Tiny Core Linux
Tiny Core Base => TCB Talk => Topic started by: newbieCore on February 12, 2024, 11:21:18 AM
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Hi, I'm quite new to the system and in general to Linux. I have a weak laptop that I'm trying to install the system on and after the installation is completed successfully I don't see any option except the usb and the bios doesn't show any boot option in the boot. I thought that maybe the problem was with grub and I installed it from Apps but it doesn't come up, what could be the problem?
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Hi newbieCore!
1. Can You describe with more details what You mean as
the installation is completed successfully
There may be various reasons why it appeared not to be so successful as it may seems to be.
2. When You load grub in Apps it is not installing it to the target drive, it is adding it to the TinyCore system and making You able to install it into some target drive as the next step.
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Hi newbieCore!
1. Can You describe with more details what You mean as
the installation is completed successfully
There may be various reasons why it appeared not to be so successful as it may seems to be.
2. When You load grub in Apps it is not installing it to the target drive, it is adding it to the TinyCore system and making You able to install it into some target drive as the next step.
Hi, thanks for the reply.
1. I mean that I open the tc-install and follow all the steps normally and after the Proceed it means that the Installation has completed. I will attach a screenshot.
https://ibb.co/42y4Mf9
2. That's probably why it doesn't work. Usually in other distributions that I managed to install I see the grub and from there I enter the system. How can I install grub so that it works? And should I install before or after the installation of TC?
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Unfortunately I am not familiar with tc-install, but the screenshot looks like everything is OK really.
Standard TinyCore bootloader is extlinux (You can see it mentioned on the screenshot) not grub.
A couple of questions:
1. Can You describe (at least briefly) the computer which You use for TC installation.
2. Do You boot from CD?
3. On which media do You want to install the TinyCore?
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Unfortunately I am not familiar with tc-install, but the screenshot looks like everything is OK really.
Standard TinyCore bootloader is extlinux (You can see it mentioned on the screenshot) not grub.
A couple of questions:
1. Can You describe (at least briefly) the computer which You use for TC installation.
2. Do You boot from CD?
3. On which media do You want to install the TinyCore?
This is a weak Asus E406S model from a few years ago that looks like this:
https://www.asus.com/laptops/for-students/everyday-use/asus-e406/
It has 64GB of eMMC memory according to what I understand and an Intel inside processor.
I'm trying to install tiny core from a usb stick.
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So You can boot from USB, that's nice.
1. What have You written to the USB drive You boot with?
2. Do You have another computer which You've used to write the USB drive?
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So You can boot from USB, that's nice.
1. What have You written to the USB drive You boot with?
2. Do You have another computer which You've used to write the USB drive?
1. I didn't quite understand, the usb has tinycore v14 with balenaEtcher if that's what you mean.
2. Unfortunately, I no longer have only this computer and my only option is to boot tiny core live via USB.
In general I quite like the system and its minimalism and I would like to study it in depth but I am stuck for hours in the installation phase.
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1. Which TinyCore .iso You have on the USB drive: Core-14.0, TinyCore-14.0, CorePlus-14.0 or TinyCorePure64-14.0?
2. Do You have wired internet connection?
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1. Which TinyCore .iso You have on the USB drive: Core-14.0, TinyCore-14.0, CorePlus-14.0 or TinyCorePure64-14.0?
2. Do You have wired internet connection?
Oh yes CorePlus 14.0.
No, I using wifi
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@newbieCore: welcome to Tiny Core!
If you're trying to install onto the eMMC, you may have to disable X/UEFI ("Secure Boot") in BIOS settings in order to get it to boot.
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Hi CentralWare!
If he is able to boot from the USB, doesn't it mean that Secre Boot is already disabled?
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2. Do You have wired internet connection?
The question is out, specs say Your laptop has WiFi only. You need CorePlus to continue.
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@newbieCore: welcome to Tiny Core!
If you're trying to install onto the eMMC, you may have to disable X/UEFI ("Secure Boot") in BIOS settings in order to get it to boot.
Hi, thanks for your reply.
Hi CentralWare!
If he is able to boot from the USB, doesn't it mean that Secre Boot is already disabled?
That's right, I already disabled it
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2. Do You have wired internet connection?
The question is out, specs say Your laptop has WiFi only. You need CorePlus to continue.
I have CorePlus and I can connect to wifi.
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That’s the screenshot from the bios:
https://ibb.co/nLGBVhj
The only boot option is the usb.
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You can look what's happening with Your eMMC disk.
1. Boot from the USB drive.
2. Run terminal or boot to base (CorePlus boot menu option).
3. run
fdisk -l
Check, whether eMMC has bootable partition.
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This may be UEFI dirty tricks. Your machine had Win preinstalled. Now You'vw destroyed this installation, but UEFI still remember it. In Your BIOS screen You see some options about "DELETE ..." Maybe it is option for editing the UEFI table. maybe You will enter this option and will see Win there. In such case You will need to delete it from UEFI table, because the installation is absent.
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You can look what's happening with Your eMMC disk.
1. Boot from the USB drive.
2. Run terminal or boot to base (CorePlus boot menu option).
3. run
fdisk -l
Check, whether eMMC has bootable partition.
It seems that if I'm not mistaken there is an asterisk on the partition I tried to install (mmcblk0p1)
https://ibb.co/JBRCpWr
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This may be UEFI dirty tricks. Your machine had Win preinstalled. Now You'vw destroyed this installation, but UEFI still remember it. In Your BIOS screen You see some options about "DELETE ..." Maybe it is option for editing the UEFI table. maybe You will enter this option and will see Win there. In such case You will need to delete it from UEFI table, because the installation is absent.
