Tiny Core Linux
Tiny Core Base => TCB Q&A Forum => Topic started by: paulfxh on January 16, 2009, 08:34:34 PM
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I just spent some time experimenting with TinyCore 1.0 and 1.1 on my Asus EeePC 901 but could not get a network connection.
As I could not at all find the appropriate driver for my card (atl1e), must I assume that TinyCore cannot (for the moment at least) be used on my netbook?
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# CONFIG_ATL1 is not set
Guess not. You could either compile it, or wait for the next kernel update in TC (which may not be soon).
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Community member dmoerner created an extension that works with EeePC 901 wireless ethernet.
I packaged wpa-supplicant and rt2860sta for them so it's now useable on a EeePC 901 pretty well.
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Another wireless option is to try ndiswrapper.We also offer that as an extension. If the 901 is an Atom processor, and you have access to Windows driver, might be worth a try. The ndiswrapper works well with my 900A but then it is an Atheros card.
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Thanks for the replies.
Another wireless option is to try ndiswrapper.We also offer that as an extension. If the 901 is an Atom processor, and you have access to Windows driver, might be worth a try. The ndiswrapper works well with my 900A but then it is an Atheros card.
Yes, the EeePC 901 has an Intel Atom processor but I don't have any Windows stuff at all on this machine. However, I'm sure that a Windows version of atl1e must be readily available so maybe I can download it on my Ubuntu partition and move it over to the partition where I intend to install TinyCore (although I notice that installation of your OS to HD seems to be frowned upon by your community :-\)
Community member dmoerner created an extension that works with EeePC 901 wireless ethernet.
That's great but I see from this howto (http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=200.0) that this is only available as source. To compile this would require me to get the build tools from the repos which is basically impossible without some kind of internet connection which I don't have right now.
BTW, I also have DSL 4.1.2 on this computer where I have the rt2860sta driver installed and working perfectly. Perhaps there is a chance that this might work also in TinyCore in which case I would have access to a compiled driver. Does anybody think this might work?
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Yes, the EeePC 901 has an Intel Atom processor but I don't have any Windows stuff at all on this machine. However, I'm sure that a Windows version of atl1e must be readily available so maybe I can download it on my Ubuntu partition and move it over to the partition where I intend to install TinyCore (although I notice that installation of your OS to HD seems to be frowned upon by your community :-\)
Only non-standard "traditional" hd-installs are not supported.
Community member dmoerner created an extension that works with EeePC 901 wireless ethernet.
That's great but I see from this howto (http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=200.0) that this is only available as source. To compile this would require me to get the build tools from the repos which is basically impossible without some kind of internet connection which I don't have right now.
You could do the same as what you've suggested above.
BTW, I also have DSL 4.1.2 on this computer where I have the rt2860sta driver installed and working perfectly. Perhaps there is a chance that this might work also in TinyCore in which case I would have access to a compiled driver. Does anybody think this might work?
No, it will probably not.
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OK, I have used this guide (http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=308.0) to install TC (1.1 RC1) to the 16 GB drive on my EeePC 901. BTW, does this make it a "frugal install"?
This boots fine although I'm a bit concerned that not everything (indeed, anything) shows up on the Desktop. But I'll leave that for another thread if I can't solve it myself.
Right now, I want to get a wireless network connection to TC. So, I have now downloaded four .tce files (on my Ubuntu partition) from the TC repo and copied them over to the /home/tc/ directory. These files are
compiletc.tce
linuxheaders-2.6.26.tce
rt2860sta-source.tce
wpa-supplicant.tce
Now for the newbie question. I can't figure out how to get this stuff installed. The TC wiki doesn't seem to provide this information.
Can somebody please let me into the secret? ???
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Now for the newbie question. I can't figure out how to get this stuff installed.
OK, don't worry, I've figured out how to load the .tce files.
So, I got all four mentioned in my last post loaded.
Then I tried to compile the rt2860sta source using this guide (http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=200.0).
However, the "compile-rt2860sta.sh" command ends abruptly with:
Fetching upstream source of rt2860sta...wget: bad address 'www.ralinktech.com.tw'
So, even though I downloaded what I thought were all of the necessary files in another partition (which has an internet connection), my lack of internet connection on the TC partition still trips me up.
Hmmm..........what options do I have now?
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OK, I have used this guide (http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=308.0) to install TC (1.1 RC1) to the 16 GB drive on my EeePC 901. BTW, does this make it a "frugal install"?
