Tiny Core Linux
Tiny Core Base => Raspberry Pi => piCore Test Releases => Topic started by: Paul_123 on May 08, 2026, 06:47:37 PM
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Team Tiny Core is pleased to announce that Tiny Core 17.0 Beta2 is available for public testing:
http://repo.tinycorelinux.net/17.x/armhf/release_candidates/RPi/
http://repo.tinycorelinux.net/17.x/aarch64/release_candidates/RPi/
This is an beta level cut. If you decide to help test, then please test carefully. We don't want anyone to lose data.
Since this is an beta cut, we ask that only experienced users test. This cut is not for general use. The features in any alpha are not fixed and may change before a public release candidate is available.
We appreciate testing and feedback.
Changelog for 17.0 alpha1:
* kernel updated to 6.18.16
* glibc updated to 2.42
* gcc updated to 15.2.0
* binutils updated to 2.45.1
* e2fsprogs base libs/apps updated to 1.47.3
* util-linux base libs/apps updated to 2.41.2
Changes for alpha2:
* Adjust config.txt for the 32bit versions. For console HDMI support. (The firmware framebuffer is pretty much useless anymore, this is a workaround to use the builtin kernel simple-fb)
* Include XDG_RUNTIME_DIR in .profile
Changes for Beta1:
* Upgrade to kernel 6.18.28 (Hopefully this is the kernel Raspi Releases with RaspiOS)
Changes for Beta2:
* Upgrade to kernel 6.18.37 (resolves issue where fkms is needed on old pies to setup Console...silently fixed by Raspi)
* Add copy2fs.lst capabilities to tce-bootload.
* Make tce-bootload act like tce-load in not overwriting existing files on the filesystem.
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piCore boots without problems, but the latest kernel module extensions are missing 🙂
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piCore64 also OK
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I knew I was forgetting something. I had them in my local staging area, but missed a few steps. They are up now
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Only did a quick test because some specifics of my programs broke, but I encountered no other issues I could attribute to piCore.
E.g. I need exclusive access to the 3D pipeline but the config.txt change (loading vc4-fkms-v3d) must have made the console render with the GPU/GPU, so even enabling the QPU failed. But even reverting that change, something is still submitting programs to the QPU / 3D pipeline, which prior versions didn't. lsmod shows no major differences except brcmfmac_cyw -> brcmfmac_wcc.
I don't suppose you might have an idea?
I'm not in a hurry to upgrade, though I did just encountered an issue with copy2fs.lst (https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=28203.0) on 16 so I was hoping it might be fixed in 17.
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I doubt you are going to be able to have exclusive access to the GPU anymore, without doing a baremetal. The firmware configuration of the gpu is no longer supported. Raspi says they didnot remove it from the firmware, but will not do anything about it if it’s broken.
The fkms overlay without the vc4 drivers loaded is a bandaid to force the kernel to configure the framebuffer for a console. But to really use the gpu you will need the vc4-kms-v3d overlay, and the graphics kernel module extension.
There is a chance the made some recent changes without any notes. I’ll be updating the kernel before I release the final version.
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Thanks, seems indeed the legacy driver is no longer supported, and even without HDMI plugged in and nothing graphical being installed, there's something using the graphics hardware in the background for some reason. I'm not using the graphics drivers myself, just the mailbox, and occasionally write to the framebuffer from the CPU for debugging.
Anyway, seems I'll have to stick to 16.x indefinitely, it's been super stable anyway, and for an embedded device, that's all I need. Thanks!
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Just curious. What are you doing with the gpu?
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Low-latency blob detection for tracking cameras of an optical tracking system. Essentially a coprocessor for a small, highly-specialised routine that maps very well to the QPU, written in assembly (https://github.com/AsterTrack/AsterTrack/blob/main/camera/qpu_programs/qpu_blob_tiled_min.asm). Using the mailbox to submit these programs (the normal way) is very inflexible, blocks until all are executed, and is problematic if the QPU stalls. And since I plan to have a more advanced tiling & scheduling later, I just use the V3D registers directly to queue and wait for the programs. Hence any other program or driver interfacing with the V3D hardware will interfere. Was not a problem before, since again, I could just not load any graphics drivers.
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Beta2 posted. @zharr, something has changed in the firmware graphics pipeline. The console is working again on the bcm2708fb. You might see if that resolves your issue.
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Hi there!
