Hi,

I am new to Linux and need help understanding things, simple things, probably people might thing "go look yourself, that's easy" but it all gets a little too much, the more I read the more confused I get. what stars as a simple question ends up being 4 hours of reading stuff that has nothing to do with what I actually want!

Anyway my first simple question is:
I have the microcore and want to add NTFS drive access to it, initially at run time but eventually to the distro.

Can someone write a few steps to install this at CLI initially, be prepeared for lots of questions about what you type lol.

Thank

Pete

Tinycore is a one of a kind sort of deal so don't waste too much time looking for answers on the web.

I am pretty sure read support is built into the kernel. You need to add in ntfs-3g and use the tool they have for fixiing fstab would be my answer.

Not sure microcore is a good choice either for a total newbie.

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Second that. Tinycore/Microcore is targeted at specialists that understand what to do in cases like yours, and who are using the distro because it is already lean. I suggest a fatter distro with more newbie-friendly features, including a well composed installer, and a big repository of packages to add on. Any of the major distros such as Debian, Ubuntu, Redhat/CentOS, Fedora, OpenSuse, maybe even Slackware, and others will fit the bill much better. Whatever you use, get a recent version.

--- rod.

Sorry I should have explained why I chose Microcore, I want a lean distro, basically all I really want is a CLI and NTFS R/W and run from USB pen, definitely no GUI.

If I found a fatter distro would it be easy to strip anything I didn't need out?

Thanks

Pete

Okay, then, you will probably have some work to do. I do not recommend trying trim down a fat distro. There is waaaay too much to deal with.
The basic ingredients that you will need are the the kernel driver (fs/ntfs ), and related userspace applications like ntfsmount. I don't know whether the ntfs module is already present as either a built-in or as a loadable module. If not, it will require a kernel build.
I think the userspace applications are contained in the ntfsprogs package. I assume these are built in a fairly standard manner.
Once you have the kernel module built, you then simply use insmod to load the module, and use mount -t ntfs to mount NTFS filesystems.

--- rod.

Here is an easy to follow guide to creating you own lightweight nimble Debian installation:

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic/3843/how-to-make-a-custom-debian-setup/

This will allow you to install just what you want and have most things auto configured in the background for you. I highly recommend this option in big part because there is a ton of Debian information on the web if you run into problems and you will not find a more stable distribution.

Its a bit contradictory to state on one hand that you are a total newbie but on the other hand state that you need a lean distro. Most distributions offer a server version that don't have a gui at all (the way a server should be). The reason you want a "fat" distro is not necessarily for software packages but dependencies. A full Linux system is going to come with the common shared libraries and a decent package management system.