I've just completed (well complete is a relative term) the _rc5 install, so I will
share the results with you.
A bit of philosophy
---------------------------
Warning: this is not the distro for complete newbies; you need
at least a minimal understanding of system administration
to get through this. Also, you must have an internet
connection to do the post-install work.
Your first decision is a philosophical one - to Gentoo or not to Gentoo. Unless you
like tinkering with distros for the education (I do) or you are convinced that you
will get a very solid system (I do so believe) from Gentoo, you may want to pass. You
really only need to go through the procedure described below once, though, because
Gentoo provides you with the wherewithal for keeping your distro continuously up to
date (even bleeding edge, if you prefer).
Gentoo is basically similar to ALFS, ie a
compile-everything-from-download-on-the-fly-sources distro. After install, you have a
very basic, up to date Linux system with internet connection, and you are ready to
install packages to your heart's content. Gentoo uses the Portage packaging system, a
system unique to Gentoo, for installing software. Each package is an "ebuild" which
contains specs for downloading from an authoratative source, checking for dependancies
(and automagically merging these first, if necessary), merging the package onto your
running system, and providing for removal (unmerging) the software later, if needed.
At every step Portage calculates md5sums to insure that you have a valid copy.
Planning
------------
1. Go to the http://www.gentoo.org site and review everything.
2. Read through the install instructions until you understand them. At present it's
difficult to print them, but they are working on a printer friendly version. The
instructions are almost 100% accurate.
3. From your current system(s), you need a comlete picture of the partitions you want
to use (you can repartition during install) and your other existing partitions, your
ethernet setup (hostname, resolv.conf, hosts contents, module name for the NIC), your
kernel .config (if you want to compile a new kernel), and (preferrably) your existing
XF86Config-4 file.
4. There is no fancy installer. You do everything from a standard Linux system
(loaded from CDrom).
5. I recommend reiserfs for your partitions, but you may choose EXT2 if you prefer.
The standard 2.4.4.9 kernel is solid with reiserfs.
Installation
----------------
Allocate about 3 hours for the "install" plus whatever time
to download and burn the ios image.
1. Download and burn the appropriate iso image for your cpu (I used the 586 version
for my K6/II). Although I have at least one distro with cdrecord support, I used
windows to burn the CDrom (Easy CD Creator).
2. boot from CDrom (on my BIOS I have to specifically enable this each time, since
their is no option for floppy-then CDrom-then IDE)
3. Follow the instructions to create and format your partitions.
4. Issue the commands to install the system - much of the work is done from a CHROOT
Jail environment.
5. I chose to compile my own kernel, using the instructions provided, but the standard
kernel will probably work for you.
6. Follow the Final Configuration instructions (this is where you need the planning
data). A note: DHCP works just fine.
7. I ignored the grub instructions and switched to my reference system for updating
lilo. If you like grub, use it.
8. If you are using lilo, boot your reference system, update lilo.conf, mount all your
ditros referenced by lilo.conf, and issue /sbin/lilo.
9. Since I use my own kernel, I also update /etc/rc.d/config/modules (this is how
Gentoo controls module loading at boot) with the following (your ethernet and sound
card
will differ):
parport_pc
lp
tulip
esssolo1
10. boot your new system using lilo or grub (I had to alter my bios again to remove
CDrom booting, but you may not need this).
Post-Install
----------------
Allocate about 3 hours for the Post-Install work
1. Congratulations you just booted into Gentoo, and you have a complete non-gui Linux
system with a connection to the ethernet at your disposal. If you have a pppd
connection, I can't help you, since I use a local lan with cable connection to the
internet. YMMV
2. You login to root with no passwd. Use passwd now to set a root user passwd. I
also did ifconfig and pin www.kde.org, to veryify that my lan connection to the
internet was working. You must have an intenet connection to do the post-install work.
4. Correct the one install bug now - chmod 1777 /tmp. Gentoo may have already
corrected this reported bug by now.
5. adduser (see man) to add yourid in group wheel.
6. passwd yourid and set a password for the new user
3.
7. Create a /home/yourid directory and chown to yourid.wheel. Note: undocumented
feature of Gentoo - you must be in group wheel and yourid must be in /etc/group for
wheel to permit use of su!!!
8. Edit /etc/group and add yourid to the list of users for group wheel (ie "...
root,yourid)
9. Now you can login to normal user, and use su to switch in and out of superuser
mode, as desired.
10. You probably want a gui environment, right? Keep reading.
11. Do xf86config or cheat with a pruior saved XF86Config-4 file, like I did. This is
XFree86 4.1, and I could never get xf86config to work the last time I used it on 4.1,
so I cheated. If your prior XFree version was 3.3.6, you are out of luck - the config
files are not compatible.
12. In su mode or from the root user, do the following. You will have time for
several cups of coffee or complete meals. Now you are in the land of installing
packages using Portage. The ebuild specs for each package are in directories under
/usr/portage
1. emerge rsync. This will download the current tree of specs
for all packges to /usr/portage. The following steps can
be done in any order. Portage will process all
dependancies first. If you prefer another window
manager, by all means select the one you prefer, but I
wouldn't recommend kde or gnome initially, because
you are in for 12-24 hours of compiles.
2. cd /usr/portage/xc11-wm/xfce and
emerge xfce-3.8.3.ebuild (lots of dependanceis will be
resolved).
3. cd /usr/portage/net-mail/sylpheed/sylpheed-0.4.99.ebuild
(I chose this one, because 0.5.0 is out, and I will upgrade
soon)
4. cd /usr/portage/net-www/netscape/netscape-4.77.ebuild
11. Congratulations. You should have encountered no errors. It is now 3+ hours
later and you are ready to start a window manager.
12. login to yourid (normal user).
13. startxfce (or another, if you didn't choose XFCE)
13. use run to start sylpheed - choose a mail directory (I use Smail)
14. Enter the Configure menus and add a mail account (you wrote all this down
somewhere, right).
15. XFCE has an icon for Netscape and it works.
16. Enjoy, and start making plans to emerge anything your heart desires. You will
probably want to join the gentoo-dev mail group at this time to keep abreast of bugs
and new features.
I plan to do CUPS and cdrecord next and kde and gnome and koffice when I have time for
overnight runs.
Also, my soundcard doesn't seem to work, so I have a little investigation to do.
Good luck, and happy Gentoo!
--
Collins Richey
Denver Area
Gentoo_rc5 XFCE
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