Tiny Core Linux

General TC => General TC Talk => Topic started by: MTCAT on January 14, 2026, 09:20:35 AM

Title: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 14, 2026, 09:20:35 AM

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year!, has been a while, I've had my one real-time TinyCore logger going for sometime now, thanks again for all the help!, and it's been working super well, I still need to get the C-program to load temperature readings from a file in order to see the CPU heatsink temperatures inside the GUI though.

But, I'm taking the first tentative steps in building a second logger and I'm thankful for any advice/recommendations the forum may have.

I've made copies of my existing, fully functional TC setup on my boot pen drive (with dd), so I have that already ready to go. Would it be "wishful thinking" to think that I could assemble the new PC104 stack as per the existing functional one, hook up the U-Blox EVK-M8T for timing, hook up the temp sensor, insert the 128 GB CF-card, plug in the dd copied boot pen drive, and everything would "come up" properly and work?

Or, do you think I need to do some staged install procedure where I get individual parts of the system going first, like get the ADC working with the module being auto-loaded, get the timing working, then get the temp sensor working, I do need to also update the BIOS to get my LVDS display to work, and the existing fully functioning receiver also has Lubuntu 16.04 installed on the CF-card on which Rich helped me setup a symbolic link to save acquired data to. Unfortunately I can't find the Lubuntu image file and need to contact WinSystems to see if I can get that still, although I don't ever use the Lubuntu install(yet), it might be useful down the road, maybe, for getting data off the receiver though because the GigaBit ethernet port works in Lubuntu, right now, in TinyCore, getting GB's of data off the receiver over USB is pretty slow, I'm only getting about 10 MB/sec even though it's supposed to be 2.0 speed, so takes like an hour or more sometimes to get one days worth of data off the receiver, need to try the 100 MBit ethernet connection in Tinycore and maybe that will be faster than the USB ports, but the Gigabit ethernet would be even better, I think that would be the only reason to keep Lubuntu hanging around.

Thanks,

David

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 23, 2026, 04:11:55 PM

Hello again everyone,

As per the original install, I copied the compressed Lubuntu 16.04 image file onto the 128 GB CF-card with HDDRawCopy, with Lubuntu booted up, I did a bit of poking around to find the address of the 100 MBit ethernet port and my router, I also found the UUID of the CF-card, and then updated the BIOS for "direct-drive" LVDS operation of the PixelQi screen, and lastly changed serial port one to 9600 bps (for U-Blox module) and made the USB the first try for booting.

I connected my U-Blox GPS module RS232 output to serial port one, and +5V power of course, and plugged in a digitemp USB temperature sensor, plugged in my cloned TinyCore 3.8.4 with real-time patch, and powered on the Vortex DX3, unfortunately it didn't boot and hangs up after the 10 second "pause" count-down  is completed.

Trying again and hitting Tab in that screen shows me some (all?) of the content of extlinux.conf (I think) where a lot of UUID's are seen, I think for the boot pen drive and the CF-card, I need to change these UUID's. I do know the UUID of the CF-card, but would booting up Lubuntu, plugging in the TinyCore boot drive, and typing "lsblk -f" work to get the UUID of the pen drive as well?

Then could I edit the extlinux.conf file on my Slackware Linux desktop entering in the new UUID's for the new CF-card and pen drive? Does that sound correct?

Thanks,

David

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: Rich on January 23, 2026, 04:33:23 PM

Hi MTCAT
UUIDs are unique for each device. Once you know the device
name of the drive, you can run lsblk against it for its UUIDs.
You may need to use  sudo  for this. Here's what happens
on Tinycore with and without sudo ...

without sudo:

Code: [Select]

tc@E310:~$ lsblk -f /dev/sda
NAME   FSTYPE LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT
sda                     
|-sda1                   /mnt/sda1
|-sda2                   
|-sda3                   
|-sda4                   
|-sda5                   [SWAP]
|-sda6                   
`-sda7
with sudo:

Code: [Select]

tc@E310:~$ sudo lsblk -f /dev/sda
NAME   FSTYPE LABEL       UUID                                 MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                           
|-sda1 ext4   TC10        543cac60-3224-4cab-b1d5-008407dd9ce8 /mnt/sda1
|-sda2 ext4   TC10_backup 22559ae7-7e12-4a3b-9efa-6f8c8a9a8a6a
|-sda3 ext4               bedfc958-a562-4225-ad9d-cf150e7cdb4e
|-sda4                                                         
|-sda5 swap   Swap        81c9827f-5952-4bb2-b1b2-298be789abee [SWAP]
|-sda6 ext4               7b839431-514c-44a7-a1d3-9baeffb595e0
`-sda7 ext4               f4d4b4d3-5869-492a-bf56-25a2970dc432

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 23, 2026, 05:23:22 PM

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the help, I was wrong, surprise, surprise  :), there isn't a problem with the UUID in extlinux.conf for the new build "ROVER" receiver.

