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[mavrothal]

Stay put a bit.
I'm preparing another version that will be a bit bigger with more apps and slightly better fonts in the terminal and appbrowser. Will have a file browser, clock and some optional fonts and jwm.  It will also save the home directory in the USB so you will not need to backup at shutdown (that takes that long).
Probably by tomorrow.

Network wise you can install wicd but is a real hog with 20+ dependencies.

[quickboot]

Yay!    BIG fonts please! (I use 16 as minimum in gEdit on Ubuntu) and a massive pointer! Not that anyone else will want the resource drag, but is there an easy way I can add USB keyboard support? wicd can definitely be left out, although having it (or scan equivalent) as a local install might be nice for the occasional visit to a cafe where you don't know the SSID.

[mavrothal]

I made a new version of tinycore linux for the XO-1 and now it includes Opera a proper file manager (Xfe), a set of apps for editing and viewing documents images etc (Xfw, Xfi, Xfv), a clock, a couple of fonts, the nano terminal text editor and a few dependencies. Overall size 33MB. It is set up to keep the home folder on the stick so you can get your files to another computer easily and you do not need to backup on every shutdown (if at all)
It Does not have sound or video players, though the latter (and many more) can be installed through the app browser.

I also changed the terminal fonts to something bigger. If you find them too big, open .Xdefaults and comment out the font line and uncomment the "schumacher-clean" font line just above.

I also changed the "usbwait" option in /boot/olpc.fth to 10. This allows for reliable loading of all the folders and you do not really need the long backups during shutdown anymore. It also allows for reliable autoconnect at startup (below). However it takes longer to startup (sorry quickboot ). Depending on the quality of your USB stick you can decrease this number back to 8 or 5.

Finally I included (but not activated) the more "traditional" JWM window manager. I do not like its look on the top but it gives you many more customization options. To activate from panel->app audit->maintenance->onboot click on the jwm in the left column and flit on the right (jwm has a clock) and reboot.

As with the previous version to install download the tc_xo_with_apps.tar.bz2 file (dm5sum 67561188ada6b397f442ac7de49b58c8) and expand it at the root of an ext2 formated USB stick or SDcard that is named something, eg TC-XO.
Then open the /boot/olpc.fth and change the "stick_name" entries with the actual name of your stick.
Note if you are using an SD card see 2 posts below for additional changes in olpc.fth

The connection file is now incorporated in the /opt/bootlocal.sh file. Open it and edit it as needed so your XO will automatically  connect to your network at startup.

Visit the tinycore Wiki and Forum for more (is the home page in Opera)

Get it while is hot . Sendspace does not keep the files for long. if you like and can, host it somewhere.

As always with non-official-OLPC OSs you have to disable security and update to the latest q2e41 firmware.

Let me repeat that although this version is much more usable as is, in mostly for development and linux users with some experience.

[Sam J.]

1) Download the 11MB (tiny...!) tinycore_xo.tar.bz2 file (md5sum 9a2a3a33b11cb272e53eae9e55cf9d0c) and unzip it in the root of an ext2/ext3 formatted usb stick or card.

I put this on an sd card instead of a usb stick but it still boots from nand. If I hold down the check button then it seems to look at the sd but still goes to nand. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? Thanks.

[mavrothal]

1) Download the 11MB (tiny...!) tinycore_xo.tar.bz2 file (md5sum 9a2a3a33b11cb272e53eae9e55cf9d0c) and unzip it in the root of an ext2/ext3 formatted usb stick or card.

I put this on an sd card instead of a usb stick but it still boots from nand. If I hold down the check button then it seems to look at the sd but still goes to nand. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? Thanks.

Goot point
For an SD card you also need to change the boot lines in /boot/olpc.fth from

Code:

" u:\boot\vmlinuz" to boot-device
" u:\boot\tinycore.gz" to ramdisk

to

Code:

" sd:\boot\vmlinuz" to boot-device
" sd:\boot\tinycore.gz" to ramdisk

[quickboot]

Alright Mavrothal!
Thank you! I'm downloading it as I type.

Edit:
Wow! Impressive! You've even included support for my USB keyboard! I don't know if you should categorize this as "Experimental" considering it worked right-out-of-the-box for me.
I bumped the Aterm fonts up to 260 and Terminal is now readable!
WHY didn't the OLPC folks load something like this on the XO from the start?

Congratulations!

