Tiny Core Linux
dCore Import Debian Packages to Mountable SCE extensions => dCore X86 => Topic started by: NarakuITA on August 15, 2024, 05:05:10 PM
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Hello everyone, I am writing because I was advised to try this operating system. I have tried others and more or less they have worked, but not completely.
I am trying to revive my old Toshiba satellite pro 4600 with 512mb of ram with Windows 2000.
I am not a Linux expert, and I would need your help to install Tiny Core. I need to be guided, step by step, precisely because of my inexperience, but confident in learning. I have already created an installation CD.
However, unlike other distributions, I can not find the command to start the installation.
The biggest and most difficult step is to install the Belkin Wi-Fi card (Wireless G Netbook Card) Model: f5d7010.
I await help. Thank you very much!
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The wiki provides installation instructions.
Without Linux knowledge I think your best approach is to create a bootable cd from windows as all other methods are more complicated.
If you created such cd, you need to insert cd, turn off computer, restart.
It than should “boot from the cd”. (Boot = starts using software from….).
If it still uses the original software you will need to boot into bios and change boot order to give cd priority (Google to find out how).
With that said……
I would highly advice to first read all info on the homepage: welcome, installation, concepts and also the book.
Tinycore is not a clear cut solution, you will need Linux knowledge, you will need to be able to solve problems.
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Your wifi card appears to be one of the difficult Broadcom ones where you have to use the Windows drivers via ndiswrapper on Linux. That's quite complex for a beginner, perhaps buy a better supported card.
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@NarakuITA: I would recommend looking to purchase an inexpensive USB dongle that's more likely going to take a good deal of stress from the process of resurrecting your laptop.
Here are two examples for a 2.5ghz (https://www.amazon.com/wifi-adapter-usb-pc-network/dp/B008IFXQFU/) and 5.0ghz (https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Mini-Wireless-Supports-10-9-10-14/dp/B07PB1X4CN/) flush dongles which came up on Amazon in the first few results which are reasonably priced and should be compatible with today's newer kernels.
Depending on which x86 CD you created, you MAY or MAY NOT have a grey, round icon near the bottom right of your toolbar called TC-Install. If you do not, I THINK it's included in the CorePlus x86 CD image but I'm not 100% certain without looking manually. TC-Install is the easiest method to install Tiny Core Linux onto the laptop's hard drive.
Once you have an operational internet connection (Ethernet comes onboard - T100 speed if memory serves) or any kind of wireless connection, you can then use the APPS program to download and install tc-install. Once installed onto the laptop, you'll then want to search for and install support for PCMCIA, ACPID and if memory serves, you should find a TRIDENT graphics driver in the archives. If you still have Windows installed on it right now, open the Device Manager and see whose chipset exists for the Ethernet - I think it's Intel but it's been forever since I've physically seen one. If so, you'll want to also install Intel's E1000/PRO100 networking support if it's not already in the core. During that age, Sound Blaster and a thousand SB clones was audio's way to do things, so I'd speculate SB is already in the core, so you'll want to install ALSA and its mixer if you want sound. I do remember the touchpad being really flaky, though.
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did a quick rough www search via DDG and found:
https://www.roe.ac.uk/~hme/tosh4600/index.html
might be of some help perhaps
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A friend had a Toshiba she wanted to give to her daughter, without buying Windows. I tried Mint, which wouldn't fix the wifi problem. A later version of Mint did. My problem solved.
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Thanks for the replies.
So let's get started. TC-Install installer I find through the APPS program. By chance, I happened to see a video on YouTube that explained this.
Regarding the Wi-Fi card, there is no need to buy anything else. Although this card may be difficult to install, I want to specify whether it was installed automatically under the Q4OS operating system. However the operating system is too heavy.
I tried Slitaz and after several attempts, with the help of an expert, I managed to make this wi-fi card work by installing the "b43-firmware.tazpkg" package, first removing the one present in the system "b43-fwcutter" which was not compatible.
