Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Base => TCB News => Final Releases => Topic started by: roberts on September 25, 2011, 10:45:32 AM

Title: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: roberts on September 25, 2011, 10:45:32 AM

Team Tiny Core is proud to announce the release of Tiny Core & Micro Core v4.0.
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/4.x/x86/release (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/4.x/x86/release)

Change log:
* Updated kernel to 3.0.3
* Updated udev to 173
* Updated glibc to eglibc-2.13
* Updated e2fsprogs base libs to 1.41.14
* Updated gcc base libs to 4.6.1
* Updated util-linux base libs to 2.19.1
* Updated eglibc for 486/586 support.
* Updated base Xlibs (microcore users need to get new Xlibs.tcz)
* Updated all the custom core utilities to use the new repository area.
* New loadcpufreq to handle module loading.
* Updated ondemand for console based extensions via Freedesktop Exec=cliorx prgname
* Updated tce-load & tce-audit for dynamic KERNEL dependency processing.
* Adjusted .xsession to handle X startup failure.
* Adjusted .setbackground colors for wallpaper handling.
* Updated AppBrowser Search and Keyword as described below.
* Updated ab Search and Keyword.
* Updated search.sh internal script support for new search method shared by AppBrowser & ab
* New keyword.sh internal script support for new keyword method shared by AppBrowser & ab
* Updated loadcpufreq ( C rewrite for speed)
* Updated busybox 1.19.2 with latest patches and nbd-client
* Updated rebuildfstab, tc-config, & rc.shutdown for nbd-client support.
* Updated getTime.sh for random selection of time servers (atl chi sj).
* Updated Luxi fonts to disable hinting.

Notes:
The Search method for both AppBrowser and ab is now a local info.lst search.
To use enter the starting few characters of the desired extension, e.g., abi for abiword, or ope for opera

Both AppBrowser and ab now offer Keyword searching.
Examples: enter browser to display browsers, enter game to list games.

The following has been deprecated in the 4.x series:
* Floppy Tool (floppytool.sh & fdtool)
* Starter Packs (loadpack & loadpack.sh)
* Hybrid Mode (boot local & mktclocal)

The new repository areas:
 http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/4.x/x86/tcz/ (http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/4.x/x86/tcz/)

Attn: Micro Core users will need new wbar.tcz, Xlibs.tcz, and Xprogs.tcz from 4.x repository.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: bmarkus on September 25, 2011, 10:56:18 AM
Does it mean EOL of 3.x line?

Sent from my ZTE-BLADE using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: bigpcman on September 25, 2011, 11:59:14 AM
I have installed tc 4.0 and am running it now. This post is from a vnc remote connection to my TC 4.0 server.
Looks good so far. Great work team tinycore!  :)
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: meo on September 25, 2011, 12:20:33 PM
Hi TC members!

This is my first test running the stable TC 4.0 and everything seems good so far. A big hand to the TC team making this possible!!!

Have fun running this new and heavily updated version of TC,
meo
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: bmarkus on September 25, 2011, 12:25:11 PM
What is the status of compiletc toolchain, regarding the 10-15% executable size increase? Updating extensions on 4.0 would bring unnecessary size increase, but do not want to use 3.8 for building. Maybe a temporary fix to keep GCC from 3.8  :-\
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: curaga on September 25, 2011, 12:55:32 PM
GCC was rebuilt with the frame-pointer option turned on, current 4.x toolchain should create normal sized executables again.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: bmarkus on September 25, 2011, 02:16:56 PM
GCC was rebuilt with the frame-pointer option turned on, current 4.x toolchain should create normal sized executables again.

Confirmed !  ;)
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: okmijn666 on September 25, 2011, 03:20:15 PM
new wersion ?

EXELLENT :D Thanks to all dev's !
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: Arslan S. on September 25, 2011, 03:20:59 PM
where is tcl 4.x linux source and config ? so we can compile some modules :)
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: roberts on September 25, 2011, 04:12:45 PM
Does it mean EOL of 3.x line?

Sent from my ZTE-BLADE using Tapatalk

Yes.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: bmarkus on September 25, 2011, 04:16:56 PM
GCC was rebuilt with the frame-pointer option turned on, current 4.x toolchain should create normal sized executables again.

gnutls is even smaller, 483k -> 471 k with same build script! :)
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: bmarkus on September 25, 2011, 05:13:16 PM
A while ago it was decided to drop openssl-0.9.8 and move to 1.0.0 How do we proceed?

