Thinking of using Tiny Core; advice please?

[JunkYard]

probably best stick to windows then

Either that or you read the TinyCoreLinux book:

http://tinycorelinux.net/book.html

..and then proceed very carefully with the tc-install-GUI to avoid deleting your windows installlation and/or data.

To be honest it not even worth going down that road. I mean messing around with it on a Sunday afternoon and the disk wont even boot! the system has hung at the "

Setting Language to C Done.
_

[JunkYard]

I seam to have managed to install the CD onto a USB stick this afternoon and the USB stick dose actully boot!

probably best stick to windows then

Either that or you read the TinyCoreLinux book:

http://tinycorelinux.net/book.html

..and then proceed very carefully with the tc-install-GUI to avoid deleting your windows installlation and/or data.

I read the contence of that book thanks! But I cant seam to find what I am after. I have another drive connected to the machine as well and I would like to read what is on it. From the tiny core O.S. Do you know how to do it please?

[Juanito]

The drive has most likely been assigned a name such as sda, sdb, sdc, etc.

If the drive is partitioned, the partitions will have names like sda1, sda2, sdb1, sdb2, etc.

To see if TinyCoreLinux has recognised any drives/partitions do this:

Code: [Select]

ls /dev/sda*
ls /dev/sdb*
[...etc]
To access the contents of a partition using linux you need to "mount" the partition. If, for example, you see /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdb2 using the commands above, you can mount and list the contents of, for example, sdb2 like this:

Code: [Select]

sudo mount /dev/sdb2
ls /mnt/sdb2
Note that, depending on whether the drive partition you want to access if formatted with a linux, windows or mac file system, you may need to take additional steps to be able to mount and read files on the partition.

Note also, if you have booted TinyCoreLinux from a usb stick, at least one partition on the usb stick will be already mounted. You can see which partition is mounted like this:

Code: [Select]

ls -l /etc/sysconfig/tcedir
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            18 Jun 24  1970 /etc/sysconfig/tcedir -> /mnt/sdb2/tce/..where in this example partiton sdb2 is mounted

[Rich]

Hi JunkYard
I'm just going to add a couple of minor clarifications.

... To see if TinyCoreLinux has recognised any drives/partitions do this:

Code: [Select]

ls /dev/sda*
ls /dev/sdb*
[...etc] ...

This is  /dev/sdb  on one of my systems:

Code: [Select]

tc@E310:~$ ls /dev/sdb*
/dev/sdb  /dev/sdb1  /dev/sdb2  /dev/sdb3  /dev/sdb4  /dev/sdb5  /dev/sdb6  /dev/sdb7  /dev/sdb8  /dev/sdb9
tc@E310:~$
It looks like that device has 9 partitions, but it really has only 2.

Running the command like this tells a different story:

Code: [Select]

tc@E310:~$ ls -l /dev/sdb*
brw-rw---- 1 root staff 8, 16 Feb 28 11:05 /dev/sdb
brw-rw---- 1 root staff 8, 17 Feb 28 11:05 /dev/sdb1
brw-rw---- 1 root staff 8, 18 Feb 28 11:05 /dev/sdb2
brw-rw-r-- 1 root staff 8, 19 Jun  9  2019 /dev/sdb3
brw-rw-r-- 1 root staff 8, 20 Jun  9  2019 /dev/sdb4
brw-rw-r-- 1 root staff 8, 21 Jun  9  2019 /dev/sdb5
brw-rw-r-- 1 root staff 8, 22 Jun  9  2019 /dev/sdb6
brw-rw-r-- 1 root staff 8, 23 Jun  9  2019 /dev/sdb7
brw-rw-r-- 1 root staff 8, 24 Jun  9  2019 /dev/sdb8
brw-rw-r-- 1 root staff 8, 25 Jun  9  2019 /dev/sdb9
tc@E310:~$The partitions in this list with a current date are actually mountable.
The  -l  in the command is a lower case L, not a one.

... To access the contents of a partition using linux you need to "mount" the partition. If, for example, you see /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdb2 using the commands above, you can mount and list the contents of, for example, sdb2 like this:

Code: [Select]

sudo mount /dev/sdb2
ls /mnt/sdb2 ...

If the device was recognized as mountable, you don't need "sudo":

Code: [Select]

mount /dev/sdb2
ls /mnt/sdb2

... Note that, depending on whether the drive partition you want to access if formatted with a linux, windows or mac file system, you may need to take additional steps to be able to mount and read files on the partition. ...

If the partition was formatted as NTFS (Windows), you will need to
install support for that type of file system:

Code: [Select]

tce-load -wi ntfs-3g

[JunkYard]

The drive has most likely been assigned a name such as sda, sdb, sdc, etc.

If the drive is partitioned, the partitions will have names like sda1, sda2, sdb1, sdb2, etc.

To see if TinyCoreLinux has recognised any drives/partitions do this:

Code: [Select]

ls /dev/sda*
ls /dev/sdb*
[...etc]

Following you first instruction the HDD has /dev/sda (0-9 followed by it; meaning there are 9 partisions)

[JunkYard]

To access the contents of a partition using linux you need to "mount" the partition. If, for example, you see /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdb2 using the commands above, you can mount and list the contents of, for example, sdb2 like this:
Code: [Select]
sudo mount /dev/sdb2
ls /mnt/sdb2

But following your second instruction
of sudo mount /dev/sdb2 (or any number)
it says it cant find!

