Tiny Core Extensions > TCE Q&A Forum

Help getting tce's to persist on usb flash drive

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^thehatsrule^:
Maybe you could get 'better' results if you start with a zero partition table, or just zero it out, i.e. `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda` (or just the mbr I guess)
Then create a partition, and format it using `mkdosfs /dev/sda1` (do you know if you tried fat16, or fat32, or?)

If the above doesn't help you, then that's about all the tips I can give atm... the problem is something in the kernel, so it could be pretty hard to track down.

curaga:
I think GParted seems to create nonstandard partitions. Cfdisk does better.
Some of the errors were because the Gparted-created partitions were larger than the device.

padr:
Thanks to ^thehatsrule^ and curaga for your help and suggestions.

I tried the zeroout and mkdosfs option  but still not able to mount the drive.

Also came across a very similar thread where curaga was helping out earlier at dsl forums damnsmalllinux.org/f/topic-3-1-20101-15.html which had similar suggestions. It looks like the answer in this case may be simply as suggested there that different distros vary in the way they handle USB sticks.

As per my previous message I now have the tce's persisting on another brand USB stick so I am going to reluctantly leave the problem for now - maybe when my Linux knowledge is a bit more advanced I will be able to come back to it . I do have to say that this experience has taught me a lot about partitions/file systems / and the way Linux names the various devices ( hda/sda/sdb etc). In fact for any other newbie reading this thread I would say be careful to make sure which disk / partition you are working with or you could accidentally delete data which you need.

Thanks again for you help.

padr:
For the benefit of others who may be struggling as I was (am ?) to get started I set out below my experience so far with Tiny Core. I am very much a newbie and I am using the experience to try to learn more about Linux

Here is how I got PPR/TCE working for me

I boot from CD and store extensions on USB sticks.Using this setup:

1. When booting for the first time you need to include a boot code ( when asked) as follows  "tce=xxxn" ( do not include the "") where xxxn represents the name of the device/partition where you want to store the extensions. For me my USB stick is sdb1 so that is what I enter but you will need to check out the appropriate name for your system/device ( the name can change depending on the order you insert USB sticks etc.)

2. Having booted into TinyCore you can then use the app browser to browse and install selected extensions - they should be automatically saved on the USB stick in a directory called tce .

3. On subsequent boots they will appear and be available for use without having to download them again. You will probably need to specify a bootcode of waitusb=5 on these subsequent boots to give the system time to find the extensions. I do not think it is essential to also use the tce bootcode on these subsequent boots as my understanding is that tinycore scans for an existing tce directory automatically.

I also found that some brands of USB sticks worked whereas others did not.

I hope this helps. I found I had to proceed on a trial and error basis so you do need to be very careful if you are creating or deleting partitions as if you are not sure about drive/partition names you could easily accidentally damage your main drive / OS.

If anything I have posted above is incorrect or misleading hopefully somebody more expert will pick up on it  so that us newbies will not go too far wrong !

mikshaw:

--- Quote ---the way Linux names the various devices ( hda/sda/sdb etc).
--- End quote ---
I always get a little nervous when formatting USB devices for that reason.  In fact, it isn't always just USB.  I have one distribution that got my CD and DVD swapped...it took several minutes to realize why it kept telling me there was no media in the drive.


--- Quote ---1. When booting for the first time you need to include a boot code ( when asked) as follows  "tce=xxxn"
--- End quote ---
Maybe this is splitting hairs, but I would say the word "need" is a bit strong.  If you've already download extensions before you install, you can create a tce directory and drop the extensions into it.  After that point TC should automatically detect the directory (assuming it can read the device and filesystem).  Of course, your solution is a simpler one, and results in a tiny piece of a second taken off boot time, but the one sacrifice you must make is having to find out what that device name is in TC before using it.

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