Ouch ouch ouch :-\ ! I'm afraid that what you did is not a 'frugal' hdd install but a 'traditional' hdd install. No running in RAM, no 'pristine state' at boot. This is probably NOT what you want!
You should extract bzImage and tinycore.gz from the iso directly to your harddisk. Not gunzip'ing tinycore.gz!!! Then points grub entry to those files, aka kernel bzImage and initrd tinycore.gz
As for the network part, I think you were on the right tracks with those extensions.
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Thanks for the advice. Looks like I did the "spendy" install instead of the "frugal". :D
OK, so based on what you said I did the following:
- download the TC 1.1 RC1 iso to Ubuntu Desktop
- Extract the iso to provide a "boot" directory
- copy bzImage, tinycore.gz and isolinux folder from this directory over to the root of an empty ext2-formatted partition on the EeePC 901
- I use Xandros Grub in the MBR, so I added this to the /boot/grub/menu.lst of the Xandros partition
title Tiny Core Linux 1.1 RC1 Frugal Install
root (hd1,6)
kernel /bzImage root=/dev/hdd7
initrd /tinycore.gz
boot- However, when I try to boot to this I get an error 2 (bad file or directory type)
Any clues as to why it won't boot?
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fwiw, atl1 is marked experimental in 2.6.26
Looks like the extension tries to download the source package. You'd need to grab that as well. It may be easier for you to build it on a TC system with Internet access, or in a VM.
You don't need to copy the isolinux folder. Try
title TC
root (hd1,6)
kernel /bzImage
initrd /tinycore.gz
This would indicate that the files are on ie /mnt/hdb5
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Looks like the extension tries to download the source package. You'd need to grab that as well. It may be easier for you to build it on a TC system with Internet access, or in a VM.
Thanks for the suggestions. I was able to create the rt2860sta.ko.gz driver in TinyCore VM in VMware Server and install it in the "traditional" TC HDD install I have on the EeePC 901.
I copied the driver to /lib/modules/2.6.26-tinycore/drivers/net/wireless (the last three directories I had to create) and then issued the commands:
depmod -a
modprobe rt2860 sta
ifconfig ra0 up
ifconfig ra0 192.168.1.5 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add default gw 192.168.1.254Now, if I type "ifconfig" details of the ra0 interface show up.
However, I still can't ping.
I believe this is simply because I don't have the "iwconfig" command which is necessary to define the essid and wep key. Any clues as to how I can get iwconfig?
[Just thought it may also be because I haven't installed wpa-supplicant in the HDD install]
You don't need to copy the isolinux folder. Try
title TC
root (hd1,6)
kernel /bzImage
initrd /tinycore.gz
This would indicate that the files are on ie /mnt/hdb5
Still can't get the frugal install to boot. Almost everything I've tried gives me the same error 2 which suggests that bzImage is either not there (but it is) or it's not really a file but something like a symlink. :-\
This is a real mystery.
BTW, to get my "traditional" TC HDD install to boot I use the following in /boot/grub/menu.lst
root (hd1,9)
kernel /bzImage root=/dev/hdd10So, even though (hd1,9) should translate as /dev/hdb10 (or /dev/sdb10), TC recognizes it as /dev/hdd10 (which is actually the same as I find in DSL 4.1.2)
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OK, I got iwconfig from wireless_tools (downloaded in Ubuntu, copied across and loaded by app_browser).
So, finally, I have internet in Tiny Linux ;D
Even though it took some time, I learned a lot about this OS in the attempt to get wireless working.
I still have some problems but maybe I should start new threads about each. But, if anybody has some clues, here they are:
1. How to install Wbar (can't find this in tce or tcz repos)
2. An earlier post in this thread said
atl1 is marked experimental in 2.6.26
Where can I get this as it too is not in the repos
3. How to do a frugal install that actually boots
Thanks to everybody for helping me out. :)
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Good to hear that you have your wireless module.
re: frugal
You should use grub's find command to see if grub can actually see your frugal bzImage
Some had to upgrade their version of grub.
re:wbar
wbar is part of tiny core. It should be controlled from the file .desktop field icons: wbar
yours is likely set to 0
Your installation (traditional hdd) is not recommended and as such you will continue to have challenges that others do not.
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Thanks for the reply
re: frugal
You should use grub's find command to see if grub can actually see your frugal bzImage
Some had to upgrade their version of grub.
Yes, I used
grub> find /bzImagein Ubuntu and both partitions where I have TC installed (frugal and traditional) showed up. So, Grub sees the bzImage file in my attempted frugal install, but for some reason doesn't recognize it as a real file.
