tc partial boots then freezes

[mmrr]

hello all

five tries from iso using target, a pentium 2 , 266mhz, 160mb ram, in a toshiba satellite 4010cds laptop: various boot parameters tried, including 2 unlisted ones
which made the difference with another linux...'acpi=ht' and 'pci=biosirq'...the kernel didn't recognise the first.

i looked in the forum a bit and saw a list of cheatcodes mentioned as been moved to faq's but i couldn't find them there

thanks for any help, mm

[roberts]

Boot codes are in the faq here http://www.tinycorelinux.com/faq.html#bootcodes

Many older laptops were not VESA compliant and with tiny X required framebuffer.
Typically they were 800x600. Is yours? If so we can help.

[mmrr]

thanks re bootcodes, roberts
that was fast; i was just checking the tc iso on another compu--allok!--
you're right, 800x600, xorg or framebuffer have worked before on target compu
i'll have a look at the codes a few hours, cheers, mm

[mmrr]

xsetup, base, swapfile=hda3 entered at boot,
after display/mouse choice, a blank screen

all boot options not on pages f2 or f3 declined:
image '*'unrecognised by the kernel

now rebooting with no options, crashed

any useful words? any words, cheers, mm

toshiba laptop 4010cds:
p2/mobile[deschutes]/266mhz/160mb-ram/55gb-hd 
video summary:
chips&technologies/chip-f65555 hiqvpro gui accelerator/
vesa oem string-chips 6x555 super vga/ 2mb video memory

 

[curaga]

As far as I know the early Chips&Tech graphics cards do not support Vesa 2.0.

First try to boot to text mode: "tinycore 2"
If it works, see what "Xvesa -listmodes" says.

Then, try text mode with the framebuffer: "tinycore vga=788 2"
If you can get a full-screen framebuffer, the Xfbdev server will work for you.

If all these fail, you need the Xorg extension.

[mmrr]

booting'tinycore 2', cheers, mm

black screen freeze close to end of start up

rebooting with words 'tinycore textmode'

ok, root on tty1

screen full of listmodes

several of 800x600's..do not have '(no linear framebuffer)' beside them
 
rebooting with words 'tinycore vga=788 2 tiny core textmode'

root on tty1 again, crashed when i entered 'Xvesa'... i wanted to see list of switches...

rebooting with 'tc textmode tc vga=788 2'

back @tty1...what to do???..........cheers, mm

[roberts]

I recently setup a bunch of old Thinkpad 240s which only supports 800x600 framebuffer.
This is what I did for a typical frugal PPR mode install.

1. Make a directory on the laptop's hard drive called tce/
    Use existing OS or boot tinycore with textmode.
2. Download and copy the extension Xfbdev.tce to the tce directory
---
3. Boot tinycore with vga=788 textmode restore=hda2  (use whatever partition is available)
4. While tinycore boots you should see the Xfbdev extension being loaded.
5. While in text mode, edit .xsession file to change Xvesa to Xfbdev
6. Type startx to test framebuffer mode.
6. Then perform a backup to keep your new .xsession
---
7. Upon subsequent boots you will need only vga=788
    Or add it to your bootloader.

[mmrr]

 
1. Make a directory on the laptop's hard drive called tce/

target h-drive has ext2 on 2 empty [hda5/6] and 1 occupied partitions 
and a linux swapfile [hda3]....tce/ goes where?

   Use existing OS or boot tinycore with textmode...i'll need code for tc textmode please.

2. Download and copy the extension Xfbdev.tce to the tce directory
....more textcode, please,,,i have a modern laptop running tc, in ram,,[ i don't turn it off until target can boot tc] and i'm using it now so if need can d-load to this machine, transfer to target by cd,

3. Boot tinycore with vga=788 textmode restore=hda2  (use whatever partition is available)...available how?? is swap available? ext2 hda5 is empty is better?  how one 'restore' what was not there befoer?

4. While tinycore boots you should see the Xfbdev extension being loaded.
5. While in text mode, edit .xsession file to change Xvesa to Xfbdev
.....more code i need, i'm sorry, dammit, but you know how it has to be exactly so, when i just typed help on target screen, i got 'can't open display'...i typed 'mkdir tce/ hda5' ...and prompt popped up as if it had done it but what now,,,i type mkdir help, nothing, i type mkdir man, nothing
6. Type startx to test framebuffer mode.
6. Then perform a backup to keep your new .xsession
---
7. Upon subsequent boots you will need only vga=788
    Or add it to your bootloader.

ready to enter code, whatever you suggest i read on one type on another, cheers, mm

[roberts]

Since you have provided some specifics, lets try an easier way.
At the boot prompt boot:

tinycore vga=788 textmode tce=hda5 restore=hda5

Note that the code tce=hda5 will automatically create a tce directory on hda5 if none existed.
The restore does not actually restore anything yet, it is providing the location for the backup operation. You can see it is set by looking at /opt/.backup_device

Next copy the Xfbdev.tce into the tce directory I don't know your specifics here, from floppy, pendrive, network, etc.
Next You will need to edit the file .xsession file in your /home/tc directory changing Xvesa to Xfbdev
Then do a backup (filetool.sh backup)
then sudo reboot

All we are trying to do here is to preload Xfbdev.tce extension so that it is available before startx occurs.
Upon subsquent rebooting you should only need

tinycore vga=788

The tce directrory will be autoscanned as well as the restore device.

[mmrr]

specifics re copying are cd burner in compu running tc in ram, xp natively;;cd reader in target compu
booted as told, target says
'mount: you must specify the filesystem type
'chown: /mnt/hda5/tce: no such file or directory
' done.
'mount: you must specify the file system type
'unable to mount device hda5
'press enter to continue: '

what now, please
hda2 is ext2 with puppy linux installed

[roberts]

Assuming you know how to use puppy, make a directory on hda2 called tce.
From puppy copy Xfbdev.tce into tce directory.

Boot tinycore with

tinycore textmode tce=hda2 restore=hda2

edit /home/tc.xsession to change Xserver from Xvesa to Xfbdev

startx

Upon shutdown perform a backup.

[mmrr]

what i think is to do:
am i making a mistake?
end present livecd attempt on target
reboot target to puppy, [puppy not connecting to net],
'mkdir /tce' is that correct?....or by gui...a directory in root named tce which tc will find at startup

using xp compu go to tce place @ tc website, d-load Xfbdev.tce, cp to cd.
using puppy on target compu,  cp from cd to directory--/tce

the rest is clearer for me so if i can get to here then fine.

there may be some simpler way than what i've written out above, so i'll wait awhile in case
any thing is mentioned, thanks, mm

[roberts]

The tce directory needs to be a leve 1  /tce

Not under /root/ or any other user or directory.

I am not familiar with Puppy. I know some other members are perhaps they can comment here.

[mmrr]

i think /tce is first level; i'll try it...thanks, mm

so far so good ...when i booted with tc i caught a glimpse of 'fbdev' as lines whizzed past

i'm at root login on tty1,

when i enter 'edit  /home/tc.xsession', reply is '-sh: edit: not found'

i need more code please---full code all the way through to working video, ideally, though

i think that is not always/often possible,  thanks, cheers, mm

[roberts]

OK. Lets try a no edit approach.

I assume that you have booted with Xfbdev now loaded and are at the $ prompt

type the following commands:

echo "Xfbdev -mouse /dev/psaux,5 -nolisten tcp -I 2>&1 > /dev/null &" > .xsession

echo jwm >> .xsession

startx