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Author Topic: Boot to CLI, not able to get GUI to start  (Read 11927 times)

Offline samuelp101

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Boot to CLI, not able to get GUI to start
« on: February 19, 2015, 02:16:24 PM »
I'm a newbie to TinyCoreLinux and Linux in general.  My Linux experience is limited to installing Debian & Ubuntu using instruction found online, and is not using Linux as part of my day to day activities.

I found TinyCoreLinux about 2 weeks ago, as part of my effort to dig deeper and learn Linux and really like what this small footprint package.

I try to launch TCL on an eBox-3300MX and not able to get the GUI to launch.  TCL boot to a command line interface.  I know the eBox-3300MX support different VESA video modes.  Here is the URL to the eBox-3300MX:
    http://www.compactpc.com.tw/product.aspx?act=detail&id=27

Note:  I use Core2USB to configure an USB flash storage.

I tried both CorePlus-6.0.iso (76MB) and TinyCore-6.0.iso (15MB) with the same result, using the Core

I am able to boot TCL to a GUI desktop, using VirtualBox as the test platform.

I found an old discussion thread on this forum, talking about the very same problem back in 2012 (it looks like testman resolved the problem.  However, the solution was not posted back to the forum thread.)
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,13945.0.html

Can I launch the GUI manually from the CLI?
Is there a log file where I can review what happen during the boot process?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Samuelp101


 

Offline Misalf

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Re: Boot to CLI, not able to get GUI to start
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2015, 02:27:56 PM »
Make sure these extensions are loaded (via  tce-status -i  or look in  /tmp/tcloop/) :
Xvesa.tcz, Xlibs.tcz, Xprogs.tcz, aterm.tcz, flwm_topside.tcz, wbar.tcz

To start the GUI from CLI type  startx .

The boot code  waitusb=XX  might help (where XX is any number of seconds) in case your USB flash storage reacts too slow.
Download a copy and keep it handy: Core book ;)

Offline samuelp101

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Re: Boot to CLI, not able to get GUI to start
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2015, 04:58:58 PM »
@Misalf
Thanks for the info.

FYI,
I use an old PC to check the TCL file on the USB stick I am using and able to boot right into the GUI desktop without problem, confirming files on the USB stick is good.

I am going to use a different setup, with CD-ROM, to install TCL, and will post my finding back to this thread in a few days.

I will attend SCALE 13x (SoCal Linux Expo in Los Angeles) this weekend, and will come back to this problem after the event.

Sam



Offline CentralWare

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Re: Boot to CLI, not able to get GUI to start
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2015, 07:46:17 PM »
@Sam: Though it's a little rare, there are times where Xvesa doesn't like a particular video card or other piece of hardware needed just to start the GUI.  Depending on which ISO you've downloaded, there are simplistic ways to find out which flavor might work best for you.

My recommendation would be to download CORE (instead of Tiny or Plus) which is nothing more than the basics to get you into CLI.
From here, let's use just the Core CD to boot the machine in question.

At the command line, enter the following:
Code: [Select]
tce-load -wi Xvesa Xprogs flwm_topside wbar
If there are no problems shown while downloading, type in startx to launch the desktop (X server) and wait.
* If there's a hardware problem Vesa can't handle...  it'll usually complain.  Stop back here and give details.

If this doesn't bode well, you might want to try a more powerful (feature-wise) server, such as Xorg.  Reboot back into the clean CLI and:
Code: [Select]
tce-load -wi Xorg-7.6 Xprogs Xlibs flwm_topside wbar
Again, if no problems, launch startx and sit tight.
* Xorg is more likely to complain about video drivers.  We WANT to know this information so we know which direction to take.

If Xorg can't handle video on its own, then type in
Code: [Select]
tce-ab
and do a search for the word firmware - specifically looking for brands you might have in your machine.  For example, let's say you have a Raedon based video card (such as ATI, AMD, etc.) you'll want/need to install the firmware-raedon extension so Xorg knows how to communicate with your video hardware.  This is a short list and not necessarily based on video cards.  If you don't find your blend of video cards, repeat the search using the word "graphics" and finally the larger list searching for "xf86" (looking for files starting with xf86-video-brand.)  If you know in advance what video hardware you're using that would be helpful skipping past most of the hunting.

If all else fails, we'll keep digging! :)

Good luck!

Offline coreplayer2

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Re: Boot to CLI, not able to get GUI to start
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2015, 06:09:25 PM »
I'm surprised the op hasn't returned to say the issue was resolved by adding the " waitusb=5 " boot code ??