However, as with nearly all problems I've ever had, I don't believe I'm the only one ever to have experienced this. And this one certainly can't be blamed on my traditional install.
re:wbar
wbar is part of tiny core. It should be controlled from the file .desktop field icons: wbar
yours is likely set to 0
I checked the .desktop file in both my traditional TC install and in my TC VM. Both show exactly the same file content
wm: jwm
icons: wbarHowever, wbar shows in the VM but not in the traditional install. Is this one of the traditional install challenges you refer to?
Your installation (traditional hdd) is not recommended and as such you will continue to have challenges that others do not.
Believe me, I have no perverse desire for unnecessary challenges but so far I'm not seeing any light at the end of the "frugal" tunnel.
Perhaps there's a detailed howto/guide somewhere?
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Thanks for the suggestions. I was able to create the rt2860sta.ko.gz driver in TinyCore VM in VMware Server and install it in the "traditional" TC HDD install I have on the EeePC 901.
I copied the driver to /lib/modules/2.6.26-tinycore/drivers/net/wireless (the last three directories I had to create) [...]
You could've used the generated .tcem extension instead, as described in the .info
Are there more details for your grub error? What version is it? Maybe it has to do with device.map? It looks like you copied the right files though. Maybe try copying them over again, or in another partition.
In X, run wbar.sh and see if wbar shows up. If not, check that it's there: ls -l `which wbar`
ath1 is marked experimental in the upstream 2.6.26 kernel. You can compile it if you want, but it's probably not recommended. There may be an updated version in a newer kernel tree though. EDIT: looks like it was unmarked in .28
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A frugal install onto an existing Grub/Linux partition is quite easy.
1. Optional but suggested, mkdir a level one directory named tinycore
2. Copy two files, bzImage and tinycore.gz into said tinycore directory
3. Since this is an existing working Grub/linux system then edit menu.lst by copying an existing entry for this partition. And adjust for tiny core...
Example from eeePC 900A
#
# Configured by Xandros Configuration system.
#
# hiddenmenu
# default boot entry
default=0
# Boot automatically after 1 second.
timeout=10
# Fallback to Configure.
fallback=2
title TinyCore
root (0x80,0)
kernel /tinycore/bzImage quiet irqpoll tz=PST+8PDT,M4.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2
initrd /tinycore/tinycore.gz
title Xandros Boot
root (0x80,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc quiet rw vga=785 irqpoll root=/dev/sda1
initrd /boot/initramfs-eeepc.img
title Perform Disk Scan
root (0x80,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc quiet rw vga=785 irqpoll root=/dev/sda1 XANDROSSCAN=y
initrd /boot/initramfs-eeepc.img
title Restore Factory Settings
root (0x80,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc quiet rw vga=normal nosplash=y irqpoll root=/dev/sda1 XANDROSRESTORE=y
initrd /boot/initramfs-eeepc.img
The above example shows that I copied the defaullt Xandros Boot menu item, and changed it to look at the tinycore directory.
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Thank you for the replies
Are there more details for your grub error? What version is it? Maybe it has to do with device.map? It looks like you copied the right files though. Maybe try copying them over again, or in another partition.
Looks like I was a bit hasty in concluding that Grub "sees" the /bzImage in the frugal install partition that refuses to boot. Certainly, if I use the Grub "find" command from Ubuntu, it picks up both partitions where I have "installed" TC (traditional and frugal). However, in Xandros, only the /bzImage on the traditional install partition is seen. Now, as the Xandros grub is in the MBR of this machine and boots everything, it seems that the /bzImage in the frugal install is not being seen by the bootloader.
I would have liked to confirm this by checking the version of Grub in Ubuntu and Xandros but have been unable to ascertain how to do this.
In X, run wbar.sh and see if wbar shows up. If not, check that it's there: ls -l `which wbar`
Yes, /usr/bin/wbar is present in my traditional install but still I can't see either the dock or the top panel. In the TC VM that I can run in VMware Server on this same machine, I can see both panel and dock, but the latter only by scrolling down quite a bit.
Additionally, in the traditional install screen, if I "mouse around" below the bottom of the screen I can, by clicking now and again, get maybe a terminal to appear or a "getting started" window. So, it seems as if the dock is there but off the bottom of the screen.
It's less easy to explain why the top panel doesn't show up.