I am testing the piCore64-17.0.0-beta2 and trying to download firefox-ESR I got an error message saying that the alsa-modules-6.18.37-piCore-v8-16k.tcz was missing. Pragtical just froze when I tried to start it. Thanks for your efforts to develop piCore!
Kind Regards,
meo
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Try checking your local libasound.tcz.dep to verify it contains alsa-modules-KERNEL.tcz and not alsa-modules-6.18.*-piCore-v8-16k.tcz.
If not, try "tce-load -wil alsa-modules-6.18.37-piCore-v8-16k"
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Hi Juanito!
I tried but did not suceed! Even loading alsa.tcz gives the same error message alsa-modules.....etc not found. Trying to getLatest firefox gives the error message invalid argument. Finally though firefox-perf downloaded correctly after two attempts. So that is the browser I am using now. I hope that something of this can be helpful. You are doing a good work!
Kind regards,
meo
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What error message did you get from "tce-load -wil alsa-modules-6.18.37-piCore-v8-16k"?
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Hi Juanito!
I downloaded firefox-ESR to on demand and now it works. It works perfect with the exception that it does not play YouTube videos right out of the box.
Kind regards,
meo
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Testing beta2 on an RPi5 loading Xorg-3d, flwm, aterm, and wbar, the gui will not start without the following file:
cat /usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-vc4.conf
Section "OutputClass"
Identifier "vc4"
MatchDriver "vc4"
Driver "modesetting"
Option "PrimaryGPU" "true"
EndSection
I'm not sure if this is due to the changes with the frame buffer or a problem with the xorg-server startup script: cat /usr/local/tce.installed/xorg-server
...
REVISION=$(awk -F: '/^Revision/ { print $2 }' /proc/cpuinfo | sed 's/ //g')
REVISION=${REVISION: -6}
case ${REVISION:2:1} in
3|4) #BCM2711 and BCM2712 CPU"
break
;;
0|1|2) #BCM2835, BCM2836 and BCM2837 CPUS, all early VC4 Graphics
cp /usr/local/share/xorg-server/files/99-vc4.conf /usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
;;
*) #Unknown CPU
break
;;
esac
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The change was on the older pies pi3 and less. The pi5 should not have changed.....but its something they don't make known all the time.
But I concur, that my pi5 needs it too.
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I tested piCore64 17beta2 on an RPi4 - 99-vc4.conf is not needed for Xorg-3d to work.
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Hi!
I just had to try piCore64 beta 2 on my faithful Raspberry Pi 4. It showed when I was loading Xorg-3d that
graphics-6.18.37-piCore-v8 was missing. I downloaded it and now Xorg-3d works and loads in a very nice manner. So RPi 4 can also use piCore64 beta 2 with Xorg-3d, It seems that a few bugs still have to be squashed in this release though.
Kind greetings,
meo
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Which bugs are you speaking of?
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Hi meo
... It showed when I was loading Xorg-3d that
graphics-6.18.37-piCore-v8 was missing. ...
These are the contents of Xorg-3d.tcz.dep:
Xorg.tcz
graphics-KERNEL.tcz
libGLES.tcz
libEGL.tczSo when you installed Xorg-3d , it would have installed graphics-KERNEL.
Maybe you updated the kernel but not graphics-KERNEL?
If you run:
ls -l /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/optional/graphics-*.tczdo you see multiple versions of graphics-KERNEL?
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After adding dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d, Xorg-3d works on an RPi3 running piCore 17beta2, so the startup script only needs modifying for an RPi5
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Hi Juanito!
I can tell you exactly what I have done to make Xorg3d work also on Raspberry Pi 4. I even have done a fresh install so that I easier can find out why things happen. What I do: from the first time starting the GUI I decide what I want to have ondemand and install it as so. After that comes a funny thing that I discovered when I couldn't install Xorg-3d from the prompt. I downloaded it to my personal repo on the micro SD card. I made another try and now something happened. Packets were installed until it reached the error "graphics/6.18.37-piCore-v8 is missing". I started the GUI and downloaded the missing package *I just downloaded it". Back to the prompt typing: tce-load -i Xorg-3d.tcz and then a lot of packages were scanned and I could see an OK at everyone finalizing with Xorg-3d.tcz OK and Xorg.tcz ) OK and a green prompt. I just gave the obvious command "startx", and it did. That is the way I have it setup as a fresh install. There is a but though I get the same problem with Pragtical as before. I was thinking, could that be fixed, the Pragmatic'al' problem, by making a change in .ashrc. If there is another solution I'm all ears since I can't make Pragmatic work on a Raspberry Pi 4.