I plugged in the cloned TC boot pen drive (for the ROVER) in Lubuntu and typed "lsblk -f" and saw that the UUID for the cloned TC boot pen drive is the same UUID that's in the extlinux.conf, so that's good.

So then I also turned on my existing "BASE" station system, the fully functioning receiver, that boots properly and runs the acquisition program just fine, I checked on the UUID of the CF-card on the "BASE" receiver by typing "blkid /dev/sda5" and it's the same as the UUID of the new "ROVER" CF-card that I checked on in Lubuntu (the UUID for the boot pen drive is also the same on both systems).

So it seems like it's not a problem with UUID's, but does it seem strange that two different CF-cards in two different computers have the same UUID?, unless it's because both CF-cards were copied/created from the same Lubuntu image file?

Again, the 128 GB CF-card in the BASE receiver (the fully functioning one) and the CF-card in the new "ROVER" receiver (the one I'm trying to get going) have the same UUID.

In the "BASE" receiver the boot pen drive is mounted as sdb1 and the CF-card as sda5.

The only other thing I don't recall yet is how you helped me make a symbolic link on the CF-card so that acquisition data gets saved to home/tc/data, could that be hanging the boot up process? I need to check my piles of chicken scratches called notes how you helped me do that!

Thanks,

David

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: Rich on January 23, 2026, 05:31:26 PM

Hi MTCAT

Quote from: Rich on January 23, 2026, 04:33:23 PM

UUIDs are unique for each device. ...

Assuming they were created by formatting, or
maybe it occurs when partitions get created, I
forget.

If you clone one device to another, the UUIDs
get cloned too. Using the  dd  command to copy
one device to another is an example of how that
could occur.

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 23, 2026, 07:16:15 PM

Hi Rich,

I found a problem, that I totally forgot about, in October, 2021, you helped me re-size partitions on the 128 GB CF-card, with gparted.

Right now, as per Oct, 2021, the CF-card is formatted as shown below, so I'm only "seeing" 6 GB as usable space for saving data from the acquisition program.

I have to read more carefully through the extensive posts from Oct, 2021 (in thread TC3.8_4 Real Time Upgrade), but a quick look seems like I ended up deleting the "swap" partition completely and then was able to resize sda5 to almost 120 GB (deleted sda2 as well?, not sure yet).

Not sure if that's maybe the cause of the TinyCore boot up not working, but certainly isn't helping, here's what the output of "lsblk -f" looks like in Lubuntu.

Code: [Select]

Device          Boot       Start          End        Sectors      Size     Id              Type
/dev/sda1       *          2048      2088959   2086912   1019M   82    Linux Swap / Solaris
/dev/sda2                2091006   14678015  12587010    6G       5           Extended
/dev/sda5                2091008   14678015  12587008    6G      83             Linux
Thanks,

David

    [Edit]: Added code tags.  Rich

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 23, 2026, 07:18:26 PM

Hi Rich,

Forgot to say, the output of "lsblk -f" above is in Lubuntu with only the 128 GB CF-card plugged in.

Thanks,

David

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 23, 2026, 07:38:17 PM

Hi Rich,

Here's a screen-shot of the output of "sudo fdisk -l" from the fully functioning "BASE" receiver,
(https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27965.0;attach=7184)

sorry I've forgotten how to insert the image directly in the text of the post.

Thanks,

David

    [Edit]: Placed image inline.  Rich

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: Rich on January 23, 2026, 09:48:57 PM

Hi MTCAT

Please use  Code Tags  when posting commands and responses seen in a terminal. To use  Code Tags  click on the  #  icon
above the reply box and paste your text between the  Code Tags  as shown in this example:

Quote

[code][   36.176529] pcm512x 1-004d: Failed to get supply 'AVDD': -517
[   36.176536] pcm512x 1-004d: Failed to get supplies: -517
[   36.191753] pcm512x 1-004d: Failed to get supply 'AVDD': -517[/code]

It will appear like this in your post:

Code: [Select]

[   36.176529] pcm512x 1-004d: Failed to get supply 'AVDD': -517
[   36.176536] pcm512x 1-004d: Failed to get supplies: -517
[   36.191753] pcm512x 1-004d: Failed to get supply 'AVDD': -517
Code Tags  serve as visual markers between what you are trying to say and the information you are posting. They also preserve
spacing so column aligned data displays properly. Code tags also automatically add horizontal and or vertical scrollbars
to accommodate long lines and listings.

