Anaconda-Gentoo!

[Dapper Dan 0]

Well I finally took the plunge. I'm posting this from mozilla-firefox which I emerged from Anaconda-Gentoo.

 

If you've not seen it, you can pick up the ISO's here. The installation was a breeze! What they've essentially done is take the Red Hat Anaconda install and made it to where it installs a core Gentoo system. From there you can emerge the packages you want.

 

The hardest part of the whole thing was getting the Internet configured. After several hours, I finally figured it out. It will also install grub, so you will have to do some editing to your /boot/grub/grub.conf, if dual booting like me.

 

There are two things that are really neat about Anaconda-Gentoo. (1) The install appears the same as the Red Hat/Fedora install, only you wind up with Gentoo and TWM from which to do your emerging. I quicly emerged IceWM, VI (since I hate Nano), and mozilla-firefox, all the essentials of life. (2) It's amazing to watch those packages get emerged without dependency complaints!

 

I've been working and fixing things all day. I cannot get scroll to work with my Logitech USB wheel mouse. Come to find out I must upgrade the kernel.

 

Aaconda-Gentoo runs the 2.4 kernel. I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to upgrade to the 2.6 kernel from here. Any help will be appreciated!

 

Maybe I'll learn enough about Gentoo from Anaconda Gentoo so I'll understand more about what I'm doing if/when I try to do a genuine Gentoo install.

 

It's very impressive though!

[SoulNothing 0]

ive heard great things as well, im trying to install it now myself, any idea what version it is i.e 2004.0/1/2/3

 

 

[taeuler 0]

Good to hear that you finally got Gentoo up and running.

Here is the kernel 2.6 upgrade guide. I'll see if I can find any other usful docs.

 

One thing to be carful of at the very end is "emerge -e world". This will recompile every package on your system. If you want to have your whole system compiled from source without reinstalling this is the way to go. This should give you the genuine Gentoo install, since I think the Anaconda-Gentoo is just an automated stage-3 install.

 

I just finished doing this after a glibc update, it takes about 22 hours on 2.4 Ghz P4. It isn't vital to do this right away, but it is suggested.

 

One question about the mouse issue, are you using xfree or xorg. You can check by doing

Quote:

emerge -p xorg-x11

 

If it shows

Quote:

[ebuild R ] x11-base/xorg-x11-6.*.0

then you have xorg. If you have xfree, you should go ahead and emerge xorg-x11. I bring this up since I have had a similar mouse issue that I know how to fix on xorg.

 

I've gone through the mouse issue and the 2.4 -> 2.6 upgrade, so I hope I can help.

Good luck.

 

[taeuler 0]

Sorry I didn't get this in the last post, the anaconda installers site says it is 2004.0. Any version above 1.4 is basicly the same at the core level since they all are built on gcc >= 3.

 

The first thing you need to do to upgrade to 2004.3 is

Quote:

emerge sync

Quote:

emerge -uDa world

 

The emerge -uDa world will upgrade all outdated packages. You can also just do emerge -ua world, but the -D option is supposed to imnprove stability.

 

The second, and less important, thing you need to do to upgrade to 2004.3 is outlined here. This is just up[censored] the profile, which has only a few changes from 2004.0 -> 2004.3.

 

[SoulNothing 0]

im unsure where to go after the install

 

first hardware

 

i440 BX with sound blaster 5.1 platinum built into mobo

pentium 3 slot 1 651 mhz

DLINk ethernet card (works with 2.4 kernels_

GeForce 2 MX 32 MB video card

the machine has no floppy

usb is 1.x older version

 

all right i installed i followed the change of /etc/fstab and network and cant figure where to go from there i also have the 2004.3 package cd because it said to install applications from package cd

 

my /etc/fstab looks like this

 

/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime 1 2

/dev/hda3 / ext3 noatime 0 1

/dev/hda2 none swap sw 0 0

/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,user 0 0

 

i configured eth0 like this

iface_eth0="dhcp

 

and then ran this

rc-update add net.eth0 default

 

thats bout all i did

right now im just interested in getting a gui like gnome/kde so what should i do next?

 

 

[Dapper Dan 0]

Did you install the packages from a CD two?

 

http://gentoo.vidalinux.com/?q=node/view/35

 

If so, and you are connected to the Internet, do as root:

 

emerge gnome [enter]

 

I'd do it right before going to bed though...

 

The next morning you should have a piping hot Gnome DE right from the oven!

 

[taeuler 0]

The first thing you need to do is install X. And then you can install gnome and kde. It is probably a good idea to use the package cd so that you don't have to conpile kde (takes 12 hours on a p4). To use those packages you need to mount the and set a package directory. I'm not sure where on the cd the files are, but I think it is /mnt/cdrom/pakages. To check this you should do:

 

Quote:

ls /mnt/cdrom

ls /mnt/cdrom/pakages

 

Whichever is full of *.bz2's is the package directory.