Considering Micro Core's small size, is there any way we can install it beside Fedora/Sugar (ie. in addition to Sugar) on the NAND?

With the latest Sugar, I still have over 750 Mb of free space on my NAND, and Micro Core could happily live on way less than 200 Mb of it. Now we just need metal.lunchbox to make a low resource battery monitor..... 

[mavrothal]

I don't know if you should categorize this as "Experimental" considering it worked right-out-of-the-box for me.

First because I'm experimenting but more seriously because is missing major components like sound, power management and xo-specific goodies. These need rebuilding of the respective .tcz files that depend on the tinycore original kernel and drivers, and then some...

Considering Micro Core's small size, is there any way we can install it beside Fedora/Sugar (ie. in addition to Sugar) on the NAND?

This could be done  setting the boot, tce and opt folders to run in alt-boot, adding the "tc" folder  of /home/tc in the NAND home next to the olpc folder and changing the olpc.fth command line arguments approprietly. However, a) updating sugar will brake it and b) I believe that the NAND should stay in the OLPC/SugarLabs domain.
Besides if something goes wrong and you need to reflash the NAND you lose all your data. With the TC_XO setting you can always take the stick to another computer and recover your home directory.

[Sam J.]

For an SD card you also need to change the boot lines in /boot/olpc.fth from

Code:

" u:\boot\vmlinuz" to boot-device
" u:\boot\tinycore.gz" to ramdisk

to

Code:

" sd:\boot\vmlinuz" to boot-device
" sd:\boot\tinycore.gz" to ramdisk

Still won't boot from sd after making these changes. The sd card I'm using is one that I'd previously had Teapot's ubuntu on. It's named OLPCRoot, and I replaced stick_name with OLPCRoot in the olpc.fth. 
blkid -s LABEL /dev/mmcblk0p1 returns OLPCRoot; without the p1 there's no return. Anything else I can try?
By the way, I think the connect script is not included in the most recent tar file ie tc_xo_with_apps.

[mavrothal]

Still won't boot from sd after making these changes. The sd card I'm using is one that I'd previously had Teapot's ubuntu on. It's named OLPCRoot, and I replaced stick_name with OLPCRoot in the olpc.fth.  
blkid -s LABEL /dev/mmcblk0p1 returns OLPCRoot; without the p1 there's no return. Anything else I can try?
By the way, I think the connect script is not included in the most recent tar file ie tc_xo_with_apps.

Are you getting to the console at all or it stays in the OFW screen?
Did you try more than once without removing the card in between? (some times they just get stuck the first run).
Is there anything else on the card?
Are the folders at the root of the volume?  
Is the download ok (md5sum)?
Did you get any errors untarring the file?
The only other thing I can think is that the card is corrupted or something "bad" is left on it.
If you do not want it for Ubuntu anymore, try teapot's original instructions up to the "mke2fs -jLOLPCRoot /dev/mmcblk0p1" point but skip the "j" options eg "mke2fs -L OLPCRoot /dev/mmcblk0p1"

As said above now the connect script is incorporated in the /opt/bootlocal.sh file. Edit that one to your AP's specs

PS I just copied my USB folders to an SDcard and is fine. I post this PS from the card.

[Sam J.]

PS I just copied my USB folders to an SDcard and is fine. I post this PS from the card.

Tried all, no change. It does not get to the console at all.
Do you mind telling me what version of the firmware you're now running? I haven't been updating this regularly. I don't know whether this could be causing the problem, but in any case I'd like to be using whatever is most appropriate for experimenting with this tinycore, deborah, xtraordinary etc.
Mine is:
build 767 stream 8.2 variant devel_jffs2 kernel 2.6.25-200925.1...

Correction: Sorry, I thought I'd permanently disabled security on the xo long ago but hadn't. I still haven't been able to boot into tinycore but that was the immediate problem. Firmware is Q2E18. I plan to change this to more recent, ie Q2E41, then try again.

OK now boots into tinycore! I haven't tried much out yet but this looks like fun. Thanks.

[XOIOWA]

Hey everyone!

Curiosity finally got the best of me.  I downloaded and installed Micro(Tiny)core onto a USB drive and successfully booted into it with my XO.  It's so much fun to have a new, small distro to run!  