I don't see anything there unfortunately
https://ibb.co/b7M98pk
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And if You enter [Select one to delete] what do You see?
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Another mystery for me are mmcblk0boot0 and mmcblk0boot1 partitions. Can PiCore masters educate us a little, what are these artifacts?
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And if You enter [Select one to delete] what do You see?
Nothing
https://ibb.co/V9PB12P
Another mystery for me are mmcblk0boot0 and mmcblk0boot1 partitions. Can PiCore masters educate us a little, what are these artifacts?
I also wondered to myself, I have no idea what that means
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Hi newbieCore
I don't see your hard drive listed under Boot Option Priorities.
If you go to Hard Drive BBS Priorities , does it show up there?
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Hi newbieCore
I don't see your hard drive listed under Boot Option Priorities.
If you go to Hard Drive BBS Priorities , does it show up there?
No, nothing appears there either except the usb
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I suspect mmcblk0boot0 and boot1 to be physically separated from eMMC. Maybe they are ROMs included into the address space of mmcblk0. I think so because tc-install is zeroing partition table, and these two 4M pieces must not exist.
Edit. Wait, they are really separate drives, sorry.
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I'd propose to load and install efibootmgr.tcz and read the boot stuff with its help.
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@newbieCore, You can install TinyCore to another USB flash drive and boot and work with it.
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I'd propose to load and install efibootmgr.tcz and read the boot stuff with its help.
It’s say
EFI variables are not supported on this system. :-\
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Hi newbieCore. I get the same message on my X230 laptop which is working perfectly with Tiny Core Linux:
$ efibootmgr
EFI variables are not supported on this system.That just means that your system, like mine, uses legacy BIOS and not (U)EFI. More details here (https://www.baeldung.com/linux/uefi-check-machine-boot-method).
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Hi CentralWare!
If he is able to boot from the USB, doesn't it mean that Secre Boot is already disabled?
That's right, I already disabled it
@newbieCore, If Your box is not twisted with UEFI, then what did You mean saying that You've already disabled Secure Boot? Just curious.
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In fact TinyCore is the only Linux really designed for nomadic use. I mean that You don't install it to some box, but You install it to some drive (USB flash or USB HDD) and it works anywere it is possible. I've chosen TinyCore few years ago in order not to carry laptop, but carry USB flash drive. I keep it in my wallet, it is much handier :-) Laptops and desktops are spreaded over the environment almost everywhere. Chose the one You like and use!
What is Your opinion about such a concept?
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The unit IS in fact UEFI (which is what CSM support is all about - to allow a UEFI device offer legacy options to older operating systems and/or hardware devices.)
Here's what I see:
1. You have legacy (CSM) enabled - this is likely a requirement for Windows, but you may need to disable it for sys/extlinux and possibly grub
2. You have boot0 and boot1 which are VERY likely boot partitions from the original Windows installation - this we may have a slight problem with
3. For unknown reasons, you have your USB device (sda) double-partitioned (sda1 = Partition 1... which is then re-partitioned as sda1p1)
@jazzbiker: The eMMC isn't configured like a RasPi so piCore references aren't really helpful here. LOL, plus it's an Intel, not an ARM processor.
With RasPi, the system doesn't usually come preconfigured with multiple hardware partitions. With EC-9100, it does - which requires a compiled boot-loader.
The closest guess I'd be able to offer is that we'll need to install GRUB onto boot# and have IT point to mmcblk0p1. "Logic" tells me this should have been boot0, but it's looking like boot0 may not have "space" to put a boot-loader in. Let's find out, shall we?
@newbieCore: Please boot the laptop and at the shell type in fdisk /dev/mmcblk0boot0 [ENTER]; once in, press "P" to get a layout. Specifically, we want to see what it's SIZE is. (Screen shot likely helpful!!) Press "Q" to exit, then repeat the process for /dev/mmcblk0boot1 - again, a screen shot may be useful here, too, of the "P" screen.
If boot0 has "size" and enough to cram GRUB into it, that's our goal. If it doesn't, I cannot fathom why it exists in the first place. For Windows, it needs a boot partition of a few MB to install a boot loader and a menu - normally this is a single partition.
Once we have that information, reboot the laptop and go into settings -- this time, turn off CSM -- reboot again and go back into settings; you may now have new boot options. If so, please send along a screen-shot of this, too.
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@jazzbiker: I don't keep TC in my wallet - it wouldn't fit. :) Instead I have a box of flash drives and cards set up for "live cd" types of environments and another set for installation media. There are four of these boxes at the office which are used for road trips (service calls) and blu-ray boxes with USB, uSD (and adapter) and CD, DVD and/or BD media dedicated one box per release for use IN the office when PXE isn't possible or efficient. They do make credit card sized flash drives (https://www.amazon.com/Aneew-Drive-Black-Credit-Memory/dp/B015D8I1QS/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1Y8SOGW007FKU&keywords=wallet+usb&qid=1707783548&sprefix=wallet+us%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-6), though -- I've had a couple of these for the last couple decades back mainly used when Win9x was being weened out.
and it works anywere it is possible.
