Dedicated Server, eth0 Device not found

[danielibarnes]

make sure firmware.tcz in listed in /mnt/sda1/tce/onboot.lst. However, you will still get a firmware error on bootup because the extension isn't loaded yet. If you execute "sudo udevadm trigger" it will attempt to reload the driver.

If you are booting with syslinux instead of grub, you can load the firmware at the proper time by adding it to /tmp/tce in a cpio archive:

mkdir -p /tmp/tce/optional/
cp /mnt/sda1/tce/optional/firmware.tcz /tmp/tce/optional/
echo firmware.tcz >> /tmp/tce/onboot.lst
find /tmp/tce | cpio -o -H newc | gzip -9 > /tmp/firmware.gz

Then put this firmware.gz in the same directory as your microcore.gz and add it to your syslinux.cfg initrd option. If you are using grub, then the process is a little more involved:

mkdir -p /tmp/tinycore/
cd /tmp/tinycore/
zcat /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore.gz | cpio -id
mkdir -p tmp/tce/optional/
cp /mnt/sda1/tce/optional/firmware.tcz tmp/tce/optional/
echo firmware.tcz >> tmp/tce/onboot.lst
find . | cpio -o -H newc | gzip -9 > /tmp/microcore.gz

[yetanotherusername]

Using grub.
adapted a couple of the commands to sudo, but at the final line,
find . | cpio -o -H newc | gzip -9 > /tmp/microcore.gz
cpio: can't open 'usr/bin/sudo" : Permission denied
---s--x--x and root:root is what the permission/owner is set at (s = Unix domain socket) 

[danielibarnes]

sorry, a "sudo su" at the beginning should solve your problems. rm -rf /tmp/tinycore and try it again. Be careful to type it exactly as it appears (assuming your microcore.gz is in /mnt/sda1/boot):

sudo su
mkdir -p /tmp/tinycore/
cd /tmp/tinycore/
zcat /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore.gz | cpio -id
mkdir -p tmp/tce/optional/
cp /mnt/sda1/tce/optional/firmware.tcz tmp/tce/optional/
echo firmware.tcz >> tmp/tce/onboot.lst
find . | cpio -o -H newc | gzip -9 > /tmp/microcore.gz

[gerald_clark]

That will not run as ascript.
The "sudo sh" will start its own subshell,
and on exit the user will be back to tc at the second line.

[yetanotherusername]

that went through okay, no errors
now I can just reboot? or do I have to use filetool.sh -b or any other persistence measure?
(i'm on the edge of my seat, btw)
I just went line by line, I'm still root@box:/tmp/tinycore#

[danielibarnes]

Don't reboot yet, you need to copy /tmp/microcore.gz over your old one (but make a backup first!). I didn't explicitly state that because I wasn't sure how far you'd get.

[yetanotherusername]

alright

Code: [Select]

mv /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore.gz /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore_bak.gz
cp /tmp/micorcore.gz /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore.gzdone
anything else? 

[danielibarnes]

alright

Code: [Select]

mv /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore.gz /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore_bak.gz
cp /tmp/micorcore.gz /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore.gzdone
anything else? 

You've got it. When you reboot, it should all be good.

[danielibarnes]

Ah, sorry. I had a typo in my instructions to you. It should be:

sudo su
mkdir -p /tmp/tinycore/
cd /tmp/tinycore/
zcat /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore.gz | cpio -id
rm -rf tmp/tce
mkdir -p opt/tce/optional/
cp /mnt/sda1/tce/optional/firmware.tcz opt/tce/optional/
echo firmware.tcz >> opt/tce/onboot.lst
find . | cpio -o -H newc | gzip -9 > /tmp/microcore.gz
cp /tmp/micorcore.gz /mnt/sda1/boot/microcore.gz

The /opt/tce directory is a special directory from which extensions are loaded before network initialization begins. The underlined step is to remove the mistake from earlier.

[yetanotherusername]

I noticed that onboot.lst in opt/tce was a little scarce, then read up on that /opt/.tce_dir has the path to where the onboot.lst file should go, and I made the necessary changes to add firmware.tcz (as well as firmware-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tcz) to onboot.lst, which was in /mnt/sda1/tce
Still no eth0, but if I try to tce-load -i firmware.tcz it says its already installed. I noticed that I can add a command line while grub is loading the OS, don't know if there is anything I can do there, and in the meantime I have over 30 tabs open on chrome and another dozen or on firefox on another monitor searching out forums. In the meantime I am at least getting very familiar with the file system in tinycore.

[yetanotherusername]

Is there any way to confirm that the missing firmware file, bnx2/bnx2-mips-09-5.0.0.j3.fw is actually included in the firmware.tcz extension?

[danielibarnes]

Is there any way to confirm that the missing firmware file, bnx2/bnx2-mips-09-5.0.0.j3.fw is actually included in the firmware.tcz extension?

Execute "unsquashfs -l firmware.tcz" to show the files in it.

I noticed that onboot.lst in opt/tce was a little scarce, then read up on that /opt/.tce_dir has the path to where the onboot.lst file should go, and I made the necessary changes to add firmware.tcz (as well as firmware-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tcz) to onboot.lst, which was in /mnt/sda1/tce

There are two extension locations in TC: The /opt/tce directory and the directory pointed to by /opt/.tce_dir. The extensions in /opt/tce are loaded before network initialization in order to load firmware or other drivers. The extensions in your regular tce directory are loaded later. The instructions in my last post should get you going. If the firmware extension is loaded, you should have an eth0. Check dmesg after loading the extension and see if there is a new message.

I sent a note to wdchromium, recommending he add firmware and scsi drivers to his setup in order to prevent these sorts of issues.

In the meantime I am at least getting very familiar with the file system in tinycore.

If you are really interested, read the /etc/init.d/rcS script. It is the script executed during bootup and contains a wealth of information.

[yetanotherusername]

Check dmesg after loading the extension and see if there is a new message.

The message persists to say that the firmware can't be loaded, same message.
I compared the two boot.lst files (/opt/tce and /mnt/sda1/tce) and noticed the permissions were different between them but changing them in opt/tce didn't "stick" on reboot, if that is even an issue, it is -rw-r--r--, compared to -rwxrwxr-x respectively. Also ownership of the former is root:staff compared to tc:staff, but my guess it should be getting read by the system anyway. Maybe the whole path needs to change permissions? I don't think this /opt/tce path even existed before we created it.

[danielibarnes]

The message persists to say that the firmware can't be loaded, same message.

The module may need to be reloaded. Execute:
rmmod bnx2
modprobe bnx2

I compared the two boot.lst files (/opt/tce and /mnt/sda1/tce) and noticed the permissions were different between them

I've never had to worry about the permissions of /opt/tce files. They are never written, so it should be fine. I typically "chown -R tc:staff /opt/tce" but I don't think it matters.

I don't think this /opt/tce path even existed before we created it.

Yes, it does not exist by default.

[yetanotherusername]

I had written earlier to the hosting company that I got the dedicated server from and explained my situation. The fact is, I tried a couple different distros, including debian 6 and got back complaints about the firmware needed to be loaded. Before I could try to reload the module, I was put on a HP DL160 G6 instead.
I don't know how its going to go there, but even if it goes smooth, I will continue to play with tinycorelinux on my vmware to build on what I've learned here, thanks you, danielibarnes, of course.
I don't want to play minecraft as much as I wanted to play with linux and it just seemed like a good learning opportunity to work with something that gave me a project where some friends depended on it working (the minecraft part).
You gave me really good insight and few things to chew on meanwhile, thanks again.