I figured this probably belonged here rather than under TC Tips & Tricks.
This is essentially a two for one trick that I found by experimentation.
Using bzImage/microcore.gz or bzImage64/microcore64.gz you can get Xfbdev for an X server without a PPR/PPI (as claimed currently at
http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/faq.html#framebuffer ). The necessary components are all available as extensions. If you are not using the current version, you will probably need to use the appropriate extension files from the archive for that version.
1) Boot with the appropriate Linux kernel/initrd in kernel framebuffer mode (vga= kernel option; see
http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/faq.html#bootcodes for more information on parameters).
2) Fetch/Load the appropriate extensions. To match the behavior of TinyCore 3.6, you'll need Xlibs, Xprogs, Xfbdev, flwm_topside and wbar: tce-load -wi Xlibs Xprogs Xfbdev flwm_topside wbar
3) Optionally, configure X: xsetup.sh
4) Launch X: startx
Edit: CE are only extensions; note on non-current version.