Just built bind against 1.0.0 static. It's OK, but in general I prefer shared libs to reduce size and do not want to maintain dependencies.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: Jason W on September 25, 2011, 05:52:34 PM
openssl-0.9.8 has not been dropped, it is still the standard shared openssl.  The static openssl-1.0.0 was made available for folks who want to build their apps against the latest openssl, without causing conflict with the shared openssl-0.9.8. 

The benefits of going static with openssl is we never have to have a repo wide rebuild to accomodate an openssl upgrade.  Or at least it buys us time until we want to rebuild everything against a new latest shared openssl. 

Perhaps with TC 5.0 will be a good time to start from scratch, with by then a gtk3, python3. openssl-1.x, etc.  With openssl being the only thing that needed a repo wide rebuild, and it affects the most extensions of any of the three libs mentioned above, we are just staying with 0.9.8 for the shared lib.  For now, smaller size versus latest and greatest, the extension maker has a choice. 

But to be honest, I personally like the idea of a static openssl since then we would never have to rebuild the entire repo for an openssl upgrade.  The cost being extension size.  Further discussion can take place in the thread below:

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,11058.0.html (http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,11058.0.html)
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: andrewb on September 25, 2011, 08:23:55 PM
Are there any files that may be backed up that need to be modified / removed when upgrading a 3.8 installation to 4.0?


Just a suggestion, but maybe a standard section in any release announcement could be files that will be affected that amay be in the backup, e.g. in the announcement of 3.7 there was:

Quote
Note: Files that have changed and are likely in your backup:

Perhaps 'Files that have changed and are likely in your backup:'  could be made a standard section, even if it just stated 'None'. This way users could be sure that the issue of files in the backup isn't overlooked when upgrading.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: maro on September 25, 2011, 10:15:26 PM
I just noticed that the downloads page (http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/downloads.html) is still pointing to the v3.8.4 images. I'd imagine as soon as the MultiCore ISO has joined it's "siblings" those links will be adjusted accordingly.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: roberts on September 26, 2011, 02:39:33 AM
Multicore now posted and links adjusted.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: SvOlli on September 26, 2011, 04:30:17 AM
Could you please add the md5 checksums for vmlinuz and vmlinuz64 in the distributions_files folder?
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: emcongiu on September 26, 2011, 04:57:00 AM
Greetings to TC Team for TC4.0
On /src directory in Release repository I cannot found anymore kernel .config and patches to recompile it, as for toolchain.
They are moved on another place?

Regards,
Enzo
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: Driim on September 26, 2011, 07:46:21 AM

* Updated eglibc for 486/586 support.


Perfect, thx! And good luck with new releases.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: curaga on September 26, 2011, 07:54:35 AM
where is tcl 4.x linux source and config ? so we can compile some modules :)

Posted, thanks for reminding.

Also posted the md5sums of the kernel binaries.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: grimpirate on September 26, 2011, 03:54:35 PM
Not sure if this affects anyone else but the path to my hard drive is no longer:
/mnt/hdc1
Instead it has been renamed:
/mnt/sda1

I'll have to modify some scripts I wrote up as a result. It also meant my wallpaper suddenly disappearing because the symbolic links were no longer the same.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: egolipo on September 26, 2011, 05:01:35 PM
Hi

When I try to install to HDD I get using Install (MultiCore TCI) an error message:

SYSLINUX (. . .)
Could not find kernel image: /boot/bzImage

I have also tried the "manual" way (with grub) but also doesn't boot from HDD

If I install TC3.8.4 to HDD it works just fine :)

Can someone help? Thanks in advance :)
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: gerald_clark on September 26, 2011, 05:30:22 PM
It is vmlinuz not bzImage.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: newbody on September 26, 2011, 06:10:49 PM
I am writing from TCL 4.0 now. I reused an old backup file named optional and that way
I got access to Firefox with old bookarks and VLC and so on. Especially I love that Fluff
still works.

But I fail to get sound going. I had OSS working in the old 3.xx was it 3.72 or something.

Ah sorry. Reading the FAQ once again and retrying the description how to remove already installed
I got OSS sound working again but it still says something is wrong with the ALSA so that is typical
for my inability to read and follow instructions.

Anyway thanks for that it works on ntfs much appreciated.

Am I right that it still need this on the menu.lst for grub4dos ?