My EeePC 901 has a screen size of 1024x600 and I have the impression that a screen resolution of 1024x768 is being used so that part of the screen is not visible. However, I have used the XVesa setup tool to try to change the screen resolution (to for example 640x480) but in no case did any change take place even after rebooting.
A frugal install onto an existing Grub/Linux partition is quite easy.
1. Optional but suggested, mkdir a level one directory named tinycore
2. Copy two files, bzImage and tinycore.gz into said tinycore directory
3. Since this is an existing working Grub/linux system then edit menu.lst by copying an existing entry for this partition. And adjust for tiny core...
Example from eeePC 900A
title TinyCore
root (0x80,0)
kernel /tinycore/bzImage quiet irqpoll tz=PST+8PDT,M4.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2
initrd /tinycore/tinycore.gz
The above example shows that I copied the defaullt Xandros Boot menu item, and changed it to look at the tinycore directory.
Well, the idea of getting the bootloader to pick up the bzImage and tinycore.gz in Xandros first did the trick for me. My frugal install of TC is now bootable. ;D
However, whereas you seem to have TC installed frugally on the Xandros partition, mine is on its own independent logical partition. In my case, therefore, I copied both bzImage and tinycore.gz from the TC iso to a /boot/tinycore directory that I created on the Xandros partition.
I then added the following to the Xandros /boot/grub/menu.lst
title TinyCore 1.0 Frugal Install
root (0x80,0)
kernel /boot/tinycore/bzImage root=/dev/hdd7
initrd /boot/tinycore/tinycore.gzAnd, yes, this is fast. It boots in 16 seconds on my machine. However, amazingly, it's not the fastest I have. Both Haiku and Senryu on this machine boot in 11 seconds. :o
Many thanks for the help.
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Robert, is irqpoll needed on your Eee?
It brings additional overhead to the scheduler, should only be enabled when things don't work otherwise..
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TC seems to work well on my Eee (701) without the irqpoll boot code.
So, I will remove this bootcode as curaga explained it brings overhead to the scheduler.
Yet, the default menu.lst uses irqpoll to boot the Xandros distro. I wonder why!
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My Eee 900A is working fine without irqpoll as well. Being lazy, I had followed Xandros' lead as i thought it might be related to their unique hardware in the epc.
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Looks like I was a bit hasty in concluding that Grub "sees" the /bzImage in the frugal install partition that refuses to boot. Certainly, if I use the Grub "find" command from Ubuntu, it picks up both partitions where I have "installed" TC (traditional and frugal). However, in Xandros, only the /bzImage on the traditional install partition is seen. Now, as the Xandros grub is in the MBR of this machine and boots everything, it seems that the /bzImage in the frugal install is not being seen by the bootloader.
I would have liked to confirm this by checking the version of Grub in Ubuntu and Xandros but have been unable to ascertain how to do this.
You can see the version in the prompt if you have one during boot, or run `grub --version`. It doesn't seem like the version is a problem though. But you're chainloading grub installations?
Yes, /usr/bin/wbar is present in my traditional install but still I can't see either the dock or the top panel. In the TC VM that I can run in VMware Server on this same machine, I can see both panel and dock, but the latter only by scrolling down quite a bit.
Additionally, in the traditional install screen, if I "mouse around" below the bottom of the screen I can, by clicking now and again, get maybe a terminal to appear or a "getting started" window. So, it seems as if the dock is there but off the bottom of the screen.
It's less easy to explain why the top panel doesn't show up.
My EeePC 901 has a screen size of 1024x600 and I have the impression that a screen resolution of 1024x768 is being used so that part of the screen is not visible. However, I have used the XVesa setup tool to try to change the screen resolution (to for example 640x480) but in no case did any change take place even after rebooting.
You'd need to use the backup/restore feature if you're using a standard install. You don't need to reboot though - just exit X and run `startx`. If that doesn't help, then looking into the vga= bootcodes (and a fb xserver) might work, or xorg.
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Thanks for the reply.
You can see the version in the prompt if you have one during boot, or run `grub --version`. It doesn't seem like the version is a problem though. But you're chainloading grub installations?
Yes, it looks like, not surprisingly, that both Ubuntu 8.04.1 and Xandros have Grub Ver. 0.97 so this doesn't help to explain why I couldn't get my "original" frugal install to boot. However, as it's booting now, I'm not really that worried about it.
