Download Ubuntu Virtual Machine + enviroment to compile OPL

[loki7777]

I miss that root shellCan you tell me how add to it apt-get?I will try later DSL or Tiny Core (as you did), but I need this apt-get.
GUI is fine for me in Tiny Core Linux, i dont need gnome/kde

[izdubar]

Damn interesting your ultra light setup ....

How hard is it to add custom packages to Tiny Core ? On what package system is it based ? You got central repositories where you get rpm/deb/src/... put them on your build package and then generate an iso ?

[yoshi314]

Damn interesting your ultra light setup ....

How hard is it to add custom packages to Tiny Core ? On what package system is it based ? You got central repositories where you get rpm/deb/src/... put them on your build package and then generate an iso ?

it's not hard, you just need to make a bigger hdd for it, as it only has 40mb spare right now.

root shell : right click on desktop shells -> root shells -> [pick any one you want]

installing apps - right click -> appbrowser and the file->connect and you can install various apps.

tinycore uses it own package system.

packages are compressed with squashfs. it's a packed read-only filesystem. tinycore "plugs" them into running system seamlessly.

people usually build their own packages, there is a decently described info on the wiki.

i picked tinycore, because the default system is just 10mb. dependencies for mercurial (hg, the tool to check out opl sources) took a few mb, and ps2dev took ~45mb (ouch ) . also make was needed - a few kB. and packed OPL source tree takes up ~3mb.

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if you want to tinker around with it - it's better to start from the beginning.

1. set up a virtual machine with e.g 1gb hdd (it doesn't have to be too big).
2.. grab the tinycore-current.iso from here : http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/...x/2.x/release/
3. add the iso as a cdrom to your vm.
4. run the vm

you can use the hdd as a persistent storage for your apps (you don't need to install them every time you boot the vm).

you need to make a fat32 partition on it first. installing gparted from appbrowser (it's a tool very similar to partition magic) will help you with that.

once you do that, you can start your system by typing

tinycore tce=hda1

on the boot screen where hda1 is the name of partiton (you can look it up in gparted) and all the apps you will install will be stored . you only need to pass that parameter only once - it should work automatically on every next boot.

alternatively you can use USB Install tool from control panel to create and installation on the virtual hdd inside your vm. that's what i did.

it's a basic intro in a nutshell and misses a few details. keep hacking

[izdubar]

But what about GCC (+ various -devel package) to build the PS2 toolchain ?

And the ps2-packer, you found the static ucl and zlib libs ?

[yoshi314]

gcc is available for install via appbrowser. you need to install these extensions
- svn
- compiletc ( a package consisting of gcc, make and other tools )

i built libucl by hand. ps2-packer apparently links it statically, so it was no longer needed after building. i did have to put some serious ninja efforts into getting it to build (and run) properly, though

the toolchain needs tar, patch, wget. the ones bundled by default don't recognize some parameters.

toolchain and ps2sdk build with no issues. ps2packer is a bit more tricky, as i already mentioned.

after building i packed everything into an extension file with mksquashfs, generated md5, dropped on the hdd, set up to load on boot. and tested.

you can disable all those tools later on via control panel -> AppsAudit -> onBoot so that they don't load on every next boot of your vm. i discarded them from vm, to save space.

[izdubar]

Thanks for the detailed infos, but I'm not so new to linux

In fact my concern was not related specifically to OPL, it is more on how to setup minimalistic "custom" image for various other project.

I'm more used to the Novell openSUSE Kiwi project, where you setup your system with a tool (running on your current box). The tiny core approach seems - to me - a little weird (that is, needing to run your image, and then add tools within the vm system), but why not ...

ISO generated by Kiwi are much larger, that's why I was interested in this TC.

I'll try it to see how good it is.


PS: one problem I see with discarding gcc from the final VM, is that you won't be able to compile OPL tools (iso2usbld). But however, most people who would use this way to compile OPL, probably won't use TC/Linux as the final system (for storing games), so they don't need a iso2usbld elf either ...

[yoshi314]

The tiny core approach seems - to me - a little weird (that is, needing to run your image, and then add tools within the vm system)

tiny core is designed as a small system that user extends into what he feels like.

you boot it off a e.g. cd, and you extend it with various apps and have them stored on usb or hdd. you can even remaster the cd to include them on-disc.

that's the concept. i just put it inside the vm. i installed TC to hard drive ( no more need for iso ), and i use that drive as a persistent storage as well.

PS: one problem I see with discarding gcc from the final VM, is that you won't be able to compile OPL tools (iso2usbld).

i'm aware of that. keep in mind that this distro was designed as a build environment for OPL, so i didn't feel like keeping gcc around + gcc_libs + base_dev +binutils (it's pretty big all together) just to build one extra app.

if you're feeling adventurous, you can install tinycore to an usb stick via unetbootin and try it on your pc. keep in mind, that this distro is not prepared for anything other than LAN network connection by default.

[kot7k]

Just tried this, followed your instructions and it worked like a charm without any problems. Didnt have any usb arround now so i didnt try the upload script.
Thank you and good work.

[loki7777]

I am trying to build the same system, but a little different way We will see what i will get - it will be bigger, but should be less thatn 50mb packed

[yoshi314]

keep trying. you'll likely learn a few new tricks this way - that's what it's all about, right? :>