The problem is that even though this system was very light, it gave me other problems, like Q4OS, such as the problem of reading floppy disks, and the difficulty of playing DVD movies, which freeze or block, as if the PC wasn't able to play the video because it wasn't powerful enough, a problem I don't have with Windows 2000. In fact, it is capable of playing films with InterVideo WinDVD, without problems.
Among the real tips I came here to try to bypass many problems with this lightweight Linux distribution.
My PC consists of an Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection card
You know the Wi-Fi card.
Audio device: Yamaha AC-XG Audio device.
Infrared: SMC IrCC - Fast infrared Port.
CPU 750mhz
you can see everything else from the manufacturer:
https://support.dynabook.com/support/modelHome?freeText=1073792275
The page provided by gadget42 is also useful : https://www.roe.ac.uk/~hme/tosh4600/index.html
Having said all this, do you think I can proceed with the installation?
I forgot, is it possible to install the Italian language?
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I forgot, I downloaded the 21 MB TinyCore version, is it possible to change the keyboard layout as well as the language?
Of the three versions available, which one do you recommend I download?
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Hi NarakuITA
I would recommend using the CorePlus version. It includes
tc-install-GUI as well as most of the wireless firmware and
driver extensions.
When the boot menu comes up, hit enter to use the default.
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Hi NarakuITA
I would recommend using the CorePlus version. It includes
tc-install-GUI as well as most of the wireless firmware and
driver extensions.
When the boot menu comes up, hit enter to use the default.
OK perfect. Now a question When starting the CD there are many options, which one should I choose?
I want to format everything and only install Tiny.
Should I choose the first option?
Boot Core with X/GUI (TinyCore) + Install Extension
or
Boot Core with X/GUI (TinyCore) + Wifi Extension
Boot Core with X/GUI (TinyCore) + Wifi + Firmware?
or another option?
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see here: http://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/install.html
What I did:
- install with what I thought I would need
- use for some time to understand what I really needed
- re-install with what I really needed.
I started with th plus but as I do not need wifi I replaced that by base later.
One recommendation I have (the way I did)
create 2 partitions:
- 1 for tiny core
- 1 "working directory"
The "working directory" is NOT my home, I have a non-persistent home.
Its just the directory where I have most of my data.
The benefit:
- now partition 1 is quite clean. It has tiny core and all extensions. it also has the backup for home, settings and opt (everything in .filetool.lst).
- partition 2 is fully customised.
IF in future I upgrade to a newer tiny core I just have to make sure to copy the backup file and the tce directory. to partition2.
Than I can install with a formatting of partition 1 again.
To do this:
- format disk with disk first to create the 2 partitions.
- in the installer select "partition" instead of "whole disk"
on a 8G flashdrive I have reserved 4G on both partitions. If it would need to fit on 1 G I would do 700M/300M.
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Sorry for my ignorance. But what is the option that allows me to install everything? as you said first you installed everything then, after you reinstalled only what you needed. being inexperienced for now I try to install everything.
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Hi NarakuITA
When the CD boots, a (blue ?) menu will come up, Hit enter
so it boots the default configuration.
When running the install utility:
http://tinycorelinux.net/install.html
At step 3 pick ext4.
At step 5 pick Core and X/GUI Desktop, select all of the checkboxes.
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Hi NarakuITA
When the CD boots, a (blue ?) menu will come up, Hit enter
so it boots the default configuration.
When running the install utility:
http://tinycorelinux.net/install.html
At step 3 pick ext4.
At step 5 pick Core and X/GUI Desktop, select all of the checkboxes.
Perfect, I understand. Question how do I create a swap partition?
In the Boot options Reference list, I noticed a command:
Swapfile{=hda1} is this the command to specify how much swap to have? I would like to add 1GB of swap, what should I do?
To change the language and the keyboard to Italian, just write:
lang=it and kmap=it??
I was reading application installation persistence needs to use commands:
home={hda1|sda1} and local={hda1|sda1}? What exactly should I write?