/tce/boot/ntfs-3g.gz
or else it fail to set the hdd one do a frugal boot from as read write. I got a beep saying that I can not write to it
when I did not have that one added in the initrd line. I am using the standard tinycore iso
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: oldgit485 on September 26, 2011, 06:31:15 PM
same problem as egolipo using multicore 4.0 cd its looking for wrong file perhaps?
oldgit (corrected from micro to multi) Thanks for prompt action roberts :D
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: GoodGuy98 on September 26, 2011, 09:08:30 PM
I am also having the same problem as egolipo. How can we tell it to use vmlinuz instead of Bzimage?
I am new at this stuff.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: roberts on September 26, 2011, 10:24:36 PM
Sorry, multicore_4.0.iso got scrambled extensions. Corrected and reposted.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: curaga on September 27, 2011, 08:38:40 AM
Not sure if this affects anyone else but the path to my hard drive is no longer:
/mnt/hdc1
Instead it has been renamed:
/mnt/sda1

I'll have to modify some scripts I wrote up as a result. It also meant my wallpaper suddenly disappearing because the symbolic links were no longer the same.

Yes, we're now libata only. Other distros have made a similar transition, we were one of the last.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: GoodGuy98 on September 27, 2011, 12:23:35 PM
Thank you for the quick fix roberts. It installed fine now.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: barbudor on September 27, 2011, 01:44:25 PM
Hi

I am using TCL 3.4 now on a platform with very little memory (56MB, Transmetta@533MHz)
I am doing some developmet using QTcreator within a VM and then upload my code to the platform above.

I am concerned with memory usage more than HDD size (my 2GB compact flash is far from being full).

What should I expect in term of memory impact and CPU usage by upgrading to TCL 4.0 ?

Thanks for your advices.

Best regards
Barbudor
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: floppy on September 27, 2011, 03:48:59 PM
few issues on my side (today status; mc4.0):
- error on boot now "hwclock: can t open dev/misc/rtc no such file or directory"; I use the bootcode TZ=....
- booting probably increased from 49 (3.8.4) to 51s (4.0) for my young PC.
  Perhaps this is coming from the boot code ide_core ignore_cable=1 which is nomore working.
  my second HDD (6GB) is nomore recognized as UDMA66 with this ide_core boot code.
  I will dig into this topic how to regain boot speed: perhaps making a non persistent home on this (now) UDMA33 drive,
  or play again with other boot codes. Im not sure of the test: perhaps I deleted the nozswap. I must have a look again at the box.
- usb_modeswitch.tcz missing
Change: the screen stay dark now without pci=use_crs. So, this is a mandatory boot code for me now.
If somebody has any idea how to improve the speed.. what boot code makes now a miracle.. ?
swap=sdc2 as boot code slow the pc: it seems that automatic swap detection (no boot code) is quicker.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: egolipo on September 27, 2011, 05:48:46 PM
Sorry, multicore_4.0.iso got scrambled extensions. Corrected and reposted.
Thank You. TCL4.0 already up and running now!
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: curaga on September 28, 2011, 11:18:18 AM
What should I expect in term of memory impact and CPU usage by upgrading to TCL 4.0 ?

TC4 uses less ram at boot, more after; if you already used the embed bootcode, you'll only see the (slight) increase. CPU usage should not change measurably.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: barbudor on September 28, 2011, 12:22:44 PM
Thanks Curaga.
I'll check and investigate about "embedd" boot code which I didn't know about.
At least, the great thing is how easy it is to try v4 and switch back in a minute to v3...
 :D
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: curaga on September 28, 2011, 12:48:48 PM
The embed change was in 3.8.2, I see you're already on 3.8.3. If you do any measurements, please post them.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: justauser on September 28, 2011, 01:44:48 PM
I downloaded the iso and then run a format and syslinux on my USB stick.  Copied over the tc* and boot directories and moved the syslinux.cfg and associate files to the root of the USB stick.  I labelled my USB drive "tce" and changed the syslinux.cfg to user LABEL="tce" where label="MultiCore" previously was.

