Tiny Core Linux
Tiny Core Base => TCB Talk => Topic started by: peasthope on March 01, 2026, 02:16:07 PM
-
Hi,
I've tried to install Core Plus on a Tatung TWN-5213 CU and encountered difficulty. May be hardware specific. Discuss here? Another branch of the forum?
Thanks, ... Peter E.
-
Hi peasthope
Welcome to the forum.
Yes, you can discuss it here. What's the problem?
-
What's the problem?
Specs for the target computer
Tatung TWN-5213 CU CPU Transmeta TM5800 733MHz
CPU Transmeta TM5800 733MHz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmeta_Crusoe#Software_limitations
states "The Crusoe processor supports MMX but not SSE."
Memory 256MB DDR-SODIMM
Storage 512 MB Compact Flash, upgraded to 4 GB
Display resolution 1014 x 768 15 bit 65536 colorXDA
USB 2
Appears I have three possibilities: Micro Core, Tiny Core and Core Plus.
Of the three, which is the most capable likely to work on the hardware?
Is X feasible?
Thanks, ... P.
-
Hi peasthope
If your device has a wired network connection available, then Tiny Core is sufficient.
If your device only has wifi, try Core Plus. It includes wifi drivers and firmware. If you
are lucky, yours will be included.
If drivers and firmware are not included, we can explore other options.
Hardware specifications appear to be virtually nonexistent for your device.
I recommend plugging in a USB keyboard. I don't expect the touch screen to be recognized.
Have a USB mouse handy for the GUI.
... Display resolution 1014 x 768 15 bit 65536 colorXDA ...
Actually, that's 1024 x 768 , that specification was available on the Internet.
-
this might help others to follow along in the journey:
https://www.manualshelf.com/manual/tatung/twn5213/user-manual-english.html
-
Incidentally, several years ago AntiX worked on the Tatung machine.
Therefore I'm hopeful about making Core work.
(0) Given a 64 bit host system with a working 'net connection
and qemu-system-i386. QEMU is reasonably fast on this system.
(1) To that 64 bit system, connect the CF card via a USB adapter.
(2) cd <locationOfTiny*iso> ; ls -ld Tiny*iso
# Check that the iso file is there.
(3) DISPLAY=:0.0 qemu-system-i386 -m 2G -cdrom TinyCore17.0.iso \
-serial file:CorePlusTrace -drive file=/dev/sdf,media=disk,format=raw -boot order=d
(4) That gives a graphical display similar to the display from
CorePlus-17.0.iso. One crucial difference: CorePlus presented an
icon for an installer; Tiny doesn't present an installer icon.
(5) Is an installer there? If not what procedure should be followed?
Thanks, ... Peter E.
-
Hi peasthope
... (0) Given a 64 bit host system with a working 'net connection ...
... (5) Is an installer there? If not what procedure should be followed?
Since you have a working network connection, you should be able
to install tc-install-GUI.tcz.
Either click on the Apps icon or open a terminal and enter:
tce-load -wil tc-install-GUI
-
Rich & all,
Since you have a working network connection, you should be able
to install tc-install-GUI.tcz.
Yes, QEMU provides a network connection. No specific command line parameter needed.
Either click on the Apps icon or open a terminal and enter:
tce-load -wil tc-install-GUI
cd /mnt/A/ ; ls -ld Tiny*iso
# Yes, the image exists.
DISPLAY=:0.0 gparted /dev/sdf # Format the part to avert automount.
DISPLAY=:0.0 qemu-system-i386 -m 2G -cdrom TinyCore17.0.iso \
-serial file:CorePlusTrace -drive file=/dev/sdf,media=disk,format=raw -boot order=d
# In the guest system, open a terminal and execute.
tce-load -wil tc-install-GUI
# tce-load completed successfully.
# Click installer icon to activate installer.
# Complete the installation. No problem evident.
# Put the CF card in the Tatung TWN-5213 CU and power up.
# This appears on the screen.
No EFI environment detected.
early console in extract_kernel
input_data: 0x00880094
input_len: 0x005be8f3
output: 0x00100000
output_len: 0x00c7c720
kernel_total_size: 0x00d5d000
needed_size: 0x00d5d000
Decompressing Linux... Parsing ELF... No relocation needed... done.
Booting the kernel (entry_offset: 0x00b072d0).
ACPI BIOS Error (bug): A valid RSDP was not found (20250807tbxfroot-222)
A problem with ACPI? Therefore try again. During installation set bootcode "acpi=off".
