Tiny Core Linux
General TC => General TC Talk => Topic started by: curaga on October 23, 2012, 12:44:58 PM
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Background:
I've had this idea of writing a book on Core, fully current for one release, with chapters describing the internals, some on projects to use Core for, some focusing on boot time etc. I was thinking both the pdf and ascii sources would be freely available online, dead tree version available at some cost.
My schedule is fairly full for this year, so it'll probably get started next year.
Initial section divide:
Part I - intro, basic use
Part II - advanced use
Part III - internals
Part IV - project topics (chapters on how to do a specific setup)
To the point. What would you like to see a chapter on?
Any topic that's currently under-documented? Anything that would need some in-depth description?
Also, if you'd like to write a chapter or a few, great! I'd especially like to hear of unique setups for the projects part, but anything is welcome.
Any comments welcome, about these parts or anything related.
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"Installing" ?? would be a huge chapter.. :P
It's the most miss-understood aspect of tc I think
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But what makes this book any different from the wiki..?
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But what makes this book any different from the wiki..?
Some people prefer hardcover over electronic documentation ;)
Then it's a bit different approach, bringing the reader up to speed gradually, while I see the wiki as more of a set of how-to resources.
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Part I - intro, basic use
Part II - advanced use
Part III - internals
Part IV - project topics (chapters on how to do a specific setup)
I'm envisioning Part IV as a collection of use cases, supplied by users describing their own systems in some detail? A general purpose desktop, a samba server, a web server, a portable boot device, etc etc etc.
If its not too far out of scope, I'd be interested in a PART V describing some of the remixes that are out there... not so much for the creators of such to tout their own distribution but to describe the "why" and the "how" of remastering. Maybe enlist Svolli, JLS, Grandma and/or some others it they are willing? And including personal, undistributed remasters, again assuming a willing author can be found.
Chapters or sections pertaining to very new hardware (missing drivers and such) and very old hardware (can't boot from USB, low memory and such) would probably be of interest.
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Good ideas, thanks.
I'm not sure how much one could say about new hardware. It all differs, and occasionally there isn't a solution at all. Do you have something specific in mind?
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I don't have anything specific in mind - was thinking more on the lines of how to get (or build) and install drivers.
I'm thinking back to when I first started using Tiny Core and the onboard nic in my Dell SC440 wasn't working. I solved the issue by stuffing an older nic into it, but that's not an option with, for instance, a laptop. A few releases later, my nic was recognized and working so I never had to actually -learn- anything. :)
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Hmmmm, very intersting........ . . .
Don't mind me, I'm thinking, and yeah, it hurts, but feels oh-so good, atm.
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One benefit...of your book.....newbies trust Official documents while having reservations about unofficial dox like a wiki.
Some ideas....not suggesting I know how to do em ;)
How to change your keyboard layout
How to change keyboard shortcuts for (some) windowmanager
How to change your mouse settings
also some posts on correct way to use APPS might be useful
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,14258.msg80389.html#msg80389
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,13342.msg73953.html#msg73953
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Let there be progress. In fact, the start is still entirely in schedule, fully within the given time period of 2013 ;)
The start of the book is now in our git, and a pdf render is at http://tinycorelinux.net/~curaga/corebook.pdf
It has currently the huge amount of two chapters, but restarting discussion on this wouldn't hurt. Please post any typos or bad phrases. Any contributed chapters also welcomed.
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Oh good. I've grabbed the pdf, though I don't have time to read all of it ATM.
I suppose the number of potential chapters has increased a bit in the past few months.
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Hi, I will be interested to read about some list for tricks/settings of:
1. Using [tiny]core guest under qmenu; the host machine could be any linux distribution (archlinux, mint etc) with kvm drivers etc, but the guest (maybe) needs for some remastering for fast core I/O transfer (64/32 bits?, network, video, scsi, usb) using virtio (or plan9 ?). The beforhand downloaded tcz packages (+dep files) into some local storage /mnt/sdaX could be accessed (shared between host and guest) by qmenu buildin facilities like nbd (nfs), samba, tftp, vfat or plan9.
This will offer small/secure "sand box" to run linux apps, like firefox, without tor/onion protections etc.
2. Smallest core as x86[_64] host for qmenu, to run any OS like (dying) winXP, or testing any new/candidate linux/tinycore etc, even with other CPU arhitecture like arm (android?). This could open the doors for android mobile comunications ("viber" instant messenger, etc).
