Monday, March 9, 2009

Hell with Gentoo : A complete and utter retards guide to installing.

Hell with Gentoo : A complete and utter retards guide to installing.


Install from Live CD.
Reboot.
open up a console and Issue emerge --sync && emerge -uDN world
Wait a few hours for completion.
Open a console and issue the following commands :
rm /usr/src/linux
rm /boot/vm-TAB
rm everything in here except for Grub (the directory) (so at the command line issue rm /boot/ then hit tab a few times and just remove all of it (not Grub)

CD in to /usr/src/l-TAB Where l is the beggining of the file starting with l and tab completes it. This is your kernel (one of the things you just deleted) source.

You should now be in /usr/src/linux-2.*.** (these numbers could be anything)

At the command line, issue genkernel --menuconfig all

It will shit it's self a few seconds, then provide you with a prompt with many many options that will no doubt cause your very person to implode in to the temporal-flux of the space-time contiuum cuasing your gravemtric sub-systems to flush in to a temporal rift. Right now, I know how you feel. You're not alone, I knew less then you (trust me) so bare with me :

There should be many things selected (little (*)'s next to them) that's good. To make these selections, hit space, make sure they are not M's because that's a module and we want the kernal to have everything built in for now.

OK, so, go to device drivers in that menu thing you're in. If it looks like you may have something you see, enable it (space) if it looks like there's not much chance you'll have it, enable it. Infact - for the purpose of this guide, I really want you to just not worry about how much stuff you enable (within reason) in these device drivers/network /sound and all those really important kind of options. Later on down the track you can rebuild your own custom kernel and do what you want but for now we want to get you in to Gentoo.

OK, exit the kernl dialogue you are in using it's exit option untill all exits have been exhasuted, it will ask you if you want to save the config, select yes.

It will now shit it'self again for a time. When it stops, issue the following commands :

ln -s /usr/src/(type l then hit TAB) /usr/src/linux
nano /boot/grub/menu.lst
Here you change the kernel line in the somewhat complicated lines of crapola to be the same kernel you just made. To know what to put there, issue ls /boot/ in a command and you'll see the new kernel you just made.. if you can't tell, it will be the one with the higher number .. something like kernel-genkernel etc etc (but a higher version) append that to the grub file you opened where it makes sense (so over the other bit with different kernel version)

now emerge nvidia-drivers
reboot

At OS selection, hit e
go to the init row, hit e
delete it all, type in init TAB /inTAB and select the highest version hitting tab untill it completes.
hit enter (or esc) but don't esc out of that screen, stay in it and hit b
you will now boot in to your new kernel but nvidia will not work yet.

issue the following MAGIC command
eselect opengl set nvidia

You just installed Gentoo in roughly 3.2 billion hours less than me and my collectives "Q" esqueue conglomerate.

-edit-
This really should not be on tuxmachines, it was made in a fit of rage and slightly tongue in cheek.

Professional blog : http://www.sydney-linux.com

2 comments:

v00d00 said...

The easiest way to install gentoo is Sabayon!

Even if its not "technically" Gentoo

Laurel Raven said...

I have a couple of suggestions...first, of all, the genkernel shouldn't need any configuration to "just work", and if it does, it should be fairly minor.

Second, I would wait until you have a verified working new kernel before deleting the old one.

Third...grub is a lot easier to edit after boot than during.

And finally, you can use eselect to change the /usr/src/linux symlink, and it is a lot easier and faster than deleting the old link and re-linking. Just use "eselect kernel list" to show what is available, then "eselect kernel set [n]" were [n] is the number of the kernel you want to set it to.

Anyway, my two cents: Gentoo is probably one of the most frustrating OSes to install the first time you do...especially if you use the liveCD installer. I've found that installing it manually by following the handbook is 1) a lot easier, 2) a lot faster, and 3) results in a more stable Gentoo environment.

It should only take about an hour or so to complete the base install, and with a good connection, you should be able to install any one of the three major GUIs (KDE, Gnome or XFCE) and expect it to be done overnight.

Also, I DO recommend building your own kernel at some point, but I always start any new Gentoo system out with a genkernel just to get it on its feet. You will probably work at getting the kernel built for a while, though, before you get it to work...at least, it took me a while. However, once it was running (after a week of working on it), it was MUCH faster than with the genkernel, especially during bootup.

Anyway, sorry for the long rambling comment. Don't give up on Gentoo...it is a learning experience and well worth the time and frustration you get out of it initially.