Kind greetings,
meo
PS Sometimes the screen flickers when loading Xorg-3d but it stops and gives you a prompt to start the GUI DS
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Sometimes the screen flickers when loading Xorg-3d but it stops and gives you a prompt to start the GUI DS
Using piCore64 on an RPi4/5, when graphics-KERNEL is loaded the screen will blank and you will see a different console font on high resolution displays.
Using piCore on an RPi3, when graphics-KERNEL is loaded the screen will blank, but you will see the same console font. Some times the gui will not start (due to module load timing issues?) and you will need to manually startx.
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Hi Juanito
... Some times the gui will not start (due to module load timing issues?) and you will need to manually startx.
I've had the same issue on a couple of x86/x86_64 systems and it was
a timing issue. In my case, it was /dev/dri/card0 not showing up on time.
To fix it, I placed this at the beginning of ~/.xsession:
while [ $Timeout -lt 40 ]
do
[ -e /dev/dri/card0 ] && break
Timeout=$(($Timeout + 1))
sleep 0.25
doneIt tests for the existence of /dev/dri/card0 every 0.25 seconds.
The loop terminates when /dev/dri/card0 is detected or after 10 seconds.
When the GUI fails to start, run this:
grep '(EE)' /var/log/Xorg.0.logOne of those error messages should tell you what's not showing up on time.
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Should we fix that in .xsession. If one is using Xorg-3d the should be some sort of gpu loading.....or is it too different between systems
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Hi Paul_123
Assuming it's always the same item causing the issue, /dev/dri/card0
for example, then this should work:
if tce-status -i | grep -qE "Xorg.*3d"
then
while [ $Timeout -lt 40 ]
do
[ -e /dev/dri/card0 ] && break
Timeout=$(($Timeout + 1))
sleep 0.25
done
fiThat should only execute if Xorg 3d is loaded.
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wayland seems to run okay on the pi5.
Whats the thought for this point in 2026? Should we really be moving to wayland wl_roots sway xwayland configuration? And drop xorg from default dependancies?
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We could think about moving to labwc, which with labwc-config gives a tc-like dynamic menu.
A move to wayland perhaps makes more sense if we drop x11 - this would eliminate many extensions and fltk, gtk3 and gtk4 apps would all work.
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Hello!
I'm very impressed how piCore64 v17beta2 works on my Raspberry Pi 4. No problems at all and I have all the programs I need handy and it's a breeze to load the Xorg-3d.tcz. As I mentioned before I only download Xorg-3d.tcz and graphics-6.18.37-piCore-v8.tcz. If I don't have them downloaded I get an error message saying that they are missing. So the only thing I have to do to be able to use for example pragtical is to, from the prompt, issue the command tce-load -i Xorg-3d.tcz followed by startx at the prompt. It loads and everything works flawlessly. I have installed my database and it works perfect also. So now I have started on my BHP project in Python on the RPi4 because it's more convenient. So a big thanks to all that have worked on this release! Now I don't get surprises on any kind, it just works.
Kind greetings,
meo
PS The only thing I have to worry about is the size of the backup. It's already about 74.5MB DS
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Hi meo
... So the only thing I have to do to be able to use for example pragtical is to, from the prompt, issue the command tce-load -i Xorg-3d.tcz followed by startx at the prompt. ...
Why don't you add Xorg-3d.tcz to your onboot.lst file and just
let it start automatically?
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Hello Rich!
I did just that some time ago but that led to some kind of conflict that made me have to install everything from the ground. Now i have one in my RPi 5 to which I have to add the 99-vc4.conf file to make it work. That I don't have to do in RPi 4. So it's just one thing to do to prepare the environment anyway (something that I can remember and not read from some notation).
Regards,
meo
PS Let's say I don't want to risk having to reinstall everything again DS
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We need to make an adjustment to a startup script to add 99-vc4.conf for RPi5 with Xorg-3d.
I can't help feeling that, whilst adding 99-vc4.conf solves the problem, it is not the actual problem.
The current startup script is in xorg-server because 99-vc4.conf is needed for RPi3 and below for x to work at all, but it is perhaps more logical in the case of RPi5 for a startup script to be added to Xorg-3d?
