1 as I have done. (The Eee900 has two SSD drives--one small and fast, the other larger and slower--hence my choices.)

[jamtat]

Thanks for your response, OldAdamUser2. Great tutorial. Now you've got me sidetracked thinking about installing tinycore to my eeepc 901, too . On that note, I just took a quick scan over your how-to and some things stood out for me about wifi enabling. I finally installed wicd into my main Arch installation on the eeepc and I'm very happy with it as a tool for managing network connections. Is it available for tinycore? If so, I'd say it's definitely the way to go for managing connections to wifi networks--presuming a need to connect to varying networks, as is typical for a small, portable computer like this.

Anyway you've laid some good groundwork for the project for which I asked advice in this thread. I'll doubtless be adapting your how-to to my needs.

James

[Guy]

Have you installed Tiny Core already, and understand how to do it?

Here is some useful info.

http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/tiki-index.php?page=Installing+TC+-+Alternate+Offline+Guide

The if the hard drives are already partitioned with Ext3 and swap partitions, you can use the existing partitions.

[OldAdamUser2]

wicd is available as an extension, but I have not tried to use it. I almost always use my Eee on my home wifi and on open networks, so don't need a fancy tool.

Tiny Core works great in dual-boot situations. I can boot Xandros or Tiny Core from my SSD drives. Then I have another (experimental) installation of Tiny Core on an 8 GB sd card, along with Puppeee and Knoppix 6. Plenty to play around with!

I find that I use Tiny Core 95% of the time. It's smaller, faster, and better if you like a light-weight system. There is a bit to learn, but that's part of the fun.

[jamtat]

wicd can be set up to automatically connect to a particular network when started, so it should work well for your purposes. It has the added benefit, should you ever need it, of detecting and connecting to other networks as well. Anyhooo. . .

Looks like I'm not going to be able to be quite as tricky as I thought with this test install. I get the dreaded "No setup signature found" message when I try to boot the new tinycore entry I made. A google search reveals that this is due to incompatibility of older GRUB versions with newer 2.6.x kernels. It appears my DSL installation uses such an older version of GRUB.

Anyway, not a big problem, methinks. I'll just have to install the newer GRUB to this HD using the tinycore CD--I think I recall seeing pretty good instruction for doing this on the web site. I'll report back once I've got it booting.

James

[^thehatsrule^]

So I will need some clarification on this. Is tinycore.gz both an initramfs and a the filesystem the OS runs from once booted? In other words, can I specify something like initramfs=/tinycore/tinycore.gz in my GRUB entry and expect that to work (having specified something like kernel=/tinycore/bzImage as well, of course)?

Yes.

Or do I maybe need to loop-mount the iso and extract the initramfs from there--it not being available for separate download?

The same files are used on the iso.

Looks like I'm not going to be able to be quite as tricky as I thought with this test install. I get the dreaded "No setup signature found" message when I try to boot the new tinycore entry I made. A google search reveals that this is due to incompatibility of older GRUB versions with newer 2.6.x kernels. It appears my DSL installation uses such an older version of GRUB.

This was also reported here on these forums, iirc.