Install Tiny Core

Improvements have been made to the installer in Tiny Core 3.6. At the time of writing, only the release candidates are available. Until Tiny Core 3.6 is available, use the latest release candidate, or use one of the other installation methods.

This installation guide suggests some common options which may be selected by people learning about this for the first time, and not understanding what some of these things mean. There are other options which may be used.

Use the latest version of Tiny Core. New versions have additional features and improvements.

The Tiny Core CD.

A broadband internet connection.

Download the latest version of Tiny Core. Write it to a CD.

Tiny Core may be downloaded from various internet sites. Examples include:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/ http://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/tinycorelinux/ http://ftp.vim.org/os/Linux/distr/tinycorelinux/ ftp://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/sunsite.unc.edu/distributions/tinycorelinux/ ftp://sunsite2.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/sunsite.unc.edu/distributions/tinycorelinux/ ftp://ftp.oss.cc.gatech.edu/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/ ftp://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/ ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/tinycorelinux/ ftp://ftp.vim.org/os/Linux/distr/tinycorelinux/

Partition the drive before running the installer:

1. If you want to include a swap partition. This is recommended when installing to a hard drive, and is particularly important when the computer has small RAM.

2. When you want to set up the drive to install more than one operating system.

It is not necessary to partition the drive before running the installer:

1. When installing to a USB drive, or other solid state memory. Do not put a swap partition on solid state memory, such as a USB drive.

2. If you don't want a swap partition when installing to a hard drive. Some people choose not to have a swap partition when the computer has large RAM.

If you already have partitions set up how you want them, you may use existing partitions.

Before partitioning the drive, save a copy of all files you want to keep. All files on the drive will be lost.

If you want to partition the drive, do it before installing any operating system.

While running Tiny Core from the CD, and connected to the internet, install gparted.tcz using the App Browser (There are other partitioning applications which you may use. GParted may be easiest for new users).

Start GParted Partition Editor.

Delete existing partitions.

If you plan to install only Tiny Core using the entire hard drive, make an Ext3 partition and a linux-swap partition.

If Tiny Core will be the only operating system on the hard drive, set the flag of that partition to Boot or Active.

If you plan to install more than one operating system, set up partitions appropriately.

For more information, see Partition a Hard Drive so you can Install more than one Operating System

While running Tiny Core from the CD and connected to the internet, install dosfstools-3.tcz and syslinux.tcz. If you plan to use the USB zip option, also install perl5.tcz.

Before running the installer, save a copy of all files you want to keep. All files will be lost.

Run the installer from Control Panel, then HD/USB Install.

Following are some common options which may be selected by people learning about this for the first time, and not understanding what some of these things mean. Other options may also be selected.

Select Tiny Core.

Select the location of either the tinycore iso file, or the tinycore.gz file (if selecting tinycore.gz, you must also have bzImage in the same directory).

If not sure select Frugal.

If you did not partition the disk, select Whole Disk. If you did partition the disk, select Existing Partition. Then select the partition.

Click the Forward arrow.

Formatting Options: If installing to a USB drive, most people should select ext2. If installing to a hard drive, many people may select ext3. If installing to a hard drive, and planning to use Grub2, select ext4.

Click the Forward arrow.

You may type in boot options. If installing to a USB drive, you may leave this blank. If installing to a hard drive, type:

opt=sda1 home=sda1

If you are not installing to sda1, change sda1 to the correct partition.

Click the Forward arrow.

Click Proceed.

Tiny Core will be installed.

You can restart the computer and run Tiny Core.

Also see: Installing Applications and Backup.

If you also have another Linux distribution installed, add the Tiny Core start commands to the bootloader of that Linux distribution.

If you have Tiny Core and Windows installed, install Grub. Installing Grub is explained on these pages:

Manually Install Tiny Core

Manually Install on a Hard Drive Without Being Connected to the Internet

You can skip the other parts of installation. Just install Grub.

The Windows partition must be Boot or Active.