The result is exactly the same except that the last line is absent.
Some other error blocks further progress? No helpful message. =8~/
Ideas?
Thanks, ... P.
-
P.s. Pictorial evidence of anitX.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AntiXonTatung5213.jpg
-
Hi peasthope
... A problem with ACPI? Therefore try again. During installation set bootcode "acpi=off".
The result is exactly the same except that the last line is absent. ...
You should not need to re-install to change or add a boot code. When you boot, a menu
should appear for a few seconds. When that happens, hitting the Tab key should let
you edit the boot command.
Try these one at a time and see if anything improves or changes:
nosmp noacpi pnpacpi=off pnpbios=off
-
Rich & all,
... hitting the Tab key should let you edit the boot command.
I should have mentioned that the Tatung doesn't have PS-2 and the boot loader doesn't respond to a USB keyboard. My knowledge of USB is minimal. I wonder whether the native boot loader has only OHCI whereas the Tatung requires UHCI, EHCI or xHCI. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_controller_interface_(USB,_Firewire) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_controller_interface_(USB,_Firewire))) If a bootcode can invoke an additional USB module, that may support the keyboard.
Try these one at a time and see if anything improves or changes:
nosmp noacpi pnpacpi=off pnpbios=off
Will do, thanks. Without a keyboard, each trial is a fresh installation.
Thanks! ... P.
-
Hi peasthope
I don't suppose you can access the BIOS on this device.
If you can, look for "Legacy USB Support" or for
"USB Keyboard Support" and enable it.
-
I don't suppose you can access the BIOS on this device.
Haven't found a way in. No hint on the screen after power up.
Five buttons and a rocker on the bezel. A procedure with those
might open the BIOS but there are many possible combinations.
=8~/
Will try the bootcodes you mentioned.
Thanks, ... P.
-
Hello again Rich & all,
Tried each of the bootcodes you mentioned; nosmp, noacpi, pnpacpi=off and pnpbios=off.
In each of the four cases, booting ended with these two lines.
Booting the kernel (entry_offset: 0x00b072d0).
ACPI BIOS Error (bug): A valid RSDP was not found (20250807tbxfroot-222)
I don't know enough about RSDP and related details to solve this for Core.
In absence of a further suggestion, I think of reinstalling AntiX.
Thanks, ... P.
-
Hi peasthope
I found a couple more you can try if you wish to:
acpi=rsdt acpi=copy_dsdt
Aside from no keyboard access for boot codes, the other problem is
their are many acpi related boot codes available:
https://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
acpi shows up 184 times on the kernel-parameters.txt page.
-
Rich & all,
I found a couple more you can try if you wish to:
acpi=rsdt acpi=copy_dsdt
With each of those, the result was as mentioned previously ending with this line.
ACPI BIOS Error (bug): A valid RSDP was not found (20250807tbxfroot-222)
FreeDOS also installed and booted with no difficulty.
https://easthope.ca/FreeDOSonTatung.jpg
So, with no specific adjustments, these three systems have installed and booted on the machine.
AntiX 15
ETH Oberon 2.7
FreeDOS 1.4
Seems something not too exotic is overlooked. I don't know
enough about CPU capabilities to have an insight.
Where else might a question be posted?
Thx, ... P.
-
Hi peasthope
The kernel has both APM and ACPI available. However, only one
can be active at a time. When both are available, the kernel
defaults to ACPI. Try this boot code to force it to use APM:
apm=on
-
Try this boot code to force it to use APM:
apm=on
Comes to the same result as previously. Again, this is the last line.
ACPI BIOS Error (bug): A valid RSDP was not found (20250807/tbxfroot-222)
If "apm=on" precluded ACPI, why report "ACPI BIOS Error"? The boot code failed to achieve the intended effect? Can we see more detail?
The other systems I mentioned present no complications with apm and acpi. I wonder whether those systems silently detect availability of apm or acpi and act accordingly?
Thx, ... P.
-
Hi peasthope
... Can we see more detail? ...
I should have thought of this sooner. Get rid of the quiet boot code.
It suppresses the kernels messages.
-
Get rid of the quiet boot code.
Good, thanks. Can return to this project in a week or two.
Thx, ... P.
-
Hi,
Get rid of the quiet boot code.
Ran the installation process again a few minutes ago. It lists 23 boot codes and the various options for vga. "quiet" and "debug" aren't there. Also didn't find in https://distro.ibiblio.org/tinycorelinux/faq.html#bootcodes. For the unusual cases, documentation of quiet and debug would be really helpful.
