Questions: Install Tiny Core without a CD or DVD drive

[bmarkus]

One of the key factor to SLAX's success was the built-in installation tool for WINDOWS users. If you downloaded SLAX arachive to your WINDOWS machine, you could create bootable USB stick without any other tool, learning, searching. No CD, no funny ISO files, no need for CD to burn, etc. Just a simple ZIP archive and few lines install instructions which works. That's all. Please try SLAX USB creation yourself before replying

Curaga: Two clicks can be enough to throw it away and look for another toy. I know it by experience. As a Linux geek you can't fully understand ordinary user who is an average WINDOWS user, curious to learn LINUX on easy way.

[tinypoodle]

Hmm, coincidentally yesterday some person made a claim in #tinycorelinux on freenode that they would have installed a TC derivative from some setup.exe which had been shipped on a CD. Their issue however was that appearantly they could no longer boot into windows, but only into said TC derivative...

 

[curaga]

@bmarkus

If two clicks are enough to turn an user away, I doubt he would have been happy with TC...

edit: Checked out slax' doc. Tarball + one bat script to install syslinux, absolutely could be done here as well.

[bmarkus]

@bmarkus

If two clicks are enough to turn an user away, I doubt he would have been happy with TC...

edit: Checked out slax' doc. Tarball + one bat script to install syslinux, absolutely could be done here as well.

First barrier is critical. If you are already there and something is working, you are trying to do something with it. If you find a 'TC for dummis' how to install a WEB browser, wireless (Hm..) and modem for US.

[grandma]

This worked reliably to create the TinyCore USB stick - NO CD/DVD required - done on a W2K box.

Two methods - no NETBOOTIN required - but it does take a few more steps and two free utilities.

Did one on the W2K box - method 2 on a Linux box.

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=9195.0

Tested Live Linux today - a fat feature version of NETBOOTIN with a very .y (ok - eye candy) front end.

Worked well for the boot - absolutely - but claims to allow a "Virtual Box" inside of Windows, requiring a software package owned by Oracle. Tried that - bombed (W2KSP4).

However one thing Live Linux did was modify append file - putting in UID tags - which I assume ?might? help with persistence issue I have had.

Also, since my laptop doesn't boot to USB am testing PLOP BOOT MGR to see if I can get a new FAT partition I inserted onto my C drive to boot.

Method:

1. Made USB drive
2. SYSLINUX -f G: (the new blank partition - logical drive - on the physical C: drive) -f required to force
3. Copied all TC files created by netbootin, including hiddens from USB to G:
4. Reboot - Plop takes over - selected partition - black screen.

Same thing with attempt to get Plop to boot to USB drive.

Files in G: root folder include:

ldlinux.sys (hidden)
ubknkern
ubinit
etc. - exactly like a unetbootin install with associated boot and isolinux folders and files below.

Also, installed Robert's latest R2 - seems to work fine. Haven't tried Perl yet, but does install/boot on other laptop that recognizes USB boots.

...and tinkering with Plop to see if I can get it to see and boot the partition (or a USB drive) ...which would partially resolve this "Windows Install" issue by giving TC a place to live - live on a HD in a single HD PC - (not in a virtual box) - by merely selecting a boot option, even when USB boot is not supported and no CD is present. Plop utility and forum support is sterling - as it is here - thanks - so I am fairly confident boot issue will be resolved.

By the way - got a friend to try TC today - Vista user - she almost fell out of her chair for the boot speed.