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: Rich on January 23, 2026, 09:49:15 PM

Hi MTCAT

Quote from: MTCAT on January 23, 2026, 07:38:17 PM

... sorry I've forgotten how to insert the image directly in the text of the post.

The way I do it is:
1. Click the Insert Image icon (below the B icon) to place the  img  tags where I want the image.
2. I add the image as an attachment to the post.
3. I click the post button.
4. I right click on the attachment and copy the link.
5. I click on the Modify icon for that post.
6. I paste the link between the  img  tags.
7. Finally, I click the save button.

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 24, 2026, 12:06:13 PM

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the help with the images and code insertions, will give that a try.

With the help of Gparted on my Slackware desktop, I was able to delete the swap partition (sda1) but even with doing that, before I could resize sda5, I had to expand the "extended" partition sda2 to it's largest possible size of ~ 120 GB, after doing that, it was no problem to expand sda5 as well and now I have sda5 as ~ 120 GB, so that should be good now.

Thanks,

David

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 24, 2026, 12:24:30 PM

Hi Rich,

As seen in the image below, there's a symbolic link which connects /home/tc/data to /mnt/sda5/data.

(https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27965.0;attach=7186)


With Lubuntu fired up, do you think it would be correct to simply make a directory called data in the uppermost directory level on the CF-card? (as regular user in Lubuntu), just trying to prepare the playing field ahead of time as much as possible for TinyCore.

Thanks,

David

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: Rich on January 24, 2026, 07:44:04 PM

Hi MTCAT

Quote from: MTCAT on January 24, 2026, 12:24:30 PM

... With Lubuntu fired up, do you think it would be correct to simply make a directory called data in the uppermost directory level on the CF-card? ...

If you want to do this using Lubuntu, you should probably do something like this:

Code: [Select]

mount TinycoreStorageDevice
cd TinycoreStorageDevice/home/tc/
ln -s /mnt/sda5/data data
chown 1001:50 data
This assumes  /mnt/sda5/data  is still correct for the new system.

I'm not familiar with Lubuntu, so you may have to perform some
of those commands as root or using  sudo.

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: Rich on January 24, 2026, 08:03:39 PM

Hi MTCAT

Quote from: MTCAT on January 24, 2026, 12:06:13 PM

... before I could resize sda5, I had to expand the "extended" partition sda2 to it's largest possible size of ~ 120 GB, after doing that, it was no problem to expand sda5 as well and now I have sda5 as ~ 120 GB, so that should be good now.

A DOS partition table only has space for 4 primary partitions.

If you want more than 4 partitions, you need one of those
partitions to be created as an  extended  partition.

An extended partition acts as a container for multiple logical
partitions. One of my machines has 12 partitions on its drive.

Since the extended partition is a container, you can't make
the logical partitions inside it larger than the container. That
is why you had to expand the extended partition first.

Since you use gparted, you will see choices of Primary, Logical, and
Extended when creating partitions on a device.

Title: Re: Building Another Logger
Post by: MTCAT on January 25, 2026, 02:33:55 PM

Hi Rich,

Oh, okay, thanks for the explanation of what the extended partition is, didn't know that.

Bad news is, I think I wrecked my main backup pen drive with all the thrashing in the BIOS, I was having issues with the Quick Boot and Enhanced Boot and POST tests where it seemed that sometimes the pen drive would get completely missed and would end up booting in Lubuntu even, and other times, would hang halfway through booting TC (like before loading extensions even), and other times would hang at the vesamenu screen (to select regular or real time TC) after the 10 second count-down was complete (would hang at second 1), so with all this thrashing many times I couldn't shut down the computer properly, and I think it finally "bit" me.

Image below shows what I get now when I try to boot with my "primary" backup pen drive, I get an "input/output" error from /opt/bootsync.sh, I even went into /opt and tried to look inside bootlocal.sh, and some of the other scripts (with cat, and tail), and also got an "input/output" error. Also, my home directory, /home/tc is completely empty.


https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27965.0;attach=7188


Luckily I have a second, almost complete backup pen drive, it's only missing the digitemp temperature sensor software. So that seems to be running okay and I think I'm done hacking on the BIOS now, it seems to be working okay, hopefully?, using the same settings as in the BASE and with the updated video BIOS for the PixelQi screen.

So I think I'm going to pull apart my BASE receiver anyway, and make about 6 copies of its boot pen drive, and can then also change out the U-Blox CMOS battery since that one has been in there for a couple of years already.

Thanks,

David