If you load all of the firmware files, wireless support, etc. and you have a boot loader with a menu for a few different scenarios, then yes - it's a portable "live" operating system that's not dedicated to anything the fits within its hardware platform. (x86 and x64 can both reside on the same flash... just not really x86/64 and ARM)
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Thinking around the drive names - mmcblk0, mmcblk0boot0 and mmcblk0boot1 - I suspect they are areas of the same flash chip, flash chips of big capacity often (if not always) includes protected (potentially) areas. I would propose not to try install bootloader immediately, but try write and restore these mysterious drives before actually installing something into them. They may be write protected, or changing their content may cause BIOS to go mad. Maybe someone who has experience with such eMMC-based laptops will say a word. In ambiguous conditions better not to be in a hurry.
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@newbieCore: Please boot the laptop and at the shell type in fdisk /dev/mmcblk0boot0 [ENTER]; once in, press "P" to get a layout. Specifically, we want to see what it's SIZE is. (Screen shot likely helpful!!) Press "Q" to exit, then repeat the process for /dev/mmcblk0boot1 - again, a screen shot may be useful here, too, of the "P" screen.
@CentralWare, newbieCore have already shown the screenshot of "fdisk -l" output and those mmcblk0boot?s are 4M in size each.
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I saw the 4MB for boot1 -- somehow missed the line for boot0 regarding size.
Here's your backup:
cd /path/to/your/USB
dd if=/dev/mmcblk0boot0 of=./export_boot0.img bs=16K
dd if=/dev/mmcblk0boot1 of=./export_boot1.img bs=16K
sync; sync
fDisk claims no partition type for either unit.
/dev/mmcblk0p# has already been obliterated of anything Windows based, so I can't go poking around looking for the boot menu files that used to reside there.
The laptop is currently booting from USB, so with backups in hand, I'd run with it if the unit were here.
What I've read online regarding these units is that the MMC is removable and upgradable so if there are locked partitions (boot0/boot1) they have to be either a part of mmcblk0... or they're just sharing that identifier and instead they're separate hardware. From the looks of it, there's a dozen or so screws holding the cover together and probably a dozen more plastic clips keeping it closed... I wouldn't ask someone to venture that part just to prove or disprove what I've read online.
If there's no resolution with the MMC situation, there's always almost-flush USB card readers (https://www.amazon.com/Cotchear-Super-Speed-Reader-Adapter/dp/B07HFQQ71F) which can be formatted with TinyCore in the same fashion the MMC was, and the SD card could be a matter of MB in size if necessary as we'd pass control over to the MMC after the USB was finished booting. For a couple dollars more, here's a unit (https://www.amazon.com/SUNJIANG-Super-pendrive-USB2-0-Memory/dp/B0841CNW77) that's already stuffed with 32GB -- I'm not endorsing the product(s) or company; this is strictly for photos and descriptions.
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i searched the forum for "dev/mmcblk"(no quotation marks for the search) with the Search Order set to "Most recent topics first" and there are five pages of results. some of these will be more informative, instructive, and relevant than others.
@newbieCore, have you successfully ran any other LiveUSB-system on this machine yet? Keep us posted on your progress!
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@gadget42, I refined the search pattern to "/dev/mmcblk0boot" and 2 entries were found, one of them pointing at this thread :-) and another one not related to the problem.
I am a weak googler, and found only Chromebook related links. They propose not to touch these *boot* drives. Maybe they contain the BIOS itself. Really, what for ASUS will place additional BIOS ROM chip on the mainboard if lot of memory is already present?
@newbieCore, You may try writing an image from http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,26658.0.html this thread to /dev/mmcblk0 with the help of dd utility:
sudo dd if=InstantCore.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M
It contains ready to use dual boot BIOS/UEFI filesystems with CorePlus14 and TinyCorePure64. If the case is UEFI, it may help. Just to try with low expectations.
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In fact TinyCore is the only Linux really designed for nomadic use. I mean that You don't install it to some box, but You install it to some drive (USB flash or USB HDD) and it works anywere it is possible. I've chosen TinyCore few years ago in order not to carry laptop, but carry USB flash drive. I keep it in my wallet, it is much handier :-) Laptops and desktops are spreaded over the environment almost everywhere. Chose the one You like and use!
What is Your opinion about such a concept?
It could be a nice concept, but I can't save the backup every time on the USB because it is written as read-only.
If you have a solution for this, I guess I can manage like this for now because it's very annoying to download file manager and firefox and the other programs and files every time.
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The unit IS in fact UEFI (which is what CSM support is all about - to allow a UEFI device offer legacy options to older operating systems and/or hardware devices.)
Here's what I see:
1. You have legacy (CSM) enabled - this is likely a requirement for Windows, but you may need to disable it for sys/extlinux and possibly grub
2. You have boot0 and boot1 which are VERY likely boot partitions from the original Windows installation - this we may have a slight problem with
3. For unknown reasons, you have your USB device (sda) double-partitioned (sda1 = Partition 1... which is then re-partitioned as sda1p1)
@jazzbiker: The eMMC isn't configured like a RasPi so piCore references aren't really helpful here. LOL, plus it's an Intel, not an ARM processor.
With RasPi, the system doesn't usually come preconfigured with multiple hardware partitions. With EC-9100, it does - which requires a compiled boot-loader.
The closest guess I'd be able to offer is that we'll need to install GRUB onto boot# and have IT point to mmcblk0p1. "Logic" tells me this should have been boot0, but it's looking like boot0 may not have "space" to put a boot-loader in. Let's find out, shall we?
