Frequently Asked Questions

Where's the Start Button?

The Start Button is just a way to bring up the menu. As Tiny Core uses FLWM Window Manager, right click anywhere on the background or window title of the screen to bring up the menu. Then navigate the menus as usual. If you decide not to select anything and want the menu to go away, then left click on the background.

How do I add/load/install extensions?

For best results use the desktop application Appbrowser, it is available from the icon launch bar or the system menu.
Using Appbrowser will fetch the requested extension and all of its required dependencies. See: Downloads Howto

Extensions disappear after booting. How do I keep my extensions?

To make your extensions persistent Tiny Core needs a directory to store them. Do the following:

Boot CD, at first boot prompt press f2. Notice the line "tce={hda1|sda1} Specify Restore TCE apps directory"
then at the boot prompt type: tinycore tce=xxyz where xxyz is your drive partition particulars.

Note: This tce= boot option is only needed one time! The System will autoscan for it upon each boot. However for faster booting, add the tce= boot option to your bootloader.

If you forget to boot with this option and are already at the desktop, then from the icon launch bar select Control or the system menu ControlPanel.
Select Set TCE Drive and you will be prompted to select your drive partition for the tce directory.

Note: Drive partition types supported by Tiny Core base are: ext2, ext3, ext4, fat32.

How do I update my extensions?

The safe method to keeping your collection of extensions updated is to boot base norestore
and run tce-update from the command line. This will perform a batch update. Sometimes, you need a few extensions to access the net, an alternate batch update method is:
From the main system tools menu: ControlPanel->Update Apps.

When run in safe mode (booting with base norestore) you are
assured that no extension will be in use during the upgrade procedure and is therefore recommended. An alternate selective update method is:
AppsAudit->Updated->Check for Updates

Select an extension for update. The Results panel will update.
After updating your desired extensions, reboot.

After rebooting:

AppsAudit->Dependencies->Update .dep files-> (Note this step is optional, but will ensure that all your .dep files are up to date.)
->Build Reporting Database->Display All with Missing Dependencies.

If any extensions are displayed, use AppBrowser to Download + Load them.

How do I delete an extension?

Use appsaudit. See Tools->AppsAudit from the system menu. This is a GUI reporting and deletion tool. This provides a safe method to delete an extension and all unencumbered dependencies. The extensions marked for deletion will be removed during shutdown, ensuring that no extension is in use. Several reports are also available to check on dependencies.

How do I use system menu/taskbar/pager?

A quick primer on flwm:

FLWM popup menu is a combination of:
   application launcher
   task bar of running and iconized applicataions
   pager with multiple desktops via "New Desktop" menu option

FLWM popup menu is always readily available by:
   right click on empty area of desktop 
   right click on any window title bar
   alt-tab

FLWM popup menu handles multiple desktops:
   Menu allows easy switching desktops, just select Desktop X from menu.
   Moving windows to other desktop is easy, switch to Desktop then choose running app from menu.

FLWM does not use a file for menu, but symlinks or scripts in the .wmx directory located in HOME.

How to use pendrives and other removable devices with Tiny Core?

Starting with Version 1.3, Tiny Core supports UUID and LABELS.

This is most helpful when using pendrives on different machines and you want to "anchor" your Tiny Core boot codes to a specific device.

To find the UUID of a device use the command blkid
blkid -s UUID /dev/sda1

You can mount devices by UUID with the mount command, e.g,
# mount -U 4773-DFE2

The UUID tends to be long, so best to cut and paste into your menu.lst boot options.

You can now specify the device to be used by UUID as follows:
tce=UUID=4773-DFE2 home=UUID=4773-DFE2 opt=UUID=4773-DFE2 restore=UUID=4773-DFE2

Typically this is helpful when using pendrives, be sure to add the waitusb=5 option.

Advanced users may add a specific device to wait for, with the time limit being the maximum time to wait:
waitusb=30:LABEL=tinycore
waitusb=30:UUID=4773-DFE2




You can now also use LABELS. This too is optional.