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Step 4,
In the white line you can specify the boot options separated by space.
If you have pre made partitions in step 1 you will have a choice sda1, sda2, sda3… or sdb1, sdx2, sdb3,… or other name.
If you did whole dis ar step 1 you only can choose sda1, sdb1 ot other name. You know the name as the disk name is shown in step 1.
Note: you can change these later in the tce/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf file
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Step 4,
In the white line you can specify the boot options separated by space.
If you have pre made partitions in step 1 you will have a choice sda1, sda2, sda3… or sdb1, sdx2, sdb3,… or other name.
If you did whole dis ar step 1 you only can choose sda1, sdb1 ot other name. You know the name as the disk name is shown in step 1.
Note: you can change these later in the tce/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf file
I think there is a problem with this distribution. Does not format.
Gets stuck on formatting.
It makes the disk unreadable for me, but does not complete the formatting. There is no error, no error is displayed. But after 10 minutes, nothing happens. The disk is also small 15GB. With other distributions no problem. They format which is a beauty.
What can I do?
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With other distributions no problem. They format which is a beauty.
giving more details on your successes with these other distros might provide helpful
which have you tried successfully?
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With other distributions no problem. They format which is a beauty.
giving more details on your successes with these other distros might provide helpful
which have you tried successfully?
The distributions that I have installed without problems are Slitaz and Q4OS. They formatted and installed everything without any problems.
I would like to specify that as a disk, there is an IDE adapter with a Compact Flash, this is to make reading and writing faster than the mechanical disk. It shouldn't be a problem, because in the past Windows 95 to Windows 2000 installed without problems. As installed the two Linux distributions without problems too.
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So, I solved it via GParted. I created two partitions one to install Tiny Core and the other swap. Installation completed and reboot.
Here's the first problem, it doesn't boot, even though I selected to install the Bootloader, it doesn't seem to have it installed. How do you install it so that the operating system can boot? For now I have to use what I have on the floppy.
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Should boot.
Is bootorder in bios correct?
The only other thing I can think of is that the “disk clean” was incomplete.
You could try to thorowly whipe it with fdisk.
create new partition table with the o command
After that create new partitions
The install tool itself works pretty good in my experience.
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I am not very experienced with fdisk. I struggled to understand how it works. I deleted everything and formatted. I did not create a swap partition because I do not know how. However, the problem persists. So I resumed gparted and entered two partitions for the operating system and swap. If I remember correctly Slitaz uses Grub as the bootloader and has no problems
Maybe I should try puppy linux, maybe it's simpler... I don't know...
I don't know which Linux operating system is best for this PC.
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Well,…
Tbh… it’s not completely clear “what works and what not”.
In earlier posts you say you get the screens from the installer gui so I assume you have tiny core operational from a removable media?
If that is true: the installer in my experience creates a bootable disk, including bootloader and all. So.. if it does not boot next step is to check that the bios is configured from the media you try to boot from.
If not:
I don’t understand how you format your disk (if you have no os running how would you do that?).
And.. if you not use the tinycore install application you will need to manually create a bootsector and write master bootrecord and/or manually install and configure grub or syslinux.
Getting such manual bootloader working is quite a trick. It took me a full weekend to achieve that. It very much depends what existing is you use to create the bootable disk. Linux or windows.
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So I'll leave it for now. Maybe I jumped too quickly into a complex operating system for beginners. I need to get some experience first.
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So... Before you try to abandon the possibility of installing the system. I gave it one last try! And it was successful.
Using GParted from another linux distribution. I created an ext4 partition and a swap. After that, on the partition where I install Tiny, I set a flag, "Boot". I installed everything and the operating system now boots!
Now, here I need help because I can't do it alone, or the commands I enter are incorrect.
I need to set the keyboard to Italian and if there is a localization, I would like to set the language to Italian.
Once this is done, is it possible to install a simpler, Windows-style interface?
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Which version did you install?
In order to have additional keyboards you need to install the plus version.