 

If you want to set a package directory what you need to do is:

 

Quote:

export PKGDIR="/mnt/cdrom/packages"

 

(Otherwise)

export PKGDIR="/mnt/cdrom"

emerge --usepkg -a kde

 

This should copy precompiled versions of Xorg-x11, and kde. It should only take a few minutes. Kde is now installed. Now you need to edit /etc/rc.conf, and add #XSESSION="kde-3.2.2", or whichever version of kde you have installed. You can then do startx to run kde. You can add a boot manager to boot into kde everytime, but I have not done this, and I am not sure how.

 

If you choose not to use the packages, and just do emerge kde, then as Dapper Dan said, do it before you go to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dapper Dan 0]

Hi taeuler,

 

Thanks for all the help. I'm still trying to figure all this out! The neat thing about the anaconda install is X is already included, and with anaconda, you can get your card and monitor setup during the install. What you wind up with is a bare Gentoo install with X and twm.

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions. I've been working with it almost all day, time for bed... :x

[taeuler 0]

It's good to hear that there is an easier way to install Gentoo. I might give it a try sometime.

 

Here is a thread about the correct way to update a Gentoo system. It's an interesting read once you get a working system up.

 

Good luck with your remaining config work. Please let me know if run into any problems.

[Dapper Dan 0]

Thanks! emerging 2.6 kernel at this moment!

[SoulNothing 0]

i learned out an issue i tried emergeing kde and its doing it right now but it wont emerge anything gnome based i.e gnumeric or the such heres what i get when i type anything gnome based

 

emerge there are no masked or unmasked ebuilds to satisfy virtual/fam

 

so its halfway working

 

[Edited by SoulNothing on 2004-11-22 10:42:15]

 

[Dapper Dan 0]

I've got the 2.6 kernel booting and everything works ok except I suspect I've screwed up the part about loading modules. When I do lsmod there are no modules listed, consequently I cant modprobe e100 so my NIC will go on the Internet.

 

Any suggestions on how I should go about trying to fix this?

[CrazyKillerMan 0]

Quote:

I've got the 2.6 kernel booting and everything works ok except I suspect I've screwed up the part about loading modules. When I do lsmod there are no modules listed, consequently I cant modprobe e100 so my NIC will go on the Internet.

When you emerged the 2.6 kernel, did you manually compile it? If so there is a section that has a spot for module loading/unloading. Ensure that this is compiled into your kernel, then boot from that new kernel.

Quote:

i learned out an issue i tried emergeing kde and its doing it right now but it wont emerge anything gnome based i.e gnumeric or the such heres what i get when i type anything gnome based

emerge there are no masked or unmasked ebuilds to satisfy virtual/fam

so its halfway working

[Edited by SoulNothing on 2004-11-22 10:42:15]

There are USE flags that you need to be aware of. /etc/make.conf contains the USE flags.

What I would suggest to you and Dapper Dan is to roll over to gentoo.org and check out this and this.

USE variables are documented, for isntance, having "gnome" and "gtk" for a use variable may make it easier to emerge gnome based products. The USE variables are what portage looks to for assistance in emerging packages. Do a "emerge -pv package" and the USE variables that that particular ebuild will use will be displayed (from the -v switch). For instance:



root@wedgie ~ # emerge -pv world

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating world dependencies ...done!
[ebuild U ] sys-devel/libtool-1.5.2-r7 [1.5.2-r5] (-uclibc) 0 kB
[ebuild N ] dev-perl/Time-Duration-1.02 8 kB
[ebuild UD] app-portage/genlop-0.20.2 [0.30.2] 13 kB
[ebuild U ] sys-devel/binutils-2.15.90.0.1.1-r3 [2.14.90.0.8-r1] -bootstrap* -build -debug -multitarget +nls 10,874 kB

Total size of downloads: 10,896 kB

root@wedgie ~ #

See how the USE flags are displayed? The + means that the USE flag is set to be used, the - means its not set.

[CrazyKillerMan 0]

...oh yeah, welcome guys to the very exciting world of Gentoo. I love it!

 

It really takes time to get rolling, but once you start rolling, its all downhill.

[SoulNothing 0]

personally ive been dying to try getnoo but my computer wouldnt boot the regular version so i had to ry anaconda and im loving it im learning alot in the process as well

 

real quick i saw the guide but im not catching it

what do i need to type to compile the kernel my self i saw gen kernel but that s bout it im looking for the latest one

[CrazyKillerMan 0]

genkernel is for those who do not want to manually compile thier kernel (as it detects hardware). Personally, I dont use genkernel. I think that using emerge gentoo sources are just as easy.

See the handbook for a description of each of the gentoo kernels.

 

emerge -pv gentoo-dev-sources

 

This will (pretend to - remove the p to commit) download and unpack the kernel source into /usr/src/

 

Then, you must change the symlink "linux" in /usr/src/ to the newest kernel (in my case 2.6.9-r4).

 

From there, cd to /usr/src/linux and "make menuconfig" This will bring up an easy to use text menu system. Compile drivers (CPU type, mobo chipset, agp chipset (if you do not want 3d accel - see the two links I gave above).

