how to install tinycore into a RAM 32mb PC?

[Frank]

hi,everyone ,i have a ram 32mb pc , and i want install tinycore into it

You can manually uncompress tinycore.gz from the CD-ROM onto your harddisk, and boot that. Tinycore runs quite happily here on a (virtual) machine with 20 MB RAM. 16 MB RAM was however not enough.

Roberts calls the method "scatter mode" or something like that. It is not supported, but it works.

[danielibarnes]

Tinycore runs quite happily here on a (virtual) machine with 20 MB RAM.

Thanks for providing independent verification. It helps to know that it can be done and that more than one person has done it.

16 MB RAM was however not enough.

It is enough if you don't run udev. Some work may be required to get X working, though. The stock Tiny Core kernel refuses to load with less than 16MB, but a custom kernel might be able to get it down to 12MB.

[bmarkus]

I created a VMware ESXi VM. Results may vary with Qemu, other virtualization methods, or real hardware. I installed Tiny Core 3.5 to a virtual HDD, and I am running it in only 24MB (including X). Without X, I can boot with 20MB. There may be techniques to get it to run with less. It used to boot in only 16MB.

Summary: You can run Tiny Core in 32MB if you do a scatter mode installation with grub.

Well, even if you can run system in 32M RAM can be low for certain applications.

[curaga]

The 36mb requirement for MC was measured by me on Qemu. Nice to hear that it gets as low as 28mb on another platform.

[danielibarnes]

Well, even if you can run system in 32M RAM can be low for certain applications.

My 16MB VM serves up web pages via lighttpd, but I've only tried static content. The top display reports "10264K used, 992K free, 1716K buff, 3640K cached." The only other non-kernel processes are init and lighttpd (because I did an "exec top" from the shell).

[yhy122755490]

I created a VMware ESXi VM. Results may vary with Qemu, other virtualization methods, or real hardware. I installed Tiny Core 3.5 to a virtual HDD, and I am running it in only 24MB (including X). Without X, I can boot with 20MB. There may be techniques to get it to run with less. It used to boot in only 16MB.

Summary: You can run Tiny Core in 32MB if you do a scatter mode installation with grub.

sorry ,i don't know how can u run tinycore in only 24mb , and i try to install tinycore into virtualbox with 32mb, it didn't work , and it gave :
kernel panic - not syncing: no init found. try passing init = option to kernel .

so i gave it 256mb in virtualbox ,installed it , and it worked well . then i changed  the memory back to 32mb .um...it gave :
"kernel panic - not syncing: no init found. try passing init = option to kernel "  too.

[tinypoodle]

I created a VMware ESXi VM. Results may vary with Qemu, other virtualization methods, or real hardware. I installed Tiny Core 3.5 to a virtual HDD, and I am running it in only 24MB (including X). Without X, I can boot with 20MB. There may be techniques to get it to run with less. It used to boot in only 16MB.

Summary: You can run Tiny Core in 32MB if you do a scatter mode installation with grub.

Wondering what role grub would play here. Or is that just an example for any bootloader?

[danielibarnes]

Wondering what role grub would play here. Or is that just an example for any bootloader?

I expect syslinux would work, too. I just used grub in my test.

i don't know how can u run tinycore in only 24mb

Yes, Tiny Core requires 48 MB of memory to run it in the usual fashion.  Installing it into a 32MB machine is difficult, but possible if you have the technical expertise. Here is a rough sequence of steps:
1) Boot from Micro Core disc.
2) Execute "tce-load -w -i syslinux.tcz"
3) Partition the HDD and make the partition bootable.
4) Format the partition with ext2 and mount it.
5) Run extlinux to install bootloader.
6) Edit syslinux.cfg to add "root=/mnt/hda1" (assuming hda1 is partition)
7) Insert Tiny Core disc and mount CD.
8) Extract tinycore.gz from CD into /mnt/hda1
9) Copy bzImage to HDD.
10) Unmount CD and reboot.

[yhy122755490]

Wondering what role grub would play here. Or is that just an example for any bootloader?

I expect syslinux would work, too. I just used grub in my test.

i don't know how can u run tinycore in only 24mb

Yes, Tiny Core requires 48 MB of memory to run it in the usual fashion.  Installing it into a 32MB machine is difficult, but possible if you have the technical expertise. Here is a rough sequence of steps:
1) Boot from Micro Core disc.
2) Execute "tce-load -w -i syslinux.tcz"
3) Partition the HDD and make the partition bootable.
4) Format the partition with ext2 and mount it.
5) Run extlinux to install bootloader.
6) Edit syslinux.cfg to add "root=/mnt/hda1" (assuming hda1 is partition)
7) Insert Tiny Core disc and mount CD.
Extract tinycore.gz from CD into /mnt/hda1
9) Copy bzImage to HDD.
10) Unmount CD and reboot.

Thank u for replying,I have succeed to boot the Micro core ,and it can run under text mode.
Here is my steps:
1)I boot from my DSL cd-rom,and enter the DSL desktop
2)Use cfdisk format the HDD, I get the /dev/hda
3)Copy the microcore.gz and bzImage that from microcore.iso into /dev/hda/boot/
4)I download the bootfloppy.dd,and write into /floppy.
5)reboot pc and boot from floppy,put the right drivers
6)the it can work.

ps,I try to boot from bzImage and microcore.gz that from tinycore.iso ,and it prints something like memory out or memory is less

Now I have 2 problems to sovle:
1)I want to boot from hdd not the floppy,that means I have install microcore into hdd,
but I dont know how to do that
2)the desktop? I know that maybe print memory out ,but I want to try that ,or install something simple desktop ,or design a new simple desktop ,also I dont know how to do that.
In a word ,I suppose that someone can send some useful information to me ,thank u guys.

[Sheleh]

hi,everyone ,i have a ram 32mb pc , and i want install tinycore into it

You can manually uncompress tinycore.gz from the CD-ROM onto your harddisk, and boot that. Tinycore runs quite happily here on a (virtual) machine with 20 MB RAM. 16 MB RAM was however not enough.

Roberts calls the method "scatter mode" or something like that. It is not supported, but it works.

Sorry for my stupid question, but could you please write in detail the process of unpacking the archive? What command and with what parameters should I use.

I tried to use this command to unpack the archive in the boot partition sda.

gzip   -dc   /mnt/hdc/boot/tinycore.gz  |   dd of=/dev/sda

As a result, it displays the following:

29 180 +0 records in
29 180 +0 records out

But partition sda was empty 

[Juanito]

Code: [Select]

$ zcat /path-to-file/tinycore.gz | sudo cpio -i -H newc -d

[Rich]

Hi Sheleh
I just want to point out that you should be very careful using the  dd  command. I recommend that
you google   linux dd   and read up on it a bit.

[Sheleh]

Thanks for the warning. While I'm doing all operations on the virtual machine  

Code: [Select]

$ zcat /path-to-file/tinycore.gz | sudo cpio -i -H newc -dThis command is not specified a target device to decompress the archive. After its launch, nothing happens. If I run it a second time displays messages that files already exist, but the sda ​​drive is still empty. How can I unpack it on disk sda?

[curaga]

Partition, format and mount sda1. cd /mnt/sda1. Now execute the command (it extracts to current directory).

[Sheleh]

Partition, format and mount sda1. cd /mnt/sda1. Now execute the command (it extracts to current directory).

Unpacked, but the disc fails to boot.

I decided to try another way. In windows I unpacked tinycore.cpio on FAT32 disk image using 7z. If possible start TinyCore to fat32, which loader is needed for this?