Someone please tell how to tell the kernel to not be "quiet".
Thanks! ... P.
-
Hi peasthope
quiet is a kernel boot code. I forgot you were using the installer
each time. The installer adds that code automatically. You can
override it by adding the debug boot code. These and other
kernel boot codes can be found here:
https://www.mjmwired.net/kernel/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
-
The users manual for this machine is copyrighted 2002. The FCCID registration is 2005.
The last version of APM was published in 1996 and, according to Wikipedia, ACPI was first published in 1996. If this machine was developed 1998-2003, it was likely to have ACPI rather than APM; correct? I shouldn't expect a definite answer but a hint may help progress.
Thx, ... P.
-
Hi peasthope
I have no way knowing whether or not your device supports APM.
Online information on your device is scarce to say the least.
... I shouldn't expect a definite answer but a hint may help progress.
The point of adding the debug boot code is the hope that the kernel may
provide some error message that provides a hint on how to resolve the
kernel not booting.
You can also add this boot code:
loglevel=8This tells the kernel to be much more verbose with messages.
-
You can also add this boot code:
loglevel=8
Good. Progress. Thanks! =8~)
According to https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html the highest loglevel is 7. Installed again and booted. Photographed the screen and tesseract converted to text needing a little cleanup. Might have missed a few characters but this is where booting ended.
pci_bus 0000:00: resource 4 [io 0x0000-Oxffff]
pcl_bus 0000:00: resource 5 [mem 0x00000000-0xffffffff]
pci_bus 0000:01: resource 0 [ic 0x1000-0x10ff}
pci_bus 0000:01: resource 1 [io 0@x1400-0x14ff]
pcl_bas 0000:01: resource 2 [mem 0x48000000-0x4bffffff pref]
pci_bus 0000:01: researce 3 [mem 0x4c000000-0x4fffffff]
pcl_bus 0000:05: resource 0 [io 0x1800-0x18ff]
pei_bus 0000:05: resource 1 [io 0x1c00-0x1cff]
pci_bus 0000:05: resource 2 (mem 0x54000000-0x57ffffff pref]
pci_bus 0000:05: resource 3 [mem 0x58000000-0x5bffffff]
pci 0000:00:00.0: Fixup for MediaGX/Geode Slave Disconnect Boundary (0x41=0x10)
PCI: CLS 16 bytes, default 32
platform rtc_cmos: registered platform RTC device (no PNP device found)
Trying to unpack rootfs image as initramfs...
apm: BIOS version 1.2 Flags 0x07 (Driver version 1.16ac)
workingset: timestamp_bits=30 max_order=15 bucket_order=0
NFS: Registering the id_resolver key type
Key type id_resolver registered
Key type id_legacy registered
nfs4filelayout_init: NFSv4 File Layout Driver Registering...
nfs4flexfilelayout_init: NPSv4 Flexfile Layout Driver Registering...
fuse: init (API version 7.45)
cryptd: max_cpu_qlen set to 1000
random: crng init done
According to the line beginning "apm: BIOS version 1.2", boot code "apm=on" may be redundant but harmless. Installed once more with boot codes "apm=on loglevel=7". Booting ended exactly as above. Any problem evident? What should follow "random: crng init done"?
Thanks! ... P.
-
Hi peasthope
... According to https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html the highest loglevel is 7. ...
Yes, you are correct. The kernel.org documentation states:
loglevel= All Kernel Messages with a loglevel smaller than the
console loglevel will be printed to the console. It can
also be changed with klogd or other programs. The
loglevels are defined as follows:
0 (KERN_EMERG) system is unusable
1 (KERN_ALERT) action must be taken immediately
2 (KERN_CRIT) critical conditions
3 (KERN_ERR) error conditions
4 (KERN_WARNING) warning conditions
5 (KERN_NOTICE) normal but significant condition
6 (KERN_INFO) informational
7 (KERN_DEBUG) debug-level messages
Although it may be poorly worded, it states:
All Kernel Messages with a loglevel smaller than the
console loglevel will be printed to the console.
So with "loglevel=7" , you get messages for log levels 0 through 6.
That means if any debug messages were available, they would not
have been printed.
-
...
So with "loglevel=7" , you get messages for log levels 0 through 6. ...
Thanks for explaining. Will have another go during the coming weekend.
,,, P