To write a label on the partition of a pendrive, use the command tune2fs
# tune2fs -L tinycore /dev/sda1

You can check your results with
blkid -s LABEL /dev/sda1

Then you can specify devices by LABEL, e.g.
# mount -L tinycore

For Tiny Core boot options use:
tce=LABEL=tinycore home=LABEL=tinycore opt=LABEL=tinycore restore=LABEL=tinycore

In order to use labels on other filesystems than ext2/3/4, see their respective extensions:

- for fat16/32 dosfstools-3.tcz contains the tool dosfslabel
- for JFS jfsutils.tcz contains the tool jfs_tune
- for XFS xfsprogs.tcz contains the tool xfs_admin
- for reiserfs reiserfsprogs.tcz contains the tool reiserfstune

How to resolve 'Failed to load firmware' error?

When booting Tiny Core 2.x an error like the following appears:
e100: eth0: e100_request_firmware: Failed to load firmware "e100/d102e_ucode.bin": -2
Boot continues very slowly after the message. Desktop appears but network access is disabled

To resolve many firmware issues see: firmware-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tcz extension.

How to setup a proxy with Tiny Core?

How can I set an http proxy for downloading extensions? I am sitting behind a restrictive firewall and need to go through a proxy to the internet.

export http_proxy='proxy.domain: port'

Example:
export http_proxy="http://192.125.196.3:8080"

If a username and password are required:
export http_proxy="http://username:password@host:port"

How do I make aterm default to transparency mode?

Transparency is not the default in v1.3. The choice to make it default is under the control of the user by editing the .Xdefaults file in the their home directory.
Shading is not 100%. No change was made to the v1.2 of 70%

A simple change from Aterm*transparent: false to Aterm*transparent: true will allow wbar to launch Aterm with transparency.

Current .Xdefaults in v1.3:

Aterm*scrollBar: true
Aterm*transparent: false
Aterm*title: Terminal
Aterm*foreground: white
Aterm*background: black
Aterm*font: fixed
Aterm*cursorColor: green
Aterm*fading: 70
Aterm*shading: 50
Aterm*color12: DodgerBlue1
Aterm*saveLines: 1000
fltk*scheme: gtk+

How do I mount windows shares?

If the sharing computer is at least Windows 2000, you can mount the share with only the filesystems-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tcz extension.

In a root console:

mkdir /mnt/windows
mount -t cifs //9.53.216.11/myshare /mnt/windows -o user=myname,pass=mypassword

Replace the IP with your sharing computer's IP. If you need to log into a domain instead of the computer, you can add domain=mydomain to the options.

How to Cut and Paste?

To cut and paste in Linux one simply highlights the text with the left mouse button and then press the middle button to paste. If you have a two button mouse you would paste by pressing the left and right button together. Cutting and pasting takes a little practice, but is very efficient after one gets used to it.

Many terminals and apps also support shift-insert to paste.

How To Set the Timezone?

If you live where in an area that has DST then you need to use the full specific ation for the tz variable. Indicating both the begin and end of DST.

For example mine tz boot code is: tz=PST+8PDT,M3.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2

In the above DST clause PDT,M3.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2

M3 = month nbr (1-12)
2 = week nbr (1-5)
0 = day of week (0-7)
/2 = time

How To Clean Up Wbar?

Right click on 'Wbar' and that will restart Wbar and clean up any leftovers.

What Bootcodes does Tiny Core Support?

At the boot prompt press [F2] and [F3] [F4].

      F2 boot time options:

Tiny Core accepts the following persistence options:

 tinycore tce={hda1|sda1}            Specify Restore TCE apps directory
 tinycore restore={hda1|sda1|floppy} Specify saved configuration location
 tinycore waitusb=X                  Wait X seconds for slow USB devices
 tinycore swapfile{=hda1}            Scan or Specify swapfile
 tinycore home={hda1|sda1}           Specify persistent home directory
 tinycore opt={hda1|sda1}            Specify persistent opt directory
 tinycore local={hda1|sda1}          Specify PPI directory or loopback file
 tinycore lst=yyy.lst                Load alternate static yyy.lst on boot
 tinycore base                       Skip TCE load only the base system
 tinycore norestore                  Turn off the automatic restore
 tinycore safebackup                 Saves a backup copy (mydatabk.tgz)
 tinycore showapps                   Display application names when booting

      F3 boot time options:

Tiny Core accepts the following additional boot time options:

