Gentoo -- help

[Walter Dnes]

On Sun, Mar 06, 2011 at 09:14:51PM -0500, William Park wrote
> Hi all,
> 
> I decided to try Gentoo.  I downloaded "netinstall" version
>     gentoo-install-amd64-minimal-20110224.iso
> and am able to boot to shell prompt.  What do I do then?
> I thought it would be just minimal install, from which you install other
> stuffs.  But, it's not.  And, I gave up browsing gentoo.org... can't make
> head or tail of it.

  Rather than the multiple chapters, I prefer the all-in-one webpage
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?full=1

  The install requires some manual work/configuration.  Here is the hint
that saves the most work.  If you have another linux machine, or even a
Windows machine with Putty, on your installing machine...
- run "net-setup" to get the network functional
- run "passwd" and set a password
- run "/etc/init.d/sshd" to start the ssh daemon
- walk over to the other machine, and ssh into the installing machine

  Now you can web browse the install webpage for install instructions,
and copy+paste commands into the terminal window that's connected to the
installing machine.  Makes things *MUCH* more convenient.  It's also
nice, because you can now scp config files like /etc/resolv.conf from
your linux machine over to the installing machine.

  If you can't do this, then you'll have to do the following...
- run "net-setup" to get the network functional
- press {ALT-F2} to get to the second tty
- "links http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?full=1"
  to bring up the install instructions
- if "links" isn't available, try "links2"
- press {ALT-F1} to switch back to the install, and {ALT-F2} to view the
  install docs
  I believe that the gpm daemon runs by default, so you can cut-n-paste
in text consoles.  If it isn't running, execute the command...
"/etc/init.d/gpm" to start it.

  Other helpful hints...
- when setting up /etc/make.conf I recommend including...
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -mfpmath=sse -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
MAKEOPTS="-j1"
  ...the first 2 lines are standard.  The "-j1" solves the occasional
compile that mysteriously blows up.  Yes, higher values are *SUPPOSED*
to work OK, but occasionally they don't.  "-j1" slows down the compile
process slightly, but...
- the compiled program is just as fast
- spending an hour trying to figure out why a compile is blowing up will
  use up more time than you "save" with higher values.  Besides which,
  the build process can run in the background.  Note that you can browse
  the web with Firefox while Firefox is being re-built.  This may be a
  bit hard to grasp, but it does work.

  For a GUI, build xorg-server, *NOT* xorg-x11.  xorg-x11 is a
"monolithic" build that pulls in a lot of extraneous stuff.

  Unless you're familiar with PAM, and are hosting other users on your
machine, mask it out and save yourself a lot of hassle.  config files
are set up differently under PAM, and 99% of the docs on the web assume
you're not using PAM.

  Also, mask out HAL.  It's being deprecated and even the lead developer
has admitted that it is excrement.

  The gentoo-user mailing-list subscription instructions are at...
http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/lists.xml

  Send me (offline) the output of "lspci -v" and "cat /proc/cpuinfo" on
the machine to be installed, and I can help you get set up a bit faster.
Setting up your USE var is a bit of an art.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
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