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Hi Juanito!
That sounds good. It would be easier to use the RPi 5. I use RPi 4 now because it's easier and it works perfect.
Kind greetings from a wet Sweden,
meo
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some kind of conflict that made me have to install everything from the ground.
...
PS Let's say I don't want to risk having to reinstall everything again DS
wrt to that / fwiw
iv found it is possible to borrow from other distro ( initially suse ( but their build lack chain-loader grub cmd ) , & afair iv found builds from other distros )
uboot-efi ldr -> grub2efi
built for pi/arm64
copy the files to the pi firmware /boot partition
then create extra partitions and grub2 menu-config for testing different versions or even other os's 'root-fs' ( requires pointing the menu entry at each distro or viersion's partition uuid or label )
and use this to boot/test alternative config's or distros from their own partition
though this is possible to do with just TC and some kernel/cmdline options (and renaming core.gz and kernel for each version )
it is imho easier to reason about ( especially while testing alt config ) with separate partitions
PS The only thing I have to worry about is the size of the backup. It's already about 74.5MB DS
best way around this imho is to
create a "static" home partition
and disable backup of ~/
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Hello mocore!
Thanks for your interest. The thing is that I have the contents of a database and a python project in /home/tc that has to be there. So I need to backup that even if it gets a little big.
Kind regards,meo
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That sounds good. It would be easier to use the RPi 5. I use RPi 4 now because it's easier and it works perfect.
startup script adjusted for Xorg-3d in the piCore64 17.x repo - it seems to work for me now on an RPi5
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Hi Juanito
Just an observation, but out of curiosity, I took a look at that startup script:
#!/bin/sh
REVISION=$(awk -F: '/^Revision/ { print $2 }' /proc/cpuinfo | sed 's/ //g')
REVISION=${REVISION: -6}
case ${REVISION:2:1} in
3|4) #BCM2711 and BCM2712 CPU"
break
;;
0|1|2) #BCM2835, BCM2836 and BCM2837 CPUS, all early VC4 Graphics
cp /usr/local/share/Xorg-3d/files/20-noglamor.conf /usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
;;
*) #Unknown CPU
break
;;
esac
case ${REVISION:2:1} in
4) #BCM2712 CPU"
cp /usr/local/share/Xorg-3d/files/99-vc4.conf /usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
;;
0|1|2|3) #BCM2835, BCM2836, BCM2837 and BCM2711 CPUS
break
;;
*) #Unknown CPU
break
;;
esac
Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like this would accomplish the
same thing without creating a second case statement:
#!/bin/sh
REVISION=$(awk -F: '/^Revision/ { print $2 }' /proc/cpuinfo | sed 's/ //g')
REVISION=${REVISION: -6}
case ${REVISION:2:1} in
4) #BCM2712 CPU"
cp /usr/local/share/Xorg-3d/files/99-vc4.conf /usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
;;
3) #BCM2711 CPU"
break
;;
0|1|2) #BCM2835, BCM2836 and BCM2837 CPUS, all early VC4 Graphics
cp /usr/local/share/Xorg-3d/files/20-noglamor.conf /usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
;;
*) #Unknown CPU
break
;;
esac
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Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks like this would accomplish the
same thing without creating a second case statement:
You're not missing anything - I'm hopeless at this kind of thing, Xorg-3d re-posted with updated startup script :)
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Hello Juanito and Rich!
I made a new install of piCore64 v17 beta 2. It works very well. The only thing I had to do was to make sure that Xorg-3d was available so I chose, download only, and now it works as a charm.Thanks for your diligent work!
Kind Regards,
meo
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Hi everybody!
I am working with the sound and video on my Raspberrt Pi 5 using piCore64 v17beta2. I got an error trying to download mpv that said: "WARNING: 50 of 50 computed checksums did NOT match
Error on libavdevice.tcz". So apparently there is something wrong there.
Kind greetings,
meo
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I just tried the command "tce-load -w mpv" and everything downloaded without problems.
Perhaps something got corrupted during your download, you could try deleting libavdevice.tcz* and re-starting the download.
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mpv updated to use the latest version of the ffmpeg7 libraries
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Hi Juanito!
You were right the file was corrupted. Downloading again was a breeze!
Kind Greetings,
meo
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Any reason to not move this to release?
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OK for me