Tiny Core 3.0 Alpha 2 Testing

[roberts]

Continuing on with 3.0 Alpha Testing (see: http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=5949.0)

tinycore_3.0alpha2.iso is now available for testing.
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/3.x/release_candidates/tinycore_3.0alpha2.iso

Alpha 2 is bug fixes, tweaks, and adjustments.

* Updated wallpaper for new default background color.
* Updated .profile for flwm titlebar new color.
* Updated tce-setdrive and tc-restore.sh for better /tmp/tce test.
* Updated 55-tc-rules for better permission on ramzswap.
* Updated tc-functions with new getMajorVer and getMirror
* Updated tce-audit, tce-fetch.sh, tce-load, tce-update, and appbrowser for getMirror.
* Updated tce-setup for microcore .gzs in /opt/tce remaster

[bigpcman]

Wow you are fast. Great progress on tc3!
Testing Alpha2 now.

I'm not sure if getMajorVer and getMirror are supposed to work from the command terminal but I tried them out. The getMajorVer command returns 3 as expected but getMirror doesn't return anything. Is this correct?

[gerald_clark]

In AppsAudit, The "On Demand Results" pane does not show current selections as it does in "On Boot".
Same is seen in V2.11.

[jur]

I meant to ask this in the alpha1 thread:

What does this mean?

* delta extension updates as the default using zsync.

Sounds like only new version extensions are updated... but that was what was happening before...

[maro]

I was wondering whether in the age of "unlimited loop devices" there is still a need to have 255 of them "hardcoded" in the initrd.

Maybe a little function (e.g. in 'tc-functions') to create an additional chunk of loop devices could be called (when required) by 'tce-load'.

[Jason W]

Regarding zsync-

I have made .zsync files for all extensions in 2.x and 3.x.  Also I make them for new extensions before uploading.  Therefore when zsync.tcz is installed in your system, you will get the benefit of zsync when using the update function of Appsaudit.  In other words, it is like with rsync and only the changed parts of extension files are downloaded.  In the case of an extension like openoffice3.tcz, a change in the extension may only affect the menu entry or icon files.  Without zsync, you would have to download the entire new 168MB extension to update it.  With zsync, the difference that is downloaded may only be  measured in kilobytes in that case.  Possibly a huge savings in bandwidth when updating extensions.

[^thehatsrule^]

I'm not sure if getMajorVer and getMirror are supposed to work from the command terminal but I tried them out. The getMajorVer command returns 3 as expected but getMirror doesn't return anything. Is this correct?

They are functions (are part of tc-functions as stated).

I was wondering whether in the age of "unlimited loop devices" there is still a need to have 255 of them "hardcoded" in the initrd.

Maybe a little function (e.g. in 'tc-functions') to create an additional chunk of loop devices could be called (when required) by 'tce-load'.

I think this was covered in the previous thread... it is covered by a certain revision in busybox.

[jur]

Regarding zsync-

I have made .zsync files for all extensions in 2.x and 3.x.  Also I make them for new extensions before uploading.  Therefore when zsync.tcz is installed in your system, you will get the benefit of zsync when using the update function of Appsaudit.  In other words, it is like with rsync and only the changed parts of extension files are downloaded.  In the case of an extension like openoffice3.tcz, a change in the extension may only affect the menu entry or icon files.  Without zsync, you would have to download the entire new 168MB extension to update it.  With zsync, the difference that is downloaded may only be  measured in kilobytes in that case.  Possibly a huge savings in bandwidth when updating extensions.

This sounds interesting. In fact it sounds like zsync might be well considered to be in base instead of an extension, since this is such a central feature of tinycore.

(I haven't looked at zsync.tcz so don't know what it does but I can guess. Will look tonight.)

[roberts]

zsync is in the base of 3.0 and an option (extension) for 2.x.

[Jason W]

My bad, I overlooked that zsync was in 3.x base.

[meo]

Hi Robert!

It seems that the link is pointing at the now obsolete alfa 1 release that doesn't exist. I guess it would be a good thing to link to the tinycore 3.0 alfa 2 instead.

Have fun refining the tinycore 3.0,
meo

[roberts]

OK. Added a direct link to alpha2 iso.

[jur]

All was running fine up to the point I did a 'Build dep reporting database' in AppsAudit. Then all the deps containing abc-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz became abc-KERNEL.tcz, and my system stopped working because it can't find those KERNEL dependencies.

KERNEL seems not getting parsed...?

[u54749]

I see some strange boot behavior in Alpha 2

with "quiet" boot mode enabled
In Alpha 1
-  shows GRUB4DOS messages
-  shows "Booting Tinycore_3.0alpha1" below the GRUB4DOS messages
(boot continues with more messages and finally TC desktop is shown)

In Alpha 2
-  Shows GRUB4DOS messages
-  Overwrites the GRUB4DOS messages on top of the screen with error message:
pci 0000:01:00.0: no compatible bridge window for [mem 0x80000000-0x8001ffff pref]

- after a fraction of a second clears the screen completely (you have to read really fast...)
- then shows "Booting Tinycore_3.0alpha2" on the top of the screen
(boot continues with more messages and finally TC desktop is shown)

It's the first time I see this particular error message

[gerald_clark]

Check for a BIOS update for your machine.