The standard windows manager is fwlm, the plus version gives you a choice of others. Still you cannot ‘just expect it to be like Microsoft windows”, tinycore website gives information which windows managers are available. (I use the base version that only has fwlm).
Now you have a working version you can easily install a different version using the onboard installer. That works like a charm. If it’s currently on harddisk I would not touch that but from there install on a usb and boot from usb. Once you have made multiple usb that can boot you can from that usb install agin on harddisk the version you want (and have multiple usb to go back to as backup)
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All versions can have the same features, it's just a matter of what is bundled. For keymaps, use kmaps.tcz if using defaults or Xorg configuration if using that. The FAQ has some info.
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I have a permissions problem, even though I am root, every operation or modification of a file is denied to me, due to lack of permissions. Why?
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Hi NarakuITA
You don't mention which files you are trying to modify, so I
will attempt to make an educated guess.
You are trying to modify a file provided by an extension you installed.
Extensions are created on a squashfs, which is a read only file system.
The file you are trying to modify is likely a link to the file in the extension
You need to replace that link with a copy of the file from that extension.
This is the general command to accomplish that:
sudo busybox cp /Path/To/Link/LinkName /Path/To/Link/
Here is an actual example:
Let's say you want to modify /usr/local/etc/init.d/nfs-client
Which is provided by nfs-utils.tcz
You would use this command:
sudo busybox cp /tmp/nfs-utils/usr/local/etc/init.d/nfs-client /usr/local/etc/init.d/
So you are always copying from /tmp/ExtensionName/ ... / ... / ...
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Thanks for the tip. So I'm having trouble keeping the changes permanently.
I followed this guide: https://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/doku.php?id=wiki:passwd
But when I reboot the password is always reset!
I also downloaded kmaps.tcz and set the command on bootsync.sh:
loadkmap < /usr/share/kmap/qwerty/it.kmapBut when I reboot the keyboard is always in American and the changes to the file are gone.
What important step am I missing?
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Thanks for the tip. So I'm having trouble keeping the changes permanently.
I followed this guide: https://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/doku.php?id=wiki:passwd
But when I reboot the password is always reset!
I also downloaded kmaps.tcz and set the command on bootsync.sh:
loadkmap < /usr/share/kmap/qwerty/it.kmapBut when I reboot the keyboard is always in American and the changes to the file are gone.
What important step am I missing?
Ok, I solved the problem. Keyboard and password set and working.
Question is it normal that on the terminal the characters such as: à, è, ò are not displayed? If I write on the notepad, yes, no problem, but on the terminal a question mark appears in their place.
The only problem I found is the @, if I type the key sequence "Alt Gr+@" it is not written.
Question is it possible to set the operating system language to Italian?
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You would need to use a different terminal program such as rxvt or gnome-terminal to see â, é, etc.
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You would need to use a different terminal program such as rxvt or gnome-terminal to see â, é, etc.
Ok, that's fine. I'll try.
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Which version did you install?
In order to have additional keyboards you need to install the plus version.
The standard windows manager is fwlm, the plus version gives you a choice of others. Still you cannot ‘just expect it to be like Microsoft windows”, tinycore website gives information which windows managers are available. (I use the base version that only has fwlm).
Now you have a working version you can easily install a different version using the onboard installer. That works like a charm. If it’s currently on harddisk I would not touch that but from there install on a usb and boot from usb. Once you have made multiple usb that can boot you can from that usb install agin on harddisk the version you want (and have multiple usb to go back to as backup)
I managed to install IceWM and start it at boot. However, I can't change the language. I also don't understand if it's normal, the IceWM bar appears at the top but the default one is underneath.
Can anyone tell me how to install it and set it up properly?
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this might help with icewm overall, but didn't see much specifically regarding language:
https://ice-wm.org/manual/
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You would need to use a different terminal program such as rxvt or gnome-terminal to see â, é, etc.
I tried other terminals. Same problem.
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Hi NarakuITA
See if reading through this thread helps any:
https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,24862.0.html