Install guide for Microcore anyone ?

[Terminator3000]

I was just wondering if any one could come up with a decent install guide for Microcore.Ive installed Tinycore a few times without any problems but trying Microcore is a little different.
I seem to come unstuck with grub and downloading the needed Xlibs,Xvesa and Xprogs (where is core_elements ?) It may be quite obvious to die hards and old hands but not so for someone new to Tiny/Microcore.

Help appreciated Thanks.

[Juanito]

You need to download these files to your /boot folder:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/3.x/release/distribution_files/microcore.gz
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/3.x/release/distribution_files/bzImage
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/3.x/release/microcore/Xlibs.gz
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/3.x/release/microcore/Xprogs.gz
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/3.x/release/microcore/Xvesa.gz

You then need a grub menu.lst entry which is an analogy of this extlinux.conf entry:

Code: [Select]

label microcore
    kernel /boot/bzImage
    append initrd=/boot/microcore.gz,/boot/Xprogs.gz,/boot/Xlibs.gz,/boot/Xvesa.gz quiet noswap tce=UUID=aaab6273-4a6c-4118-8eb2-e31a9b31edb3 waitusb=5 syslog text

Boot and then, for example:

Code: [Select]

$ tce-load -wil wget.tcz
$ tce-load -wil flwm.tca
..and "startx"

[gerald_clark]

Another option is to put the 3 X*.gz files in the persistent tce directory.
Microcore will find them and load them automatically.

[Terminator3000]

Does the above advice mean that I dont actually have to copy anything from the install disc as I appear to be downloading everything ? I would just need to know which directorys to create and populate which would suit me fine. I am getting a little mixed up with the various instruction sets I have been viewing however.

I have downloaded all 5 of Juanitos distro.ibiblio files but not entirely sure what folders they all go in.When I setup grub I get the root OK at hd0,1 but when I try to setup hd0 I get error 'checking if /boot/grub/stage1 exists... no'

But when I check the contents of grub, stage 1 is there.Path to grub is /mnt/hdb2/boot/grub

Still a little baffled but determined to get it right so wiping to start again !

Tips welcome !

[Terminator3000]

I can also use gerald_clarks way of putting the 3 X*.gz files in tce directory,but still dont know where other files go ie bzImage,microcore.gz

I have no problems setting up the drive partition/preparation wise,or downloading files,just installing the actual files in the right place.

[gerald_clark]

Micro Core installs exactly like Tiny Core except the initrd is microcore.gz instead of tinycore.gz.
Since you have installed Tiny Core several times without problems, Micro Core should not be a problem either.
I would suggest first installing Tiny Core.
Then add microcore.gz to the same directory as tinycore.gz.
Then add a microcore option to your bootloader config file as the default entry.
This gives you the added option to boot tinycore with nobase option for troubleshooting, or to even have a tinycore boot option
with a different tce directory.

[Terminator3000]

'Micro Core should not be a problem either'  !!! Hopefully that will bear out shortly.

I'm doing it all again as I want to do just a microcore installation,I think I have now got the general procedure after examining various posts. Thanks.

[Terminator3000]

Finally done it,installed microcore largely using the tinycore instructions with amendments.

At the end I downloaded the 3 X gz files into tce directory and rebooted.

It boots into the default tinycore blue screen but with no wbar or terminal so I cant do anything on this. I can boot also to a grub prompt so just need to know how to load a window manager at this point to carry on.

As usual tips more than welcome.Thanks to gerald_clark and Juanito for taking the time to help.

[curaga]

It boots into the default tinycore blue screen but with no wbar or terminal so I cant do anything on this. I can boot also to a grub prompt so just need to know how to load a window manager at this point to carry on.

There is no wbar or window manager included in MC. "tce-load -wi wbar flwm_topside" to have the TC defaults.

[Terminator3000]

Hi,how do I get a tc@box or root terminal from the grub prompt ? Thanks.

[gerald_clark]

If you want to boot to a
box login:
boot with a noautologin prompt.

If you just want to get to a shell once X is running, do CTRL_ALT_BACKSPACE.

[Terminator3000]

Excellent thats it ,finally got Microcore up and running.
           Perhaps if a part about downloading the 3 X files (for microcore installs)were appended to the end of the tinycore instructions it might make things a little simpler. Thanks.

[tinypoodle]

Micro Core installs exactly like Tiny Core except the initrd is microcore.gz instead of tinycore.gz.

With one very particular exception:

When booting microcore from DOS the initrd name has to be shortened by at least one character and the modified name has to be passed to the bootloader, to conform with the 8+3 naming convention.

This post might seem like nitpicking and outside of the scope of the OP, but having in mind users which will search the forum in the future.

I had run into this issue when I tried to boot microcore for the first time, and it took me quite a while to figure out why I couldn't boot microcore in the same way I had been successfully booting tinycore for a long time. 

[Terminator3000]

When I finished this I found that I'd essentially used the Tinycore instructions that I'd printed out from the web site,but changed the appropriate file/entry names where needed with regard to microcore (and obviously used a microcore install disc) At the end before rebooting I'd then used 'wget -c' to download the Xlibs,Xprogs and Xvesa gz files from distro.ibiblio site (address in post above) to tce directory.

 After rebooting and getting a plain blue desktop I then 'Ctrl Alt Backspace' to  stop X and get a cmmd prompt.

At prompt I used 'tce-load -w -i'  to get wbar and jwm so that Id have a working desktop.

So the above would be a reasonable guide to installing Microcore.
It did help that I'd installed Tinycore a few times already !

The later bits of the above(and now I think of it,even using tinycore instructions) I picked up from the various responses to my original post.

I noticed also that once I install LXDE I could then delete wbar and jwm,although whether it would work just using LXDE without first loading wbar and jwm I dont know. Thanks .

[jhancock]

I'm trying to build a desktop from mircocore but would like to use Xorg instead of Xvesa.

Here's what I did:
started microcore 3.1 with qemu (0.11.1 on windows xp) as follows:

qemu.exe -m 128 -kernel bzImage -initrd microcore.gz -hda freshharddrive.img  -append "tce=hda1"

once booted, I installed Xorg-7.5 as follows:

> tce-load -wi Xorg-7.5.tcz

all the dependencies downloaded and seemed to be in the right place, /mnt/sda1/tce/optional

Then I try...
> startx

but there is no startx anywhere in the file system.  I assume I didn't need to install a window manager.  I'm just checking to see if Xorg will work without a windows manager for now.  What am I missing?

thanks, Jon