I am trying (with succes) my hand at all those, but unfortunate I have no time to contribute back to your docs.
Thanks.
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AsciiDoc! Nice! I've been working on a reflow/rewrite in AsciiDoc for another project. The project lead was thinking it might be nice to generate the static HTML pages from the AsciiDoc-formatted text files maintained in the project's git repo. I set up the Makefile so HTML, XHTML, manpage and text output (the XHTML piped through a TUI HTML browser like links) are all available but never considered PDF (yet).
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Both PDF output methods are kind of PITA currently. A full latex setup takes gigs and is hard to setup, and the alternative, FOP, requires Java and some other arcane configuration. Took me almost a full day to get proper PDF output (whereas for manpages and html output it was just the time to install asciidoc ;)).
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Hi curaga
Sections 4.8 and 4.9 refer to .xinitrc. Should that be .xsession?
From section 4.9:
This is the final part of the boot process. Just before starting up the
window manager, the .xinitrc script sources and executes every file
found in this directory (~/.X.d).
Unless it has changed since TC4.1, files in ~/.X.d are executed after the the window manager command is issued.
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Thanks, fixing both.
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Hi curaga
Near the end of 3.2:
This is what you would find were you to do a "make install
DESTDIR=/tmp/somewhere", with possibly documentation and
development headers split to other extensions, for lower overhead to
those who only want to use the extension.
Maybe something like:
You would find these under /tmp/somewhere/ were you to do
a "make install DESTDIR=/tmp/somewhere", ... Not trying to nitpick, just think it may make it a little clearer to someone less experienced.
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Oh, any corrections are appreciated. Fixed this one.
Since it's text under git, patches welcome too ;)
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Hello Mr. Curaga!
I suggest a section (maybe in projects) about "The simplest/easyer way to..." and subtopics like "the simplest/easyer webserver", and fileserver, mediaserver (with minidlna) and so on... the KISS as possible solutions.
I could contribute with the webserver using the busybox-httpd but english is not my mother language, maybe the chapter will require some corrections after...
Another interesting thing could be the "DIY Desktop" part, when some of us could contribute explaining how to get to the desktop we uploaded a screenshot in the wiki! (how it was configured, with which extensions...)
I hope these ideas are interesting enought to go to the book.
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Yep, the projects section is good for those kinds of solutions. If you're familiar with busybox httpd, please write about it.
I'm not sure a desktop showcase would work when printed in black and white, though.
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Few chapters in today.
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Great chapters Mr. Curaga!
Just, in the "1.9. The copy mode of operation: TCZ/install + copyfs indicator" the reader must want to know where to put the copy2fs.flg or the copy2fs.lst; what he must put inside it? Does it have to be backup'ed?
I'm still writing about busybox-httpd, will send to you ASAP.
Best regards!
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The first chapter is an overview; the files will be covered in more detail later.
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First remaster chapters in, please review.
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Good job guys, coming along nicely
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Hello:
You might want to consider to explain about "busybox", how similar and different it is, compared to the real utility. Especially, on how to configure each utility.
Regards,
Rahmat.
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You might want to consider to explain about "busybox", how similar and different it is, compared to the real utility.
The fact that many of the commands included in busybox may come in a variety of other implementations does hardly make busybox less real...
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I think covering busybox is out of scope.
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I think covering busybox is out of scope.
However, it is one of the reason why TC is so tiny and strange.
There are too few examples on how to use busybox.
Eg 1: "wget" has no wgetrc
Eg 2: "vi" is even worse than the original nvi.
But yes, perhaps this suggestion should be addressed to the busybox developers.
Regards,
Rahmat.
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Everyone, please suggest project chapters. Is there some setup you'd like detailed instructions to?
Mini-server? Personal cloud? Etc.
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Hello Mr. Curaga!
My suggestions:
- Personal Cloud
- FTP Server
- Simple NAS
- Simple WebServer (I'm writing it with busybox-httpd)
- Media Server (maybe with minidlna)
I'll contribute with more as soon as I can!
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Personal cloud chapter in.
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A few more suggestions:
- FireWall
- LTSP
- NetBooting classroom
Should I send the Simple Webserver article to your mail or PM?
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I think a detailed explanation of the boot process has been mentioned before, if not then that would be interesting
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@Zendrael
Either is fine.