[JunkYard]

this makes no sence what so ever! there is a mount tool icon on the desk top which just shows sr0, sdb1, sda5, sda1 with a red or green tab. Dose not let you open the drives!

no indication of a file manager on the desktop either. (A vital program for any O.S one would thing!)

[Rich]

Hi JunkYard

this makes no sence what so ever! there is a mount tool icon on the desk top which just shows sr0, sdb1, sda5, sda1 with a red or green tab. Dose not let you open the drives! ...

It makes perfect sense. The purpose of a mount tool is to allow
you to mount and unmount drives from the systems file system.

... no indication of a file manager on the desktop either. (A vital program for any O.S one would thing!)

I'm tired of explaining this over and over again, so I'll just quote
one of my previous answers for you:

Hi Onktebong

... Is there really no file explorer pre-installed? ...

Of course not. The point of the ISOs is not to provide a system
that's ready to go and fulfill you needs. It's to get you to a GUI
(or command line) so you can then install the packages
that interest you. You don't need a file explorer for that.

The TC16 x86 CorePlus ISO is almost 290 Mbytes. Over 200 Mbytes
of that is firmware, drivers, and utilities for wireless support. Plus
there are 7 window managers included.

The point is, the ISOs don't get bloated with items not need to get
up and running.

[JunkYard]

Hi JunkYard

this makes no sence what so ever! there is a mount tool icon on the desk top which just shows sr0, sdb1, sda5, sda1 with a red or green tab. Dose not let you open the drives! ...

It makes perfect sense. The purpose of a mount tool is to allow
you to mount and unmount drives from the systems file system.

... no indication of a file manager on the desktop either. (A vital program for any O.S one would thing!)

I'm tired of explaining this over and over again, so I'll just quote
one of my previous answers for you:

Hi Onktebong

... Is there really no file explorer pre-installed? ...

Of course not. The point of the ISOs is not to provide a system
that's ready to go and fulfill you needs. It's to get you to a GUI
(or command line) so you can then install the packages
that interest you. You don't need a file explorer for that.

The TC16 x86 CorePlus ISO is almost 290 Mbytes. Over 200 Mbytes
of that is firmware, drivers, and utilities for wireless support. Plus
there are 7 window managers included.

The point is, the ISOs don't get bloated with items not need to get
up and running.

Then is there a file manager program that I can download and install onto it, as you can see from above trying to open the drives, I can not work with the Terminal command line

[GNUser]

I'm tired of explaining this over and over again, so I'll just quote
one of my previous answers for you:

Hi Onktebong

... Is there really no file explorer pre-installed? ...

Of course not. The point of the ISOs is not to provide a system
that's ready to go and fulfill you needs. It's to get you to a GUI
(or command line) so you can then install the packages
that interest you. You don't need a file explorer for that.

The TC16 x86 CorePlus ISO is almost 290 Mbytes. Over 200 Mbytes
of that is firmware, drivers, and utilities for wireless support. Plus
there are 7 window managers included.

The point is, the ISOs don't get bloated with items not need to get
up and running.

Hi Rich. Well said. A 290 Mbyte ISO with the bare essentials (simple GUI, wireless support, and package manager) is a beautiful thing, bordering on magic.

Hi JunkYard. TCL is for users who want to build a custom system starting virtually from scratch. Users who want a "batteries included" distro would be better served elsewhere: Linux Mint (2.9 GB x86_64 ISO) or Ubuntu (5.9 GB x86_64 ISO) may be a better fit.

[CNK]

Then is there a file manager program that I can download and install onto it, as you can see from above trying to open the drives, I can not work with the Terminal command line

You can use the extension browser to search by keywords. Searching for "file manager" finds many. If you install a graphical one (pcmanfm, emelfm, nautilus...) , it'll appear as an icon you can launch like the extension browser. Repeat as desired to install all the programs you want.

Where Tiny Core might not be for you is you need to know what programs you want, and some might need a little setting up. Other distros pick ones for you that come installed by default, hence they're often very big (including many things you might never use).

[mocore]

Users who want a "batteries included" distro would be better served elsewhere: Linux $other_distro may be a better fit.

antiX Linux $verN mini review  @ https://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=23425.0

this is the most "98/XP" esq  one i have encountered tbh

as observed in decades past

I keep AntixM8.5 for showing friends that Linux is a bit like windows.

imho it occupies the middle ground between DIY-minimal option's and pre-plumed kitchen-sink distros

what ever direction one takes
 it is hard to avoid the fact that
browsers are to ram
as zombies are to brains

[Rich]

Hi GNUser

... Users who want a "batteries included" distro would be better served elsewhere: Linux Mint (2.9 GB x86_64 ISO) or Ubuntu (5.9 GB x86_64 ISO) may be a better fit.

The OP is looking to install on a Pentium 4 with 512 Meg of RAM.

[GNUser]

The OP is looking to install on a Pentium 4 with 512 Meg of RAM.

Hi Rich. All the more reason the OP should learn to love the TCL way of doing things
Opening up a terminal and running tce-load -wi xfe (or pcmanfm or rox-filer or spacefm) is not that hard.

[gadget42]

I seem to have managed to install the CD onto a USB stick this afternoon and the USB stick does actually boot!
...
I have another drive connected to the machine as well and I would like to read what is on it from the tiny core O.S. Do you know how to do it please?

here OP describes success in booting TCL via a USB stick. also, the OP wishes to mount and read "another drive connected to the machine" but does not offer further details regarding drive/filesystem(s)/partition(s)/etc.