help in installation

[tiny]

 I have an acer aspire laptop (its 64 bit) and can any one help me on how to install tiny core linux in it, and for some reason, the tutorials are confusing I will really be happy if anyone can help me out.

[Guy]

Do you have Windows on your laptop already?

Do you want to keep Windows, as well as installing Tiny Core?

Do you want to install any other operating systems as well? If so which?


Assuming you have Windows, and want to keep it:

Run Windows. Log in as Administrator. Reduce the size of one (or two) of the existing partitions, so you can create a partition to install Tiny Core.

Create an Ext 3 partition, and a swap partition, in the free space you created. If you are not sure about partitioning, download Parted Magic and use it for partitioning.

Follow one of these guides:

http://www.tinycorelinux.com/install.html

http://wiki.tinycorelinux.com/Installing+TC+-+Alternate+Offline+Guide&structure=Installing+TC


There are many other options. For example, you can install Tiny Core on a usb drive, instead of the hard drive. The easiest way is to use HD/USB Install, in the control panel.

If people don't have a cd drive, the process is different again.


Let us know more specifically what you want to do.

[Juanito]

Are you asking how to install the 64-bit version of tc?

If so, copy bzImage64 and microcore64 or tinycore64 to the same location as their 32-bit counterparts, add a section referencing bzImage64 and microcore64 or tinycore64 to your boot loader and off you go.

Note that Xvesa will not work with the 64-bit version of tc, so you'll need to use Xorg-7.5.

[tiny]

no, I only have linux in my laptop, and It does not matter if I wipe out my partitions.

[Guy]

Follow one of the installation guides above.

Are you able to download Tiny Core, write it to a cd, and run it from the cd on your laptop?

Are you able to connect your laptop to the internet, while running Tiny Core from the cd? You need a broadband internet connection.

[Guy]

If you can run Tiny Core from the cd on your laptop, and connect to the internet:

I suggest you install gparted.tcz using the App Browser. To do this, run the App Browser, click Connect, scroll down, and click gparted.tcz. Click Go. Don't change On Boot. (This is a different method from the guides above. Easier for new users.)

Once installed, run gparted, delete existing partitions, and set up partitions the way you want them. Create an Ext3 partition, and a swap partition, for Tiny Core. A suggested size for swap is double the ram. You may also create partitions for other operating systems, if you want to install other operating systems as well.

If you can get that far let us know.

If you can get even further, following the guides above, let us know.

[Guy]

I will take this one step further.

After doing what I said in the posts above, turn the computer off and restart. (gparted will be gone) Connect to the internet again.

Run the App Browser again. At the bottom you will see TCE: followed by a space to enter the tce drive. Enter the correct information. You probably need to enter: /mnt/sda1/tce/optional
Then click Set.

You may need to enter something like /mnt/hda1/tce/optional or /mnt/sda2/tce/optional

If not sure, run the file manager, and click /mnt. You should see sda1, hda1, or something similar. Use whatever is correct.

You are now at a point where you can run Tiny Core from the cd and install applications to the hard drive.

You can install whatever applications you want to use.

Let us know how you go.

[tiny]

so far so good, now I am stuck on grub, my disk type is sda, and I am not sure how to set up grub with an sda disk.

[Guy]

I take that to mean you have done all of the things I suggested.


While running Tiny Core from the cd and connected to the internet, install grub-0.97-splash.tcz. Leave it as On Boot for now. You can remove it from On Boot after installation.

To copy the Grub files over:

Open the terminal and type:
sudo su

To create a directory for Grub, type:
mkdir -p /mnt/sda1/boot/grub

To copy files to grub, type:
cp -p /tmp/tcloop/grub-0.97-splash/usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/* /mnt/sda1/boot/grub

You can actually copy and paste to the terminal. Highlight the text to be copied, and paste to the terminal using the middle mouse button.


To create a menu.lst file:
Open the terminal and type:
sudo editor

Type:

default 0
timeout 5

title   Tiny Core
root   (hd0,0)
kernel   /boot/bzImage quiet opt=sda1 tce=sda1 home=sda1
initrd   /boot/tinycore.gz

Save the file as:
/mnt/sda1/boot/grub/menu.lst

(note "menu.lst" contains a lower case L, not a one)


To copy Tiny Core to the hard drive:
Open the terminal and type:
sudo fluff

Copy the files from the cd. It is probably /mnt/sdc.
The files to copy are bzImage and tinycore.gz
Paste these files to /mnt/sda1/boot/


To set up the master boot record, open the terminal and type:
grub
root (hd0,0)
setup (hd0)
quit


Start Tiny Core on the Hard Drive:

If you now turn the computer off and restart, Tiny Core can be selected from the Grub menu and started. Remember to remove any CDs.

Enjoy using Tiny Core.


If you have any questions, let us know.

When you are successful, let us know.