After some exploration I found that the USB drive was actually labelled TCE and not tce.  I'd used Win7 to create and label the USB drive.  I think if you use Windows the drive label will be all uppercase, even if in Windows it is displayed in lowercase.  I would suggest that the base syslinux.cfg use all uppercase for the label.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: beerstein on October 01, 2011, 12:49:18 PM
did somebody try to run the dillo2 resp. dillo3 browser?
Does it work with TCL4 ?
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: gerald_clark on October 01, 2011, 01:00:22 PM
Did you try it yourself? Did you have a problem?
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: beerstein on October 01, 2011, 03:16:13 PM
I installed both (ver 2 and 3)
I got the icons in wbar but when I tried to click on it - no program start.
Then I installed minefield and served for a while and the screen froze.
TCL 3.XX worked on same machine ok
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: gerald_clark on October 01, 2011, 03:58:51 PM
Both dillo 2 and 3 work for me.
You cannot install both at the same time, as they share some file names.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: coreplayer2 on October 01, 2011, 04:30:26 PM
Can't help but notice how system performance has improved tremendously with v4.x   8)  Thx


I do wonder about the app search capability.  noted in an earlier post that apps can be searched for by typing in the first few letters of the extension name which functions well.  Only thing is many apps begin with unexpected letters or names;  take for example gpaint which used to be GNUpaint,  try searching for paint and see what happens...?

IIRC searching for the function of an extension would result in all the choices available,  not so in v4.x it seems;  try searching for browser, which results in zip!  I thought that was a positive feature of earlier versions??
 
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: gerald_clark on October 01, 2011, 04:39:13 PM
Select 'Keyword' instead of 'Search'
I get 11 results, including gpaint.tcz.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: coreplayer2 on October 01, 2011, 04:53:10 PM
Cool thanks,    See I didn't realize that option existed.  search works great now!!
Is keywords new?

have tried various searches and the features work well but I wonder how come the provides and keywords are not incorporated in search??  I can see how one might want to narrow the search, but initial searches?   just a thought.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: beerstein on October 02, 2011, 05:47:08 AM
I will try dillo3 again - Thank you
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: miskor on October 04, 2011, 04:33:51 AM
I have a major problem with R6040 driver, it is broken in TC4!

In 3.8 it works normally... I've attached complete dmesg log, here is the end of it:

mii_bus 0 failed to register
r6040 0000:00:08.0: failed to register MII bus
r6040: probe of 0000:00:08.0 failed with error -22

I am using DMP eBOX-3300 mini-pc (with Vortex86 SoC) and I really beg you to fix this issue!

BR,
MiskoR
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: Rich on October 04, 2011, 09:47:09 AM
Hi miskor
From dmesg:
Quote
Kernel command line: initrd=/ubninit quiet BOOT_IMAGE=/ubnkern
These are not the standard names for the kernel and initrd. Did you make any modifications such
as re-mastering or recompiling?
Quote
zram: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
zram: num_devices not specified. Using default: 1
zram: Creating 1 devices ...
zram: disk size not provided. You can use disksize_kb module param to specify size.
Using default: (25% of RAM).
zcache: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
zcache: module license 'unspecified' taints kernel.
Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
r6040: RDC R6040 NAPI net driver,version 0.27 (23Feb2011)
------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: at fs/sysfs/dir.c:455 0xc01d4830()
sysfs: cannot create duplicate filename '/class/mdio_bus/0'
Modules linked in: r6040(+) zcache(PC) zram(C) loop
Pid: 83, comm: modprobe Tainted: P         C  3.0.3-tinycore #90210
Those  zram  and  zcache  warnings are not normal, are they? I'm not running 4.0 so I can't tell.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: miskor on October 04, 2011, 12:19:48 PM
Nope, no remastering or recompiling.

This may be because I used unetbootin for creating bootable SD card from ISO image.

But this should not affect drivers...

MiskoR
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: curaga on October 04, 2011, 01:27:35 PM
Yes, those z* messages are normal. As for the driver bug, it's not much that we can do. Google does not say much.
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: miskor on October 04, 2011, 05:07:06 PM
But in 3.8 driver is working OK!

Something is changed in 4.0 and that affects R6040 driver.

Help me to debug and troubleshoot this issue, I am willing to spend some time on this but I need guidance!

I bet that more users will report this problem...

BR,
MiskoR
Title: Re: Tiny Core v4.0
Post by: curaga on October 05, 2011, 10:45:33 AM
Well, it's a regression in the r6040 driver between 2.6.33 and 3.0, and you should report it as such to the kernel bugzilla. However, it still seems to be down from the breach.

You could use git bisect to find out exactly what change broke it; there only appear to be some dozen changes between these two kernel versions, so it'd only be a handful kernel builds. Teaching how to do that is rather out of scope for here.

One easy thing you could try is to build the latest RC kernel, to see if the bug is fixed already.