These are my ongoing notes from installing Tiny Core Linux version 2.0 to an HP Mini 1001TU Netbook.

This document is a work-in-progress. My installation (and these notes) remain very incomplete.

USB Boot

Just follow the tutorial at the TC wiki.

I initially booted TC on a stick. I created the stick from within Linux using standard ISO and GRUB. This works well with 2.0, but no earlier TC version. I have since tried persistent hard drive installations with each, and had the same results - only 2.0+ works. I haven't done much to investigate why as yet, but I think it has to do with my Marvell network adapter.

Over time, I made and used 3 different USB boot sticks on this system:

• Tiny Core Linux 1.4 (manually created on another Tiny Core laptop)
• Tiny Core Linux 2.0 (manually created on another Tiny Core Laptop)
• GParted (created using Unetbootin/Windows XP)
• Xubuntu Live Desktop (created using Unetbootin/Windows XP)

Repartitioning

My HP Mini came with a 60 GB hard drive. I could have shelled out another $100 for a Toshiba with 120 GB, but I really liked the overall package on the Mini (scold me if you must).

Repartitioning process:

1. Clear off unneeded data - down to about 8.5gb total
2. BACK UP EVERYTHING (CYA)
3. turn off Windows paging file (Start->Control Panel->System->Advanced, somewhere in there)
4. defragment hard drive down to 0% fragmentation (for my own sanity)
5. Run chkdsk /f just to make sure everything is stable on the hard drive, then reboot twice.
6. Install Gparted to USB stick (download the GParted ISO file and installed using Unetbootin on Windows. I had no trouble with this.)
7. Reboot using Gparted USB boot stick
8. Resize NTFS partition (I chose 12 GB for my Windows partition), then add a FAT32 partition (40GB) and a linux swap partition (2.5 GB or so).
9. Reboot, all done!

Personally, I had no drama with this.

Interim: Xubuntu

Yes, this is a tutorial on installing Tiny Core ... but I'll also be using Xubuntu in a pinch.

After partitioning (above), I installed the current Xubuntu ISO to my USB stick using Unetbootin. The process worked fine. So fine that that I made this Xubuntu section of this little article using the first boot off that boot stick.

Networking, graphics, touchpad all work very well on Xubuntu USB boot. I followed up by installing Xubuntu to hda2, and then moved on to installing TC.

TC from Xubuntu partition

I decided to make a frugal TC install from the same partition as Xubuntu. For me, this was hda2. My process:

1. get the TC iso
2. mount the TC iso to a temporary location
3. copy the iso /boot directory contents to the hard drive
4. add the TC kernel to /boot/grub/menu.lst
5. reboot

In the end, reasonably simple. For clarification I used:

• stock TC 2.0 iso
• placed the ISO contents into a subdirectory at /boot/tc_2.0/
• made TC my default boot (top of the menu.lst listing)
• use kernel options: quiet vga=788

So far, this works for me. It also makes it simple to upgrade TC - I simply make a new subdirectory (eg: /boot/tc_2.1) then add that stanza to GRUB's menu.lst file.

Extensions

I store my extensions in a directory on a separate, data partition. I use this partition to share data amongst TC, Xubuntu, and Windows. Because it's a shared space, this partition is FAT32.

The directory is /tce, and TC detects it fine. No problems.

Network Hardware

Vanilla TC 2.0 does not establish a network connection. This is rare for my experience with TC - it has worked on six or so other systems (and counting). The hardware:

• Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (physical)
• Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN (wireless)

The necessary Marvell modules are included with stock TC 2.0. The Broadcom card requires the wl.tcem extension.

It took lots of R&D to get the Marvell card working. The stock modules are fine, but the card is whiny.

For plain-jane [physical cable] network support, the Marvell card needs the network cable to be plugged in before a warm reboot. So:

1. Boot TC
2. plug in your network cable - no network support yet.
3. reboot TC with the cable still in
4. TC will detect the hardware & connection. Run Netcardconfig in the Control Panel

This works for me.

I hypothesize that the Marvell card stays silent at boot because of a power-saving feature that keeps the card turned off. I experimented with USB wait times thinking this might help, but no luck. For now I have to plug in the cable and reboot. It works, and this post has been updated from there.

Once the physical network access works, then the Broadcom extension can be downloaded (wl.tcem). Modprobe the wl extension, then run the setup script (/opt/eth0.sh). The Broadcom card gets mislabeled as eth0 instead of ath0, but it works fine.

I also tweaked /opt/bootlocal.sh by including a short statement before the eth0.sh call:
ifconfig eth0 up

eth0.sh automatically does this, but it wasn't consistent for me. I don't know why. Maybe that the card is sleepy on boot? In any case, this works. So /opt/bootlocal.sh sets up the wireless card using:

ifconfig eth0 up
iwconfig eth0 essid any &
/opt/eth0.sh &

For me, this seems to be a permanent & stable solution. I don't use the cable right now, and the wifi goes up right away at boot.

Graphics

The 'natural' 1024x600x32 resolution of the HP Mini requires the 915resolution extension. Then the extended resolution can be set using a standard Xvesa call.

First, get/load the extension and put it in your tce directory. Then, edit the file ~/.xession to change the resolution (don't forget to backup your home directory). On reboot, the setting should stick.

To set the X mode without rebooting, just exit to a terminal. Then type 'exit', log back in as 'tc' (no password required).

SD Card Slot

Works great. I just mount it as sda1.

Other projects

I'm happy to say that I compiled and run pilot-tools from this little netbook. Stable and chipper. I need to properly submit that to the TC community.

fin

To do:

• Xorg setup - esp for touchpad
• ACPI, conky

[04.July.2009]