I am having one problem, though.  My touchpad is VERY, VERY sensitive with it.  I usually run Teapot's Ubuntu on an SD card, and I have no problems with the touchpad there at all.  The mouse is nice and smooth in Ubuntu.  But, In Microcore, I simply can't use it.  Everything is fine if I use a USB mouse, though.

So, does anyone have any ideas/suggestions to help my touchpad?  I generally never use a USB mouse, so I'd really like to get the touchpad under control.

Thanks in advance.... (and thanks for the new fun distro!)

[mavrothal]

So, does anyone have any ideas/suggestions to help my touchpad?  I generally never use a USB mouse, so I'd really like to get the touchpad under control.

in the terminal try to change the xset settings to something like
xset m 4 N
xset m 7/4 N
xset m 165/100 N
where N is any number from 0 to 5 is a good start. See here for explanation
Give it the 4-finger salute after each setting.
The result might not be immediately obvious.
If you find a set that works best for you incorporate it in the /opt/bootlocal.sh file (though I have to check on that. May be .xinitrc/.xsession/.Xauthority)

[quickboot]

Thank you again Mavrothal and metal.lunchbox. You are definitely getting me hooked on this Linux drug.

...in the terminal try to change the xset settings to something like....xset m 7/4 N

The wonky, ultra sensitive trackpad pointer was driving me nuts as well. Nice description of solutions and where likely to make them permanent.
Unfortunately, the settings I've tested so far don't completely solve the random wonkiness. I added the "xset m 7/4 N" in the "/opt/bootlocal.sh" file (I couldn't find "/.xinitrc/" directory) and the changes were noticeable. I'm gathering from the mouse xset description that "threshold" setting is the closest thing to "sensitivity" that we have to work with. I didn't think the 4 finger salute (<lower left key>+<upper left key>+<upper right key>+<lower right key>) worked on any of the other Linux distros. Sweet!

I'm also looking forward to tinkering with the NAND folders and co-installing Micro Core with Sugar. If for no other reason than a learning exercise, but it does strike me as a VERY practical setup for G1G1 donors. Sure it might get wiped the next time I update Sugar, but it's already approaching a year since the last Sugar update was released(and I don't see any release candidates in the works). Who knows, OLPC might want to incorporate your Micro Core as a booting option in the next XO release once it's no longer "experimental!"  

...setting the boot, tce and opt folders to run in alt-boot, adding the "tc" folder  of /home/tc in the NAND home next to the olpc folder and changing the olpc.fth command line arguments approprietly.

Okay! I just tried this, but my initial attempt landed me with a simple "OK" prompt. Obviously simply replacing "stick_name" in the Micro Core's olpc.fth file with "mtd0" wasn't sufficient(all copied into a new folder "/versions/alt/"). I've just eliminated the reference to USB wait and tried cutting&pasting some of the original ".../mvlinuz" to boot-device" references from Sugar's .fth file. We'll see how it goes...

There are at least 5 threads I'm looking forward to tinkering with and hoping I might learn enough to actually contribute something with: Trackpad improving, NAND booting, Launch menu modifying (adding text editor icon and launcher), keyboard mapping (I love metal.lunchbox's quick backlight off option), learning power management stuff for snooze and battery indicator, and maybe even some sound stuff... then we'll need to harass metal.lunchbox on how he managed to download .MP4 (HTML 5/Flash) videos in Opera. But it's a mute point for now.  

[mavrothal]

...in the terminal try to change the xset settings to something like....xset m 7/4 N

The wonky, ultra sensitive trackpad pointer was driving me nuts as well. Nice description of solutions and where likely to make them permanent.
Unfortunately, the settings I've tested so far don't completely solve the random wonkiness. I added the "xset m 7/4 N" in the "/opt/bootlocal.sh" file (I couldn't find "/.xinitrc/" directory) and the changes were noticeable.

What was the value for N? 0, 1 , 2 ? 0 is the default try something like 2 or 4
The jumpy touchpad problem will always be there Is faulty hardware. The issue is how bad it is.
To see the files that start with a dot (invisible) type "ls -a" is your home directory

[metal.lunchbox]

I haven't had the chace to actually try this tinycore install. I should also remind folks that I am not in any way to thank for this project, I just started a thread in this forum. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get the openfirmware bootloader to load a particular disk partition or I would be able to have so many OSs running on my XO. I just don't have enough free sd cards.

I'm curious about a couple of things. How quickly does it boot? in the desktop terminal what is the output of "free -m"? with opera running?

james