Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Base => Raspberry Pi => Topic started by: ScottN on September 10, 2023, 02:12:58 PM

Title: Unique use for Tiny Core. Is this possible?
Post by: ScottN on September 10, 2023, 02:12:58 PM

Before I dive into Tiny Core more, I wanted to propose what I'm planning to achieve with it and see if any experts here can say "Yes, that's possible!" and potentially guide me a bit in that direction :)

I have a number of Raspberry Pi 4's, mainly 2GB RAM variant, in the wild, that I have root access via SSH when connected to our VPN server.  I do not have physical access to the Pi and microSD card.  Sending a new microSD card to them for swap is not feasible either.

I'm looking to boot a very minimal OS to RAM so I can use 'dd' to write an image file over top of an existing (16GB) partition on the Pis.

I'd like to have TC boot entirely to RAM, install OpenVPN, open VPN client to connect with a configuration file I have.  I will then have root SSH access to this Pi.

From there, if everything is truly RAM, I'd like to mount a remote share that holds the img file to then have 'dd' use to overwrite the existing partition on the installed microSD.

Once imaging is done, when rebooted, Pi device will now boot up on the microSD and obviously is now booting the upgraded OS on the existing partition.

Is this possible with Tiny Core?

Title: Re: Unique use for Tiny Core. Is this possible?
Post by: Paul_123 on September 10, 2023, 05:30:43 PM

Sure it’s possible.  Yes, you can boot and unmount the partitions. 

Your best bet would be to build an initrd with your requirements.   All you would need is the boot partition

Title: Re: Unique use for Tiny Core. Is this possible?
Post by: Greg Erskine on September 10, 2023, 05:53:57 PM

I agree with Paul, definitely possible.

Remember to check for free space and partition sizse as they can change.

If for a business, have a disaster recovery plan in place.

Title: Re: Unique use for Tiny Core. Is this possible?
Post by: elcouz on September 14, 2023, 05:20:52 PM

Quote from: Greg Erskine on September 10, 2023, 05:53:57 PM

If for a business, have a disaster recovery plan in place.

^^ This... I wouldn't trust my job over a micro sd. They can go corrupt on you on big writes. I would suggest having SLC ones if used in commercial application.

Title: Re: Unique use for Tiny Core. Is this possible?
Post by: xyz-worx on September 15, 2023, 09:26:54 AM

Hi ScottN,

I can fully agree with elcouz. Maybe you can take a look at this link:

https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,23724.msg148850.html#msg148850 (https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,23724.msg148850.html#msg148850)

regards
   xyz-worx