I have seven OSes on this machine (all except for Ubuntu and Xandros being < 1GB in size). I chainload the native bootloader on three of them to get them to boot through the Xandros Grub (these are DSL 4.1.2, Haiku and Senryu) and the other four are booted by the usual kernel and initrd lines in menu.lst
You'd need to use the backup/restore feature if you're using a standard install. You don't need to reboot though - just exit X and run `startx`. If that doesn't help, then looking into the vga= bootcodes (and a fb xserver) might work, or xorg.
Yes, adding bootcode "vga=789" did the trick. Everything visible now. However, even though this vga code refers to a screen resolution of 800x600 (24 bit), it looks like the resolution is actually 1024x600 as no blank space appears at the sides of the screen.
Now, TinyCore is starting to look extremely well on my EeePC 901. This is an impressive OS.
Here is the entry I use in /boot/grub/menu.lst (Xandros) for TC frugal if anybody else is interested to see it.
title TinyCore 1.0 Frugal Install
root (0x80,0)
kernel /boot/tinycore/bzImage root=/dev/hdd7 tce=hdd7 restore=hdd7 vga=789
initrd /boot/tinycore/tinycore.gz
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Thanks for sharing and good to hear TC is running on 901.
As a side note, I find it interesting that the eeePC line is so wide and the hardware therein so divergent.
But now, it seems that we have the 701, 900A, and now 901 models covered.
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# CONFIG_ATL1 is not set
Guess not. You could either compile it, or wait for the next kernel update in TC (which may not be soon).
I compiled this driver today and it works perfectly.
Essentially, I just followed this guide (http://twinturbo.org/asus/attansic-atl1e-eee-pc-9011000-lan-driver-compile-and-install/), created a .tcem using this command
tar -C / -czvf atl1e.tcem lib/modules/2.6.26-tinycore/kernel/drivers/net/atl1e/atl1e.ko
,
moved the atl1e.tcem to /mnt/hdd7/tce and wrote a startup script for eth0 as follows:
#!/bin/sh
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.26-tinycore/kernel/drivers/net/atl1e/atl1e.ko
depmod
ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.15 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255 up
echo nameserver 208.67.222.222 > /etc/resolv.conf
echo nameserver 208.67.220.220 >> /etc/resolv.conf
route add default gw 192.168.1.254which I then added to bootlocal.sh.
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This is how I managed to get my wifi working without using another PC or vmware setup to compile the driver:
1 - Download the following files and save it in a location that can be accessed later (I used an SD card):
- compiletc.tce (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/tce/compiletc.tce)
- linux-headers-2.6.26.tce (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/tce/linux-headers-2.6.26.tce)
- rt2860sta-source.tce (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/tce/rt2860sta-source.tce)
- openssl-0.9.8h.tcel (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/tce/openssl-0.9.8h.tcel)
- wpa-supplicant.tce (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/tce/wpa-supplicant.tce)
- RT2860 source (http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/drivers/2008_0918_RT2860_Linux_STA_v1.8.0.0.tar.bz2)
2 - After booting into TC, install all the TCE's (use tce-load ??????.tce? ) and copy the RT2860 source to /tmp directory.
3 - Modify /usr/local/bin/compile-rt2860sta.sh using the following patch:
--- /usr/local/bin/compile-rt2860sta.sh Fri Dec 5 00:03:01 2008
+++ /usr/local/bin/compile-rt2860sta.sh Wed Apr 1 15:59:39 2009
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
SCRIPTVERSION="0.1"
clean() {
- rm -rf /tmp/$SOURCE /tmp/$SOURCE.md5sum /tmp/$SOURCEDIR
+ rm -rf /tmp/$SOURCE.md5sum /tmp/$SOURCEDIR
}
echo "Welcome to $(basename $0), version "$SCRIPTVERSION"."
@@ -60,11 +60,11 @@
echo "have to use wpa-supplicant to use this wireless card, even with WEP."
echo
-echo -n "Fetching upstream source of rt2860sta..."
+#echo -n "Fetching upstream source of rt2860sta..."
clean
cd /tmp
-wget -c -q "$UPSTREAM"/"$SOURCE"
-echo "done"
+#wget -c -q "$UPSTREAM"/"$SOURCE"
+#echo "done"
echo ""$MD5SUM" "$SOURCE"" > $SOURCE.md5sum
4 - Run compile-rt2860sta.sh. The resulting compiled driver, rt2860sta.tcem, can be found under the /tmp directory. Install this file and copy it to a safe location.
5 - Create /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf and then run the following commands:
sudo modprobe rt2860sta
sudo wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -ira0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
sudo udhcpc -T 10 -A 30 -b -i ra0
6 - Hopefully you now have a working network access and can continue customizing your system.