@newbieCore: Please boot the laptop and at the shell type in fdisk /dev/mmcblk0boot0 [ENTER]; once in, press "P" to get a layout. Specifically, we want to see what it's SIZE is. (Screen shot likely helpful!!) Press "Q" to exit, then repeat the process for /dev/mmcblk0boot1 - again, a screen shot may be useful here, too, of the "P" screen.
If boot0 has "size" and enough to cram GRUB into it, that's our goal. If it doesn't, I cannot fathom why it exists in the first place. For Windows, it needs a boot partition of a few MB to install a boot loader and a menu - normally this is a single partition.
Once we have that information, reboot the laptop and go into settings -- this time, turn off CSM -- reboot again and go back into settings; you may now have new boot options. If so, please send along a screen-shot of this, too.
Hi, thanks for the detailed answer. I am attaching a screenshot of the partitions.
Regarding the CSM, when I cancel it, it doesn't change anything, it also doesn't show the usb and nothing can be uploaded.
https://ibb.co/rtQcpPS
https://ibb.co/Qr0JBnH
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Hi newbieCore
It could be a nice concept, but I can't save the backup every time on the USB because it is written as read-only.
If you have a solution for this, ...
Boot that USB and use it to install to another USB thumb drive.
When you get to step 5:
http://tinycorelinux.net/install.html#5_
Make sure you add check marks to all of the Wireless options.
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i searched the forum for "dev/mmcblk"(no quotation marks for the search) with the Search Order set to "Most recent topics first" and there are five pages of results. some of these will be more informative, instructive, and relevant than others.
@newbieCore, have you successfully ran any other LiveUSB-system on this machine yet? Keep us posted on your progress!
Yes of course, more or less every distribution I managed to go live. And Ubuntu and Windows 11, and Zorin OS were also installed in the past.
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Hi newbieCore
It could be a nice concept, but I can't save the backup every time on the USB because it is written as read-only.
If you have a solution for this, ...
Boot that USB and use it to install to another USB thumb drive.
When you get to step 5:
http://tinycorelinux.net/install.html#5_
Make sure you add check marks to all of the Wireless options.
Huh, so the goal is actually to install the system on another usb and use it as a portable hard disk.
At the moment I don't have another usb but I understood the idea.
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Hi CentralWare
I don't know if any of this helps you, but I saved some
notes from an ASUS T100 That I installed TC10 onto.
fdisk -l:
tc@E310:/mnt/sdc2/home/tc/statbackup28$ cat fdisk.txt
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT
Disk /dev/mmcblk2: 122142720 sectors, 2296M
Logical sector size: 512
Disk identifier (GUID): 8ce1ea2f-1e82-4345-84a9-850536ee32f3
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 122142686
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Name
1 2048 534527 260M EFI system partition
2 534528 567295 16.0M Microsoft reserved partition
3 567296 28534783 13.3G Basic data partition
4 121118720 122140671 499M Basic data partition
5 28534784 49272831 9.8G
6 49272832 51320831 1000M
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT
Disk /dev/sda: 1003520 sectors, 490M
Logical sector size: 512
Disk identifier (GUID): 3acb6dc7-8b32-4dbb-be6c-5e3b30efcaf9
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1003486
Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Name
1 2048 73727 35.0M Boot
2 73728 1001471 453M Linux
lsblk:
tc@E310:/mnt/sdc2/home/tc/statbackup28$ cat lsblk.txt
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 1 490M 0 disk
|-sda1 8:1 1 35M 0 part
`-sda2 8:2 1 453M 0 part
mmcblk2 179:0 0 58.2G 0 disk
|-mmcblk2p1 179:1 0 260M 0 part
|-mmcblk2p2 179:2 0 16M 0 part
|-mmcblk2p3 179:3 0 13.3G 0 part
|-mmcblk2p4 179:4 0 499M 0 part
|-mmcblk2p5 179:5 0 9.9G 0 part /mnt/mmcblk2p5
`-mmcblk2p6 179:6 0 1000M 0 part [SWAP]
mmcblk2boot0 179:8 0 4M 1 disk
mmcblk2boot1 179:16 0 4M 1 disk
Some selected entries from dmesg (complete file attached):
tc@E310:/mnt/sdc2/home/tc/statbackup28$ grep -E "mmcb|mmc[0-9]|smb|efi\:|efifb|efivar|EFI|DMI\:|smpboot" dmesg.txt
[ 0.000000] efi: EFI v2.31 by American Megatrends
[ 0.000000] efi: ACPI=0x78728000 ACPI 2.0=0x78728014 ESRT=0x797d7190 SMBIOS=0x797d7090
[ 0.000000] DMI: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. T100CHI/T100CHI, BIOS T100CHI.206 09/25/2015
[ 0.012801] ACPI: UEFI 0x0000000078DEE000 000042 (v01 _ASUS_ Notebook 00000000 00000000)
[ 0.043972] smpboot: Allowing 4 CPUs, 0 hotplug CPUs
[ 0.070389] smpboot: CPU0: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU Z3775 @ 1.46GHz (family: 0x6, model: 0x37, stepping: 0x8)
[ 0.070389] smpboot: Max logical packages: 1
[ 0.070389] smpboot: Total of 4 processors activated (11735.16 BogoMIPS)
[ 0.186740] pci 0000:00:02.0: BAR 2: assigned to efifb
[ 0.455877] Registered efivars operations
[ 1.680763] efifb: probing for efifb
[ 1.680807] efifb: framebuffer at 0x80000000, using 9024k, total 9024k
[ 1.680818] efifb: mode is 1920x1200x32, linelength=7680, pages=1
[ 1.680825] efifb: scrolling: redraw
[ 1.680834] efifb: Truecolor: size=8:8:8:8, shift=24:16:8:0
[ 1.724812] fb0: EFI VGA frame buffer device
[ 2.224891] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17
[ 2.687168] mmc0: SDHCI controller on ACPI [80860F14:01] using ADMA
