Recent Posts

41

TCB Talk / Re: Tiny Core v17.0 upgrade issues

« Last post by Stefann on March 30, 2026, 09:02:55 AM »

Update,
After 48hrs it was still running under TC17 with extra bootcode "usbcore.autosuspend=-1"
Logging at *.notice level but not much in logging. Only some application logging I made myself and some crontab-launches.

I stopped all manual.
I will be travelling April 2-10 during which period I cannot risk a crash.
So.. I reverted back to TC15 and restarted.
That gives me a few days of run hopefully without crash.
The thing did run for multipel month without crash before I started my upgrade work so in principle it should run without crash now.
However... there is always the possibility that during the upgrade I did something "TC17 unrelated" that is causing all this. So in itself this should also give confirmation that TC15 is stable.
Target to run until April 10...11.

Note...
On the positive side..
It's extremely convenient that going back to earlier release is as simple as:
- modify tce/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf to pick the older core.gz and vmlinuz (I did not overwrite them but kept old version as core15.gz and vmlinuz15)
- rename tce/optional directory to get the previous one back (yes I made a backup :-)
- modify tce/onboot.lst to include correct kernel extension for usb-serial

try that with windows.......

unless I get a crash: dont expect to hear form me until April-11
in the mean time: any smart idea is welcome. I will not have access to my tinycore system but travel with laptop so will check this forum regularly.

42

TCB Talk / Re: Installing on a Tatung TWN-5213 CU

« Last post by peasthope on March 29, 2026, 10:09:00 PM »

...
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

43

TCB Talk / Re: Installing on a Tatung TWN-5213 CU

« Last post by Rich on March 29, 2026, 05:18:12 PM »

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:

Code: [Select]

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.

44

TCB Talk / Re: Installing on a Tatung TWN-5213 CU

« Last post by peasthope on March 29, 2026, 02:56:08 PM »

You can also add this boot code:

Code: [Select]

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.

Code: [Select]

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.

45

Off-Topic - Tiny Core Lounge / Re: Linux desktop on your phone...

« Last post by vinceASPECT on March 29, 2026, 11:26:41 AM »

Hello forum,

My rants about full GUI Linux on your phone missed
The point of telling you about the free play store app called
"Swap no root"

I don't know if just loading and setting it's swap works?

But I am under the impression that another tiny little script file
Needs to sit in the Android folder of the  phone.

I did this file and set a 2 giG swap which certainly improves this entry level
Phone performance....a lot

The APP itself infers that only itself is required

I hope you can get good performance using this free APP on any $25 entry level phone

Thanks
C

46

Off-Topic - Tiny Core Lounge / Simple and free text chat APP

« Last post by vinceASPECT on March 29, 2026, 10:59:48 AM »

Hi forum,

Can anybody point me to a ridicously simple " free  text chat APP"
Which works on Android and Apple

Very lightweight and basic
Thank s

C

Ps.....if I was thinking about a similar app but in a web browser....

I would just be thinking of being able to just type your messages in the ddress bar
Followed by your nickname and a private number ..... And then the recipient
Sees the message in his/her address bar and replies accordingly

Maybe it exists....I just don't know of it

47

TCB Talk / Re: Tiny Core v17.0 upgrade issues

« Last post by Stefann on March 29, 2026, 10:23:37 AM »

On configuration of the cable,
Probably easiest if I just share my "init code".
It's probably a bit dirty. I was learning the technology while doing the job.
It's a combination of code I grabbed from the internet with personal additions.
so.. baudrate is 11520
After this initialisation I just read the output.
The "temp" is a data structure I use for temporary results.

Code: [Select]

int start_meter(char * dev)
{ struct  termios pts = { 0 };  /* termios settings on port */
  int fd;

     /* some things we want to set arbitrarily */
   pts.c_lflag &= ~ICANON;
   pts.c_lflag &= ~(ECHO | ECHOCTL | ECHONL);
   pts.c_cflag |= HUPCL;
   pts.c_cc[VMIN] = 1;
   pts.c_cc[VTIME] = 0;
   
   /* Standard CR/LF handling: this is a dumb terminal.
    * Do no translation:
    *  no NL -> CR/NL mapping on output, and
    *  no CR -> NL mapping on input.
    */
   pts.c_oflag |= ONLCR;

   pts.c_iflag &= ~ICRNL;

  /* set hardware flow control by default */
  pts.c_cflag |= CRTSCTS;
  pts.c_iflag &= ~(IXON | IXOFF | IXANY);
  /* set 9600 bps speed by default */
  // cfsetospeed(&pts, B9600);
  // cfsetispeed(&pts, B9600);
  cfsetospeed(&pts, B115200);
  cfsetispeed(&pts, B115200);

  temp.E_night      = -1.0;
  temp.E_day        = -1.0;
  temp.E_rnight     = -1.0;
  temp.E_rday       = -1.0;
  temp.E_power      = -1.0;
  temp.E_rpower     = -1.0;
  temp.E_id         = -1.0;
  temp.gaz_time_sec = -1.0;
  temp.gaz_count    = -1.0;

  fd = open(dev, O_RDWR);
  if (fd>=0)
     tcsetattr(fd, TCSANOW, &pts);
  return fd;

}

48

TCB Talk / Re: Tiny Core v17.0 upgrade issues

« Last post by Stefann on March 29, 2026, 10:17:23 AM »

Hi,
its difficult to say as I bought the cable 17 years ago.

I just went through my notes.
I cannot find a literal order, but my notes indicate that I was intending to buy: "FTDI TTL-232R (5V)".

From the website you shared that is close to this one:
https://ftdichip.com/products/usb-rs232-we-5000-bt_5-0/
But my usb-connector is black, not transparant.

I can see I saved screenshots from "FTDI FT prog" that configures the cable. So it looks like I kind of have that one.

For the record: it's still running. About 24hrs now.
logging is coming in. But to be honest, not much interesting. Just crontabs getting fired.
It's nice that the logging is now on a separate network connected system. That also means that in case of a crash I can check the logging before starting the crashed system.

49

TCB Talk / Re: Tiny Core v17.0 upgrade issues

« Last post by Rich on March 29, 2026, 09:57:24 AM »

Hi Stefann
Is the USB to RS-232 cable you are using listed here:
https://ftdichip.com/product-category/products/cables/usb-rs232-cable-series/

50

TCB Talk / Re: Tiny Core v17.0 upgrade issues

« Last post by Rich on March 29, 2026, 09:46:07 AM »

Hi Stefann

... Speed however is not a big thing. ...

Agreed. I does not appear like any of those devices would tax the USB ports.

... - the serial port reads my energy meter that spits out a data block of 500 bytes each second. ...

You haven't mention the baud rate you are using and whether your
USB to RS-232 cable contains a transmit FIFO, so I decided to do a
little math.

Assuming:
8 data bits, 1 parity bit, 1 start bit, 2 stop bits (12 bits).
Baud  rate of 9600 (~104 uSecs/bit).
Data bursts of 500 bytes.

12 bits * 0.000104 secs = 0.001248 secs
500 bytes * 0.001248 secs = 0.624 secs

This assumes zero gap time between transmitted bytes.
The RS-232 spec does not specify min/max gap times.