 Color            640x480     800x600      1024x768     1280x1024
   256    8 bit     769         771           773          775
 32000   15 bit     784         787           790          793
 65000   16 bit     785         788           791          794
 16.7M   24 bit     786         789           792          795

 tinycore vga=7xx                    7xx from table above
 tinycore xsetup                     Prompt user for Xvesa setup
 tinycore lang=en                    C only unless getlocale.tcz is installed
 tinycore kmap=us                    US only unless kmaps.tcz is installed
 tinycore text                       Textmode
 tinycore superuser                  Textmode as user root
 tinycore noicons                    Do not use icons
 tinycore noswap                     Do not use swap partition
 tinycore nodhcp                     Skip the dhcp request at boot
 tinycore noutc                      BIOS is using localtime
 tinycore pause                      Pause at completion of boot messages

      F4 boot time options:

Tiny Core accepts the following additional boot time options:

 tinycore {cron|syslog}              Start various daemons at boot
 tinycore host=xxxx                  Set hostname to xxxx
 tinycore secure                     Set password
 tinycore protect                    Password Encrypted Backup
 tinycore noautologin                Skip automatic login
 tinycore tz=GMT+8                   Timezone tz=PST+8PDT,M3.2.0/2,M11.1.0/2
 tinycore settime                    Set UTC time at boot, internet required
 tinycore user=abc                   Specify alternate user
 tinycore desktop=yyy                Specify alternate window manager
 tinycore laptop                     Force load laptop related modules
 tinycore embed                      Stay on initramfs
 tinycore nozswap                    Skip compressed swap in ram
 tinycore xvesa=800x600x32           Set Xvesa default screen resolution
 tinycore bkg=image.{jpg|png|gif}    Set background from /opt/backgrounds
 tinycore blacklist=ssb              Blacklist a single module
 tinycore multivt                    Allows for multiple virtual terminals

Help X does not start. Why does my system boot up to a login prompt?

Tiny Core defaults to vga=791 or 1024x768 but your machine may not be able to support that resolution.

At the first boot prompt type:

tinycore xsetup

This boot code creates a selectable table from the Xvesa -listmodes so it is easier to use.

If you get a blinking cursor after the "Xauthority" lines, try hitting ctrl-C to get back to text prompt, then type xsetup.sh and try another screen resolution option.

From text prompt, type: startx

Note: Xvesa -listmodes displays what your video card is capable of, but not necessarily what your monitor is. If your system does not support Xvesa then perhaps the framebuffer extension (see F2 boot screen and below for instructons).

The last resort is to use the Xorg extension.

How to use framebuffer X server?

In order to use framebuffer (Xfbdev) you will need to have a persistent store, e.g., a PPR.
Boot Tiny Core as follows, using an appropriate vga code from the f2 boot help screen and an appropriate disk partition.

boot: tinycore tce=hda1 text vga=788

At the system prompt:

$ tce-load Xfbdev.tce wget install # This is for TC 2.2 and below
$ tce-load -w -i Xfbdev.tcz # This is for TC 2.3 and above

$ xsetup.sh
$ startx

From the X desktop, shutdown with backup. Your Xfbdev X settings will be saved and used on the next boot.
Do not use the text boot code and your framebuffer X server should start successfully.

My keyboard is not US. How to add a keymap?

The extension "kmaps.tcz" was created just for this. It includes all keymaps from the kbd package. Keymaps have to be changed in the console, not in X.
So, for a quick test, load the extension, exit to prompt, and type:

sudo loadkmap < /usr/share/kmap/qwerty/fi-latin9.kmap

To make this permanent, add the extension kmaps.tcz to your persistent tce directory, and then either use the bootcode kmap=qwerty/fi-latin9, or add the command to /opt/bootlocal.sh (missing the sudo, since bootlocal is executed as root):

loadkmap < /usr/share/kmap/qwerty/fi-latin9.kmap

Help. Not all keys work in browser or openoffice?

If the altgr symbols do not work in the browser or openoffice then modify the .xsession file by adding:

sleep 3 && xmodmap -e "clear Mod4" -e "add Mod5 = Mode_switch" &

Just before

exec "${DESKTOP:=jwm}"

Or, in later versions, right after waitforX.

What is the boot architecture?

Tinycore always boots to ram. This unique way has several advantages, like 100% functioning usb boot, awesome speed, and being able to boot without having the ability to access the boot device after booting. You're free to snag out the usb drive right after initrd is loaded, for example.

How to use startup scripts?