[ 2.691908] mmc1: SDHCI controller on ACPI [INT33BB:00] using ADMA
[ 2.710673] mmc2: SDHCI controller on ACPI [80860F14:00] using ADMA
[ 2.751273] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (2 bytes)
[ 2.752850] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (3 bytes)
[ 2.754426] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (3 bytes)
[ 2.757201] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (7 bytes)
[ 2.793125] mmc2: new HS200 MMC card at address 0001
[ 2.821932] mmc1: new ultra high speed DDR50 SDIO card at address 0001
[ 3.078727] mmcblk2: mmc2:0001 MCG8GC 58.2 GiB
[ 3.079293] mmcblk2boot0: mmc2:0001 MCG8GC partition 1 4.00 MiB
[ 3.079917] mmcblk2boot1: mmc2:0001 MCG8GC partition 2 4.00 MiB
[ 3.080069] mmcblk2rpmb: mmc2:0001 MCG8GC partition 3 4.00 MiB, chardev (237:0)
[ 3.105108] mmcblk2: p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6
[ 4.001088] EXT4-fs (mmcblk2p5): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[ 4.104462] Adding 1023996k swap on /dev/mmcblk2p6. Priority:-2 extents:1 across:1023996k SSFS
[ 32.017235] fb: switching to inteldrmfb from EFI VGA
[ 32.384369] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (2 bytes)
[ 32.385972] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (3 bytes)
[ 32.387656] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (3 bytes)
[ 32.390621] mmc1: queuing unknown CIS tuple 0x80 (7 bytes)
[ 32.614389] brcmfmac mmc1:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43241b4-sdio.clm_blob failed with error -2
[ 32.614392] brcmfmac mmc1:0001:1: Falling back to syfs fallback for: brcm/brcmfmac43241b4-sdio.clm_blob
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Hi newbieCore!
I was not attentive enough and missed the fact that Your motherboard really has UEFI, but inactivated through disabling CSM. It is clear that CorePlus image will not boot in CSM enabled mode. But if return to my post #37 about InstantCore, I think You may download and copy it to Your eMMC in CSM-disabled mode and then reboot and try enbling CSM. InstantCore image is UEFI compatible, and I think chances it will boot are not so poor as I was expecting earlier, and You will be able to kick-start TinyCore.
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Hi newbieCore!
I was not attentive enough and missed the fact that Your motherboard really has UEFI, but inactivated through disabling CSM. It is clear that CorePlus image will not boot in CSM enabled mode. But if return to my post #37 about InstantCore, I think You may download and copy it to Your eMMC in CSM-disabled mode and then reboot and try enbling CSM. InstantCore image is UEFI compatible, and I think chances it will boot are not so poor as I was expecting earlier, and You will be able to kick-start TinyCore.
Ok, now we're talking.
Unbelievable but it worked and it installed the tinycore installation on another partition. How do I move forward from here?
https://ibb.co/2WTTM59
https://ibb.co/tqFcfSL
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Nice!
The 2nd screenshot is the boot menu for TinyCorePure64 (1st and 2nd options), another options correspond to CorePlus, they look different but are the same as for CorePlus. You may choose any of them and continue exploring TinyCore.
Warning! When I was preparing InstantCore I was not aware of eMMC drives. In description I propose to boot into "base+inflate" and expand the drive space. Please don't do this yet, I need to think a little about changes for inflate.sh. All another options are under Your control, You may load and install extensions, but please not so much, because Your free disk space is limited - until the image will be inflated, but I am not ready yet.
I think You'd continue with those boot option which You already used.
If You'd succeed in connecting to internet from the fresh installation, I'd ask You to share the output of some comaands, which will be necessary for inflate.sh correction.
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After You will boot Your brand new TinyCore can You please share
cat /proc/cmdline
and
fdisk -l
Good luck!
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Nice!
The 2nd screenshot is the boot menu for TinyCorePure64 (1st and 2nd options), another options correspond to CorePlus, they look different but are the same as for CorePlus. You may choose any of them and continue exploring TinyCore.
Warning! When I was preparing InstantCore I was not aware of eMMC drives. In description I propose to boot into "base+inflate" and expand the drive space. Please don't do this yet, I need to think a little about changes for inflate.sh. All another options are under Your control, You may load and install extensions, but please not so much, because Your free disk space is limited - until the image will be inflated, but I am not ready yet.
I think You'd continue with those boot option which You already used.
If You'd succeed in connecting to internet from the fresh installation, I'd ask You to share the output of some comaands, which will be necessary for inflate.sh correction.
Hi, I always upload live the third option (works best with coreplus with flwm). I noticed that there is not much space on the disk, I could not install Firefox lol.
In any case, I did not understand how I proceed from here to a total installation or to a USB installation.
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Nice!
The 2nd screenshot is the boot menu for TinyCorePure64 (1st and 2nd options), another options correspond to CorePlus, they look different but are the same as for CorePlus. You may choose any of them and continue exploring TinyCore.
Warning! When I was preparing InstantCore I was not aware of eMMC drives. In description I propose to boot into "base+inflate" and expand the drive space. Please don't do this yet, I need to think a little about changes for inflate.sh. All another options are under Your control, You may load and install extensions, but please not so much, because Your free disk space is limited - until the image will be inflated, but I am not ready yet.
I think You'd continue with those boot option which You already used.
If You'd succeed in connecting to internet from the fresh installation, I'd ask You to share the output of some comaands, which will be necessary for inflate.sh correction.
I didn’t found the core.gz file under boot folder.
https://ibb.co/K0MLN68
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Oops, firefox is huge with deps, I am to adjust InstantCore size to be ready for firefox :-)
Though You can not install firfox yet, can You please share the output of the commands I asked in my previous post?
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I didn’t found the core.gz file under boot folder.
A little bit deeper You will find vmlinuz (the kernel) modules.gz and rootfs.gz. All of them present in 64 versions too.
core.gz = modules.gz + rootfs.gz
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In any case, I did not understand how I proceed from here to a total installation or to a USB installation.
You already working from Your eMMC drive.
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Oops, firefox is huge with deps, I am to adjust InstantCore size to be ready for firefox :-)
Though You can not install firfox yet, can You please share the output of the commands I asked in my previous post?
https://ibb.co/2YBFFX1
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In any case, I did not understand how I proceed from here to a total installation or to a USB installation.
You already working from Your eMMC drive.
True, but it is still considered a live and not a full installation, so if I reboot, nothing will still be saved for me, isn't that right?
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No, it is fully functional filesystem. Extensions You load are saved in tce14/optional, Your /home can be backed up with the help of
filetool.sh -b
and the next boot will be restored.
By the way, it would be better to disconnect You USB flash drive, it is not necessary but may be useful further.
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Please, a few more commands:
ls /mnt
and
blkid /dev/mmcblk0*
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No, it is fully functional filesystem. Extensions You load are saved in tce14/optional, Your /home can be backed up with the help of
filetool.sh -b
and the next boot will be restored.
By the way, it would be better to disconnect You USB flash drive, it is not necessary but may be useful further.
Ok, and how can I restore them after the reboot? And in addition, how do I expand the disk space?
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Your backup is restored by default. You can suppress restore with the bootcode "norestore".
I need to correct inflate.sh and I need the output of the commands I've asked.
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Please, a few more commands:
ls /mnt
and
blkid /dev/mmcblk0*
https://ibb.co/brGcSMG
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Your backup is restored by default. You can suppress restore with the bootcode "norestore".
I need to correct inflate.sh and I need the output of the commands I've asked.
Unfortunately it is not, I installed spacefm for example and after a reboot it is not found.
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Try
tce-load -i spacefm
and check
ls /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/optional/space*
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What the commands from previous post shown? Was spacefm found in tce14 directory?
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@Rich, what's Your opinion, is eMMC suited to handle the swap partition? We are going to inflate the filesystem and if eMMC is able to survive swap we need to create swap first.
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What the commands from previous post shown? Was spacefm found in tce14 directory?
Yes you are right.
https://ibb.co/zXpXSZ5
So every time I will have to reinstall the extensions?
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So every time I will have to reinstall the extensions?
If You want them to load by default You need to add their names to the .lst file currently used. If You load and install with "-wi" options it is performed for You by tce-load. These are TinyCore basics, You need to read more.
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So every time I will have to reinstall the extensions?
If You want them to load by default You need to add their names to the .lst file currently used. If You load and install with "-wi" options it is performed for You by tce-load. These are TinyCore basics, You need to read more.
Oh ok I got it, thank you very much for the explanations and help and sorry for my lack of knowledge.
Hope my stupid questions don't annoy you too much haha.
One last question regarding the disk space, how should I expand it?
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Don't worry, those features are present in TinyCore only.
Before expanding the filesystem we may create the swap partition. Frankly speaking I am not sure should we create it or not. Usually flash media is not recommended for usage as swap. Can we wait until someone will help us to answer this question? I don't feel quite sure I know the correct answer. In my opinion flash is not well suited for swap partitions. But maybe eMMC can handle it?
I understand that You want to continue as soon as possible, but if we will proceed now, then creating swap in the future will demand additional steps.
So what's on Your mind, let's continue without swap or will wait until someone will help us?
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Hi jazzbiker
In my book, swap is there as a safety valve to prevent apps
from being killed unexpectedly due to Out of Memory errors.
It's not there to compensate for insufficient RAM by constantly
shuffling data in and out of swap space.
So yes, I think the eMMC is suited to handle the swap partition.
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So yes, I think the eMMC is suited to handle the swap partition.
Thank You very much for an advice! We'll try to continue.
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@newbieCore
So let's create the swap partition on Your eMMC drive. Are You online through the smartphone? We will need to boot to "base+resize".
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So what's on Your mind, let's continue without swap or will wait until someone will help us?
Hi jazzbiker. Even though eMMC is suited to handle a swap partition as Rich pointed out, by default TCL creates a zram device to use for swap. If you run cat /etc/fstab you'll see that /dev/zram0 is being used for swap. This default behavior can be turned off with the nozswap bootcode.
For what it's worth, my strategy has always been to make sure I have an adequate amount of RAM and doing without a swap partition. I allow the default TCL behavior of using zram for swap even though I don't think I need it.
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Hi GNUser!
newbieCore's box is equipped with 2G of RAM if I am not mistaken. Maybe half-gig of zswap will be enough without additional swap partition ... So You think newbieCore will be able to surf using firefox without big problems?
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newbieCore's box is equipped with 2G of RAM if I am not mistaken. Maybe half-gig of zswap will be enough without additional swap partition ... So You think newbieCore will be able to surf using firefox without big problems?
I run Firefox with 2GB RAM and zswap, without a swap partition. It works well enough for my usage (I'm not someone who keeps hundreds of tabs loaded, and I never wish to watch videos in it). The zswap isn't often used.
I don't put swap partitions on eMMC or other light-duty flash storage for fear of accidentally wearing it out quickly. Writes to it are also slow, so unlikely to perform as well as a swap partition on a HDD, and flash writes can have more unpredictable delays too. I do consider it OK to use swap "to compensate for insufficient RAM" when the need is only rare though. Compiling big software is a key example (actually linking is where it's really needed, frustratingly right at the end of the build process).
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newbieCore's box is equipped with 2G of RAM if I am not mistaken. Maybe half-gig of zswap will be enough without additional swap partition ... So You think newbieCore will be able to surf using firefox without big problems?
Hi jazzbiker. On my system, RAM usage is about 500-550 MB when running a GUI web browser (Brave). If I also open Thunderbird, memory usage jumps up to about 700 MB. If I add Libreoffice, RAM usage peaks around 800 MB.
So 2 GB RAM plus zswap is likely enough for everyday tasks, but probably not enough for some memory-intensive tasks such as compilation.
I didn't realize that he has only 2 GB RAM. With 2 GB I might consider setting up a swap partition. With 8 GB (which is what I have), I don't setup a swap partition. Ultimately it's a matter of preference. I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that TCL uses zram for swap by default.
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@CNK, @GNUser, thanks for Your opinions! Adding @Rich opinion on eMMC I may try to summarize that:
1. Even without swap (with zswap only) 2G of RAM is enough to perform everyday not-heavy tasks.
2. eMMC is capable to be the swap media.
3. In-memory zswap aided by the filesystem swap will allow to avoid OOM events even for memory-hungry applications.
The good news are I don't see strict NOs. So any option (without swap, with swap) is acceptable and usable.
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Hi all
It looks like I'm a bit late to the party.
@Rich, what's Your opinion, is eMMC suited to handle the swap partition? We are going to inflate the filesystem and if eMMC is able to survive swap we need to create swap first.
IMO, setting up a swap partition on eMMC is still a bad idea.
A FLASH is a FLASH, even if it's a bit MORE durable than a SD card.
I'd rather get an old 8G USB2 pendrive and treat the whole as swap.
When it wears out, you get another, the old one goes to the bin.
Performance-wise speaking
2G is OK for an experienced linux user, but for a newbie, I'd say 4G is safer.
On raspberry pi 4G, I can handle daily web browsing just fine.
If I'm compiling stuff, I plug in my 8G USB swap stick and give it a little patience.
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Hi polikuo!
Hi all
It looks like I'm a bit late to the party.
@Rich, what's Your opinion, is eMMC suited to handle the swap partition? We are going to inflate the filesystem and if eMMC is able to survive swap we need to create swap first.
IMO, setting up a swap partition on eMMC is still a bad idea.
A FLASH is a FLASH, even if it's a bit MORE durable than a SD card.
I'd rather get an old 8G USB2 pendrive and treat the whole as swap.
When it wears out, you get another, the old one goes to the bin.
Performance-wise speaking
2G is OK for an experienced linux user, but for a newbie, I'd say 4G is safer.
On raspberry pi 4G, I can handle daily web browsing just fine.
If I'm compiling stuff, I plug in my 8G USB swap stick and give it a little patience.
Better late than never! Especially if You join the party with such great ideas!
External disposable swap - it made my year! I think it is extraordinary fresh and fascinating!
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@newbieCore: I'm glad to hear you've made it into the MMC (turning off CSM) - three entire pages of forum comments since my last visit :)
@newbieCore, You may try writing an image from http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,26658.0.html this thread to /dev/mmcblk0 with the help of dd utility:
sudo dd if=InstantCore.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M
It contains ready to use dual boot BIOS/UEFI filesystems with CorePlus14 and TinyCorePure64. If the case is UEFI, it may help. Just to try with low expectations.
@jazzbiker: Please refrain from up-selling third party custom releases of Tiny Core Linux on the Tiny Core Linux forum (such as your "Instant Core" as you've named it); this forum is focused on the content found strictly within repo.tinycorelinux.net; when you create your own custom "version" of TinyCore and make changes to how our packages install and/or operate, it makes it difficult, if not impossible for us to "support" end users as this now falls on your lap - and preferably your website and domain. Please understand, also, that we have no way to babysit every package that has ever been created by users; thus we have no way to ascertain whether or not "Instant Core" is properly functional, or whether it's infested with errors, virus' or trojans, etc. (Not saying you would -- but we have no way to prove that to users like @newbieCore and we cannot be held liable for malicious damages.)
@Rich, @curaga, @Paul_123: Need your $0.02 here.
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@newbieCore
So let's create the swap partition on Your eMMC drive. Are You online through the smartphone? We will need to boot to "base+resize".
So I understand that swap is not such a good idea?
What next?
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@newbieCore: I'm glad to hear you've made it into the MMC (turning off CSM) - three entire pages of forum comments since my last visit :)
@newbieCore, You may try writing an image from http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,26658.0.html this thread to /dev/mmcblk0 with the help of dd utility:
sudo dd if=InstantCore.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M
It contains ready to use dual boot BIOS/UEFI filesystems with CorePlus14 and TinyCorePure64. If the case is UEFI, it may help. Just to try with low expectations.