 

After that go "make && make modules_install" then:

cp /usr/src/linux/arch.i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.9-r4

cp ./System.map /boot/System-2.6.9-r4.map

cp ./.config /boot/.config-2.6.9-4r

 

Then make changes to grub.conf (sometimes in /boot/grub/ ) then reboot and cross fingers. Note to keep the existing kernel in case something bad happens (so have two entries in grub.conf 1 for your existing kernel, and the other for the 'experimental')

 

See the gentoo handbook for more info. It gives some examples on what you SHOULD have loaded by default. When you emerge gentoo-dev-sources it will enable the most common tweaks/additions to the kernel that you need. However, practice makes perfect.

 

Make sure to enable module loading/unloading, chech out the video card stuffs, mobo chipset, nic, usb stuffs, etc, etc, etc, etc....

 

In the gentoo handbook there are install guides for both manual and genkernel installs. Substitute 'install' with 'upgrade' and rock &| roll

 

 

Gentoo Handbook

 

See chapter 7.c and 7.d

[Dapper Dan 0]

Crazykillerman, what you describe above is exactly what I did to compile the new kernel, and as I say, everything works great including the mouse scroll except I cannot get my NIC's module loaded.

 

The directions at the Gentoo site for installing the 2.6 kernel that taeuler linked mentioned checking for several things when running menuconfig, but didn't mention about checking to see if modules were set to initiate at boot. Is there a way to check this before recompiling another kernel? Is there no way to fix it after compiling?

 

I'm very happy with what I now have, and feel I can improve it if I can get my e100 module to load for my NIC. Otherwise, I have no Internet connection with the 2.6 kernel. I do however have Internet with the 2.4 kernel.

 

I downloaded the Gentoo universal live cd in case I can't sort this out. Am I right in believing this is pretty much like the other live Linux CD's in that I can install to HD and have a Gentoo system I can configure?

 

I know the optimal way is to do a stage 1 install from scratch, but I just don't feel comfortable enough with all this to go there right now. Once I have a stable working Gentoo, I can then get familiar enough to consider a stage 2 or stage 1 install later.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

 

[CrazyKillerMan 0]

Quote:

The directions at the Gentoo site for installing the 2.6 kernel that taeuler linked mentioned checking for several things when running menuconfig, but didn't mention about checking to see if modules were set to initiate at boot. Is there a way to check this before recompiling another kernel? Is there no way to fix it after compiling?

More when I get home (about 30-60 mins) from work. I have some documentation printed that I cannot seem to find quickly online.

Quote:

I downloaded the Gentoo universal live cd in case I can't sort this out. Am I right in believing this is pretty much like the other live Linux CD's in that I can install to HD and have a Gentoo system I can configure?

Having not tried any other livecd's, I cannot comment on the install. The livecd install is outlined in the handbook. It is really quite simple to do if you have the handbook available (either print it out, or use alt-f2 and links)

Quote:

I know the optimal way is to do a stage 1 install from scratch, but I just don't feel comfortable enough with all this to go there right now. Once I have a stable working Gentoo, I can then get familiar enough to consider a stage 2 or stage 1 install later.

Having no regards for large amounts of down time, I opt for stage 2 or stage 3 (depending if it is a weekend or not ;-) )

I dont think that my time is worth a stage 1 install. Seriously...you know?

[CrazyKillerMan 0]

Quote:

More when I get home (about 30-60 mins) from work. I have some documentation printed that I cannot seem to find quickly online.

OK. First off - when you compiled your kernel, did you select:

Loadable Module Support -> Enable loadable module support: Enabled
Loadable Module Support -> Module unloading: Enabled
Loadable Module Support -> Automatic Kernel Module Loading: Enabled

To check this, jsut run "make menuconfig" again and see if it is enabled (the .config file should have been saved as such, unless you renamed it). The menuconfig looks for a .config to set everything that WAS set the last time it was ran before compiling (exactly why you want to save it and add revision numbers, etc).

If so, it might just be that the module is not loading on start-up.

Look at and edit /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 to ensure its loaded everytime you boot.

Put the module name for your nic card in. Is it e100???

I have fglrx loaded at startup (for direct rendering) and I place "fglrx" into the kernel-2.6 file.

[clutch 1]

What you could do is simply run the live CD, and see what module it loads for your NIC. There might be another one that it chooses. In addition, if the genkernel was used (I am not sure if this is the case from going through the responses) it probably has support compiled into the kernel, and hence gives the modprobe and insmod issues. I just recently tried using genkernel in my VM, and did not care for (too much stuff) and might go with a stage 1 (yeah yeah, I know, but it can make a big difference and it's the way I have done it for the last couple of years).

[taeuler 0]

Dapper Dan, I found some documentation in the install guide that might help with you nic. It looks like you might just be able to emerge the e100 driver. I found at the bottum of this page, under "installing extra modules".

 

It looks like all you need to do is:

 

1) emerge e100

2) add e100 to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6