@coreplayer2
It's there already, check the PDF ;)
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Zendrael's web server chapter is in, some new chapters.
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It's getting into shape. Two things remain before the first alpha can be cut (yes, I'm treating it as a software project ;)):
- bftpd has a bug, waiting on a release to finish the FTP chapter
- waiting for the Firefox kiosk chapter
Now's your chance to get your name (or nick if you prefer) in print: find a bug (typo, bad sentence, etc), win eternal glory!
Planned timeline:
- after the alpha is out, a week's silence (no new bugs) means a new alpha
- if the quality is good enough, it's RC
- one week of silence after RC, assuming no bugs -> into print
- it takes a few weeks for the printers to ramp up
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I see that on pp. 71-72 that rcS is not mentioned. It is a separate file now which does a few things like mount the root and proc file systems before handing off to tc-config. This is where we can add custom code in the boot process, like starting plymouth for a graphical boot splash to hide the console messages (especially nice for kiosks, etc.). Because it was split from tc-config for these sort of purposes, I think it's important to mention it, why it's separate, and how it could be customized.
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Thanks, good point, added a section. I'll update the image later, perhaps tomorrow - it also needs to be split to two lines, the text is a bit too small.
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I noticed that a new section for rcS was added to "BigTinyCoreBook" (my name suggestion). If you like, here is a code example to add:
#!/bin/sh
# RC Script for Tiny Core Linux
# (c) Robert Shingledecker 2004-2012
# Mount /proc.
[ -f /proc/cmdline ] || /bin/mount /proc
# Remount rootfs rw.
/bin/mount -o remount,rw /
# Mount system devices from /etc/fstab.
/bin/mount -a
# custom code here
ldconfig
/sbin/plymouthd --mode=boot --attach-to-session --pid-file=/var/run/plymouth/plymouthd.pid >/dev/null 2>&1
/bin/plymouth --show-splash >/dev/null 2>&1
# continue with system initialization
/etc/init.d/tc-config
Also, IMHO rcS should be inserted into the boot graphic on the previous page. It looks like it will be a good M for RTFM answers to n00bs, not that we would ever say that.
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Yep, as mentioned above, the pic is in need of updating. Didn't have time on Sunday.
Please check your PM :)
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Zendrael's Firefox chapter is in. I tested it, needs a change in the firefox.tcz startup script to fully work.
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Hi Curaga!
I saw the chapter in and the changes you made, thank you! :D
I hope it didn't get too much work because of my bad english! Haha
How about to put a simple shellScript to act like a CGI in the Simple Web Server chapter? An example of how to do it. Something easy just to show how it works, like:
#!/bin/bash
echo "Content-type: text/html\n\n"
echo "<h1>CGI with ShellScript working!</h1>"
echo "Put <strong>any</strong> HTML output or load a file to show!"
Just renaming the script to <name>.cgi and inside cgi-bin directory.
If it's ok, I can write more about it.
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Sure, added.
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Thank you! :D
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[very late in the day] suggested topic:
using tinycore to run a pc as a gateway/router
bios versus uefi boot
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I wouldn't know enough to write the UEFI part. Would you like to write it?
A NAT-ing router/firewall would be a good topic, yes.
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Sure, I could make an attempt at the uefi part, what would best the best means of submission?
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A plain text file will do, unless you know how to write Asciidoc?
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See attached - my apologies for it being created with that other os...
Edit: corrected attachment in tc
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This is so cool. Online backup using your favorite service, browser, file manager and idesk, already exists most likely real lite dropbox without the local clutter.
I've been using dropbox in a browser window to drag&drop files, pictures, presentations, etc. etc. placed directly over a dropbox account page, then on release they are immediately uploaded, archived, safe..
It's in the attached text file, but a picture speaks a thousand words
https://www.dropbox.com/s/92ylu0su4lf89jt/file_backup_light_style.png (https://www.dropbox.com/s/92ylu0su4lf89jt/file_backup_light_style.png)
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/92ylu0su4lf89jt/file_backup_light_style.png)
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I'm sorry, but I don't think that'd be appropriate. It would endorse a proprietary service (Dropbox), and I don't think there's anything TC-specific about using a browser. :)
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Hi coreplayer2
... archived, safe..
Unless it becomes another Stashbox
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no problem
8)