Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Base => CorePlus => Topic started by: patildah on October 03, 2025, 07:00:06 PM

Title: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: patildah on October 03, 2025, 07:00:06 PM

I've been looking online for a bit but haven't quite figured this out yet. When booting into the usb with Tinycoreplus on my main computer (more modern) I can boot into the desktop just fine, and everything appears to work. However, when I boot on my 2011 Macbook, textmode works but I cant get into the desktop environment. I am booting like this is in grub:

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set root=(hd0)
linux /boot/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/core.gz
boot

The desktop environment is there and working on my other pc, and the usb is bootable on my other pc with 0 issues via bios. But nothing here.
I've also tried startx but it gave nothing too. How do I get into the desktop environment so I can install?

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Juanito on October 04, 2025, 02:17:44 AM

What version of CorePlus are you using?

Are you trying to start Xvesa, Xfbdev or Xorg-7.7?

Which window manager are you trying to use?

Do you see an error message?

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: patildah on October 04, 2025, 01:56:48 PM

I am using the current version,  I downloaded the CorePlus-current.iso file 1 to 2 days ago. Forgot to mention I used unetbootin, which loaded the unetbootin interface on my newer computer but not the older computer. (I also switched to using the dd command instead but that didn't fix anything)

Would I start Xvesa or the other options with tce-load?

I think i'm trying to use flwm as a window manager.

I don't see any errors when booting and i can get to

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tc@box:~$

just fine

Sorry i'm kind of new to this, i've used linux before but i'm kind of lost here.

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Juanito on October 04, 2025, 02:13:24 PM

What does tce-status -i give?

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: patildah on October 04, 2025, 03:04:03 PM

tce-status -i doesn't return anything.

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Juanito on October 04, 2025, 06:19:39 PM

That means no extensions are loaded.

Does this bring up the gui:

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tce-load -i Xvesa flwm aterm wbar
startx


Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: patildah on October 04, 2025, 07:56:11 PM

That didn't bring up the gui. Running that only gave back this result:

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Xvesa.tcz not found!

I also ran every parameter seperately, each time it said

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xxxxx.tcz not found

where xxxxx is the name of the file.

I also tried to run startx even after the error popped up and it said

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-sh: startx: not found

should i maybe reflash the drive?

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Rich on October 04, 2025, 08:20:44 PM

Hi patildah
What does this command return:

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ls -l /etc/sysconfig/tcedir

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: patildah on October 04, 2025, 08:38:24 PM

hello!
running that returns

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lrwxrwxrwx     1 root     root         8 Oct 4 23:47 /etc/sysconfig/tcedir -> /tmp/tcc/


Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Rich on October 04, 2025, 08:57:13 PM

Hi patildah
It's not finding and mounting your USB drive. That command should
have returned something similar to this:

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tc@E310:~$ ls -l /etc/sysconfig/tcedir
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 May 22 04:12 /etc/sysconfig/tcedir -> /mnt/sda1/tce
I think you need to add a  waitusb=5  boot code:

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linux /boot/vmlinuz waitusb=5

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: patildah on October 04, 2025, 11:57:03 PM

Hello

It is now loading my usb after giving it some wait time, but this still hasn't fixed it somehow. Rerunning the commands previously it still cannot find Xvesa.tcz. Rerunning this:

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ls -l /etc/sysconfig/tcedir
still gives this

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lrwxrwxrwx     1 root     root         8 Oct 5 03:43 /etc/sysconfig/tcedir -> /tmp/tcc/

I checked all the mount folders (sda1,sda2,sdb,sdb1,sr0) and all of them appeared empty after I ran ls on them, same with /tmp/tce. I tried giving it 20 seconds of wait time and it didnt find anything either.

Also I apologize that this is taking so long :( a lot of the other forums solutions seemed so simple

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Rich on October 05, 2025, 07:38:47 AM

Hi patildah
I just remembered you are trying to boot the ISO, so the extensions
are in a directory called cde. I think you also need to add a  cde  boot code:

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linux /boot/vmlinuz waitusb=5 cde

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: patildah on October 05, 2025, 10:38:38 AM

That got me further, now im at:

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failed in waitforX

I looked through some other forums and running

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cat ~/.xsession
got me:

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Xvesa -br -screen 1024x768x32 -shadow -Zbutton -mouse /dev/input/mice,5 -nolisten tcp -I >/dev/null Z>&1 &
export XPID=$!
waitforX || ! echo failed in waitforX || exit
"$DESKTOP" Z>/tmp/wm_errors &
export WM_PID=$!
[  -x $HOME/.setbackground ] && $HOME/.setbackground
[  -x $HOME/.mouse_config ] && $HOME/,mouse_config &
[ $(which "$ICONS".sh)  ]  && ${ICONS}.sh &
[  -d "/usr/local/etc/X.d"  ] && find "/usr/local/etc/X.d" -type f -o -type l | sort | while read F; do . "$F"; done
[  -d "$HOME/.X.d"  ] && find "$HOME/.X.D" -type f -o -type l | sort | while read F; do . "$F"; done


Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Rich on October 05, 2025, 10:06:42 PM

Hi patildah

Quote from: patildah on October 05, 2025, 10:38:38 AM

That got me further, now im at:

Code: [Select]

failed in waitforX ...

If you enter  startx  does the desktop then appear?

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Juanito on October 06, 2025, 02:31:17 AM

If you enter the following instead of startx what do you get?

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Xvesa -br -screen 1024x768x32 -shadow -Zbutton -mouse /dev/input/mice,5 -nolisten tcp

Title: Re: Having trouble getting into the desktop environment.
Post by: Rich on October 06, 2025, 06:36:38 AM

Hi Juanito
That's a typo. It should be  2button  not  Zbutton:

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Xvesa -br -screen 1024x768x32 -shadow -2button -mouse /dev/input/mice,5 -nolisten tcp