@jazzbiker: Please refrain from up-selling third party custom releases of Tiny Core Linux on the Tiny Core Linux forum (such as your "Instant Core" as you've named it); this forum is focused on the content found strictly within repo.tinycorelinux.net; when you create your own custom "version" of TinyCore and make changes to how our packages install and/or operate, it makes it difficult, if not impossible for us to "support" end users as this now falls on your lap - and preferably your website and domain. Please understand, also, that we have no way to babysit every package that has ever been created by users; thus we have no way to ascertain whether or not "Instant Core" is properly functional, or whether it's infested with errors, virus' or trojans, etc. (Not saying you would -- but we have no way to prove that to users like @newbieCore and we cannot be held liable for malicious damages.)
@Rich, @curaga, @Paul_123: Need your $0.02 here.
I understand the risk in that.
Thank you for the clarification.
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I see that communicating with @newbieCore I am violating something I don' t understand.
@CentralWare, is it allowed for us with @newbieCore to exchange with personal contacts?
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I see that communicating with @newbieCore I am violating something I don' t understand.
@CentralWare, is it allowed for us with @newbieCore to exchange with personal contacts?
Well I see this
1. Load into "base+resize". You will see clear command line prompt.
2. Run "inflate.sh" script.
3. Reboot and continue with the full drive capacity accessible.
Do you recommend doing this or the swap or zswap or something else first?
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Hi newbieCore!
I think we are not allowed to continue in this thread, because we are discussing so dangerous things, that @CentralWare requested all developers intervention.
If we will be allowed by @CentralWare we may continue using another resources, preferably email. In case we will be allowed to share our contacts.
@CentralWare, can You please give an answer? Are we with @newbieCore allowed to select another way to discuss the problem? Just one word - yes or no.
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Hi jazzbiker
You can PM.
You can email.
If you are discussing things which are Tinycore related, such as:
boot codes, onboot.lst, bootlocal.sh, persistence, extensions, etc.
that are not unique to your remaster, I see no reason those can't
continue here.
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@jazzbiker, @newbieCore: YES, by all means! (sorry, more than one word!)
I see that communicating with @newbieCore I am violating something I don' t understand.
NO, communication isn't a problem in the least.
Actively promoting a remaster ON the forum as a replacement for the Tiny Core Linux project can become a problem, which I hope you understand why.
Let's say the next X number of people to stop by find your link and install your remaster instead of the real Core project... and let's imply there are problems... who do you think THEY will expect support from?
You? Or the development and maintenance team from Tiny Core Linux which is what's at the top of the website they're looking at?
"I'm sorry, sir... the release you installed is not supported..." "...What do you mean it's not supported, I got it FROM you people - see, it's right here on your forum!!"
It doesn't end well.
Suggestion 1: If you feel strongly that your remaster is superior in any way, put together a website (there's plenty of free hosting services out there, so it doesn't even cost you anything) and describe your remaster accordingly; leave note on the site indicating it's not a TCL release, but instead an "awesome custom remaster" (how ever you want it worded) but that it's not affiliated with the Tiny Core Linux project AND offer your own contact information for if/when someone runs into trouble. Avoid creating links to this forum - it's an SEO nightmare. Instead, you're welcome to create links such as "...for more information on the Tiny Core Linux project, click here (http://www.tinycorelinux.net)" -- that sort of direction, as long as you're not pretending to BE Tiny Core Linux or otherwise directly associated.
Return here to the initial thread you created regarding its release and update that thread with your website's URL. In doing so, you cover the necessary bases and you've made it perfectly clear to someone downloading it that this is your project (a PORT of Tiny Core, so to speak.) As long as the remaster still maintains the forum requirements (ie: spamming, marketing, abuse, piracy - all those types of issues) I don't mind in the least that you try to help people out using it -- as long as they are aware that it's your remaster... up front.
LEGALLY speaking, website and other similar trade-marked or identification based graphics should not be reused on third party websites without expressed, written permission... blah... blah... you'll want to come up with a fresh new look for "Instant Core" anyway.
Suggestion 2: If you really want to maintain a port of this project, here's a recommendation that works in your favor by limiting the amount of work that has to go into it:
- Download and extract the full TinyCore package that suits what you're building from
- Take all the files you've altered/created/etc. and create instant.gz (CPIO)
- Update extlinux.conf: APPEND: /boot/core.gz,/boot/instant.gz
- Repackage and upload to Google Drive
If you do things in this fashion, people can separate your work from TCL, verify core.gz is in fact untouched and if they wanted to check to ensure your efforts were clean and genuine, a look inside instant.gz makes it easy to do (without having to scan/scour a modified core.gz or root/modules.gz) Also, when there's a new release (15.x for example) your "upgrade" is tremendously simple by merely updating extlinux.conf's APPEND line and repackaging.
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Hi CentralWare
,,, Repackage and upload to Google Drive ...
His remaster is already on Google Drive.
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... Repackage and upload to Google Drive ...
His remaster is already on Google Drive.
Correct; thus why it was mentioned specifically - he noted it in his initial thread (https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,26658.msg171758.html#msg171758).
My list was basically 1) Download/extract, 2) Attach instant.gz (his content), 3) Repackage .iso, .img, etc. and 4) Re-upload to GDrive -- which he'd be able to relate to.