Tiny Core Linux will not boot on my Windows XP

[aunicorn]

Tiny Core Linux will not boot on my Windows XP. I only get questions like what do you want windows to open this file with? And the pif for this file is invalid! I see no App window. I use peazip to unzip everything but there is nothing to get started with. There are some text files that might be used to enter into a GRUB but there is no grub. I tried downloading some Grub.exe files but they were rejected by windows XP also. I created a cdrom boot disc but it will not boot, why? Because Windows ONLY understands .EXE! I got a PUPPY linux witha .e.e wrapper and that installed but then it did not work properly so I had to delete it.

Now please tell me what I should do to just START the app window of Tiny Core Linux and I can handle it from There!

[Lee]

Hmmm... Let me try to help.

One doesn't "run" Linux under Windows, although you might boot Linux in a virtual machine that was hosted on a computer running windows (but let's ignore that possibility for now).

Download the TinyCore ISO file rather than the .gz file.

To run TinyCore on your system, burn TinyCore to a CD and boot your PC from the CD.  Two preliminaries for that...

1) You can't just "save" the ISO file to the CD.  The ISO file is an "image" of a CD, so you need to burn the CD from the image.  The details of how to do so will vary depending upon the CD burning software you are using, but either Nero or EasyCdCreator (and probably every other CD burning program) can do the job.

2) Your system's BIOS must be set to enable booting from the CD drive.

Then you should be able to just put the CD in and restart your PC.  It should boot up with TinyCore and not mention anything about Windows.  Windows will still exist on your hard drive and will be completely unaffected by TinyCore - the next time you reboot without the CD in place (assuming you would ever -want- to do that    ), your computer will run windows as if you had never defected to the Linux camp.

Also, browse the various documents and the wiki on tinycorelinux.com.

[aunicorn]

I repeatedly did all of the things recomended, with great care, but they did not work!

Then I tried downloading and using QEMU.EXE and a Qemu.exe manager and went through their many options but still nothing worked.

Now I Have been a professional programmer since 1957, and I would think, that by now, I could get a simple Linux application such as Tiny Core Linux or Dammnsmallinux to, at least start up, but that is not the case!

NO! I am not senile! However, I feel that someone out there can tell me just the right thing(s) to do to start up Tiny Core Linux.

[Rich]

Hi aunicorn

NO! I am not senile! However, I feel that someone out there can tell me just the right thing(s) to do to start up Tiny Core Linux.

There are many friendly people on this forum who would be willing to help you, but...

I repeatedly did all of the things recomended, with great care, but they did not work!

As a professional programmer since 1957 you aren't giving us much to work with. Did you follow Lee's
directions? What happened? What did the screen say. Did it try to boot the CD or simply boot right to
Windows? Did the Tinycore banner show up? Details.

[maro]

Well, IMHO in particular the combination of QEMU (on WinXP in my case) and TC works extremely well.

I just use something like qemu.exe -cdrom tinycore_3.5.1.iso and have TC running in "cloud mode". Of course I can also install TC on (virtual) disks and "play around" with all kind of persistance scenarios. BTW, most of the time I'm using QEMU v0.11.1 because that was the last one supporting KQEMU, and by just adding the -kernel-kqemu option I can observe quite some speed-up on my non VT-x CPU.

[aunicorn]

Hi aunicorn

NO! I am not senile! However, I feel that someone out there can tell me just the right thing(s) to do to start up Tiny Core Linux.

There are many friendly people on this forum who would be willing to help you, but...

I repeatedly did all of the things recomended, with great care, but they did not work!

As a professional programmer since 1957 you aren't giving us much to work with. Did you follow Lee's
directions? What happened? What did the screen say. Did it try to boot the CD or simply boot right to
Windows? Did the Tinycore banner show up? Details.

I repeatedly did all of the things recomended BY LEE, with great care, but they did not work!

My Key Problem: I never see a Tiny Core Linux Screen, I just get things (from windows xp) that say: What program would you like to use to run this ISO? This is because windows runs only exe and not ISO .

Important to understand: I am told that Tiny core Linux can be run from Windows like another application, that is, either Tiny core Linux OR windows xp but not both at the same time. I do not want to give up windows, but I want linux also.

[Kingdomcome]

Then you will need to use virtualization software like Qemu or VirtualBox or vmware.  Linuxes are operating systems like windows is an operating system, not programs to run inside of windows.  (There is a world outside of microsoft, Mr Gates )

[Lee]

I am told that Tiny core Linux can be run from Windows like another application, that is, either Tiny core Linux OR windows xp but not both at the same time. I do not want to give up windows, but I want linux also.

This sentence is not internally consistent.  Either of the statements "Tiny core Linux can be run from Windows like another application" or "either Tiny core Linux OR windows xp but not both at the same time" might be true but not both.  They are mutually exclusive.

Again, disregarding the possibility of running TC under some virtual machine software (like qemu), you cannot "run" TC under Windows so the second part ("either Tiny core Linux OR windows xp but not both at the same time") is actually true.  Your PC will boot one and only one operating system at a time.  If you have made a bootable CD and your system still boots Windows, then the BIOS settings are causing it to boot from the hard disk (where it finds Windows) instead of from the CD drive (where it would find TC).

If you boot TC from a CD, Windows will not be available -for that session- but the next time you reboot without the CD in place Windows will be there as before.  If you want both during the same session, then you indeed will want to consider qemu or some other virtual machine solution which will let you run one operating system inside of another.

[2byte]

Important to understand: I am told that Tiny core Linux can be run from Windows like another application,

WRONG. Linux is NOT an executable application that runs from Windows.

Let’s simplify the scenario and leave out discussion of Qemu and other virtual machines for the moment. Start small and work your way up. Try these simple steps:

Make sure your bios boot order is set to boot from the CD drive first. Note that some machines require keyboard input immediately at startup to boot from the CD drive.
Download and install Burncdcc. Google for it.
Download the Tinycore.iso file to your XP machine.
Put a blank CD in your drive and use Burncdcc to burn the tinycore.iso to the CD. This will create a bootable CD.
Leave the CD in the drive and restart your computer.

If you have done all of the above Tinycore should boot instead of XP.

Once you have done this, then if you want to have both XP and Tinycore running at the same time, look into virtual machines like Qemu or VirtualBox. These virtual machines can set up a separate computer in memory that will run other operating systems (Linux, DOS, Windows) at the same time as your main system.
 

[aunicorn]

http://www.topologilinux.com/index.php?menu=6

I could not believe this myself! Will try it and let you know!

I truly appreciate the help offered here, Failure is not an option! (old NASA quote from opollo 13)

Well, it has been some time, but I finally got a version of topogilinux with a setup.exe  to run in my winows XP!
Sure enough, it runs inwindows simultaneously with windows XP! BUT it immediately runs off and dials my dial up internet server and seems to expect the server, itself, to talk linux?

So Now this dummy has to ask: do you have to have an internet provider that specializes in Linux?

My idea was to get  topogilinux to run and then use it to start other linux programs like Tiny core Linux.[/i

(Topogilinux uses Colinux)

Help!

[gerald_clark]

CoLinux is a virtual machine like virtualbox or qemu.

[bmarkus]

A while ago there was a report here running TC succesfully with coLinux. See

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=7348