The directory /usr/local/tce.installed is where TC keeps track of loaded extensions.
Typically this is a 'flag' a zero byte file. Notice that the extension name does not include its file extension.

Now, if you need a startup script then include it in tar file at this location and its name needs to match the extension name. Do make sure that the script works and is executeable. Do not use .sh or any other file extension.

A very simple example is in order:

Take for example the 915resolution.tce extension.
If we want to make a startup script then it would be placed in
/usr/local/tce.installed/915resolution

The actual startup script could be anything that is executeable.
Using the same example, my /usr/local/tce.installed/915resolution is a simple as this:

#/bin/sh
/usr/local/sbin/915resolution 50 1024 600

Note: Be sure to use full paths as during boot no login has occured yet no PATHs are set.

So the final result of a 915resolution.tce with a startup script would contain

usr/local/sbin/915resolution
usr/local/tce.installed/915resolution

What are the minimum requirements?

An absolute minimum of RAM is 48mb. TC won't boot with anything less, no matter how many terabytes of swap you have.
Microcore runs with 36mb of ram.
The minimum cpu is i486DX (486 with a math processor).

A recommended configuration:
Pentium 2 or better, 128mb of ram + some swap

Can TC be contained in a single directory?

While TC can reside entirely inside a tce directory, placing the boot files in it conflicts with the loading of the core items (Xlibs.gz, Xprogs.gz..) and can result in various errors.

It's recommended to place the boot files either in /boot, or in a subdirectory of the tce directory.

How do I start X apps on boot?

Add them to files in /home/tc/.X.d, one per file, backgrounded. Here's how to start Opera at boot:

opera &

How do I increase the number of loop devices to support more .tcz extensions?

Add the cheatcode max_loop=n to your boot line, where n is the number of loop devices you need, up to 255.

Note that this bootcode should not be used with 3.x.

How to get flash working?

Short answer: see the getFlash9.tcz extension.

Long answer:
Flash 10 has such steep requirements, it is not supported on TC. The last working version was 10 beta 2, but due to the beta nature of that, using Flash 9 is recommended.

Don't use Adobe's installer, copy libflashplayer.so yourself to your browser's plugin folder.

To have sound in Flash using OSS, you need to copy libflashsupport (included in OSS.tcz) to both /usr/lib and your browser's plugin folder.

There are two variations of the library in /usr/lib/oss/lib, one only enabling OSS sound, the other enabling that and also playing flash over SSL. You need OpenSSL for the second library.

Depending on if you have OpenSSL loaded and need to use flash over SSL, pick one of the libs, and copy it to both /usr/lib and your browser's plugin folder, and then rename it to libflashsupport.so in both places.

Requirements: Flash 9 requires GTK+-2.

How to use/share Virtual Disks (Qemu)?

Virtual disk support (tcvd, tiny core virtual disk) is beginning with Tiny Core v1.4

This was primarily setup for Qemu support, but is useful for anyone. It uses the Qemu virtual disk image ext2, a loopback file.

To use first specify the 'harddisk' file with the tcvd boot option followed by your regular boot optons using tcvd, examples:

boot: tinycore waitusb=10 tcvd=harddisk.img tce=tcvd restore=tcvd

This will autoscan for the file named harddisk.img in level one directories and setup mount capabilities as device tcvd. The subsequent tce=tcvd and restore=tcvd will use the virtual drive special device.

boot: tinycore waitusb=10 tcvd=sda1/harddisk.img tce=tcvd restore=tcvd

This will look for the loopback file named harddisk on sda1 and setup a special device tcvd used by the other boot opitons.

boot: tinycore waitusb=10 tcvd=sda1/qemu/harddisk.img tce=tcvd restore=tcvd

This is/was the typical Qemu setup that I used in Damn Small Linux. Again a special device tcvd will be setup and then other boot options are able
to use it.

Administrator / SuperUser / Root:

Each system requires some command to be run as the administrator. In Tiny Core, such user is called root. To get root privileges to run a specific command, just proceed the command with the word sudo.
To become the super user, then use the command sudo su. Normally, you should not run your system as root.

GNU/Linux Compatibility:

To make your Tiny Core system more fully GNU compatible, use appbrowser and select coreutils.tcz. This will replace the busybox used in the base system to the full power of the GNU versions.

License: