[gentoo-user] Installation questions

[gentoo-user] Installation questions

[James]

Hello,

I have read that the LiveCD is dead, no mas, ka_put_ski.


So I wondering when the installation docs (gentoo handbook)
will be modified for Chapter 2: Choosing the Right
Installation medium?

Many of the other installation methods (alternative to the  G
Handbook) also require CDs, stages and snapshots.
No 2009 profile yet?

I have seen this page as a recommended (on this list) method
to install Gentoo: http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

Maybe a quick list of instructions how to use it to
install gentoo? Maybe a boot-floppy and then get
everything from a usb stick< for older i586/P1 systems?
Many of the older machines I install gentoo on, do 
not support usb booting directly? 

Hell, for that matter, I do not know what to tell somebody
new to Gentoo, to use to install on a computer now-a-days?


Currently, I hack my way through using 2005 and 2006
minimal CDs until I find a combo of files/drivers that
work for an old x86 arch (K6 and such too).


I'd like to learn how other folks are performing Gentoo installations
these days. I just used a 2007 minimal cd without incidence, but
that seems to fading as a viable offering. I never had any luck
with 2008* cds.  


Maybe a list of really simple steps on a usb stick? or a home-made
catalyst CD? Particularly for old 586 and pentium 1 machines. It 
seems every install on an old x86 arch is a "random walk" to
get to a minimal working machine.... They do make excellent 
firewall and DNS servers.

Re: [gentoo-user] Installation questions

[Alan McKinnon]

On Friday 20 February 2009 18:01:22 James wrote:
> I'd like to learn how other folks are performing Gentoo installations
> these days. I just used a 2007 minimal cd without incidence, but
> that seems to fading as a viable offering. I never had any luck
> with 2008* cds.  

I use any old LiveCD I have lying around that supports enough of the hardware 
ont he machine to be able to boot and see the disks and NIC.

I find Ubuntu works like a charm.

Yes, you heard me right - I recommend one uses Ubuntu to install Gentoo :-)

Let's face it, Ubuntu does a very good job of making LiveCDs that JustWork, 
and this is not an area where gentoo has ever had any real focus.

-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

[gentoo-user] Re: Installation questions

[James]

Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon <at> gmail.com> writes:

> Let's face it, Ubuntu does a very good job of making LiveCDs that JustWork, 
> and this is not an area where gentoo has ever had any real focus.


OK.

so I but up a ubuntu lived CD.
SET up the disk (fdisk)

follow the handbook setting up partions, file systems and such.
Then setup chroot and at that point,
copy over the 2008 stage3 and get the latest snapshot,
thus following the rest of the handbook, more or less?


Any caveats?


James

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installation questions

[Alan McKinnon]

On Friday 20 February 2009 20:53:55 James wrote:
> Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon <at> gmail.com> writes:
> > Let's face it, Ubuntu does a very good job of making LiveCDs that
> > JustWork, and this is not an area where gentoo has ever had any real
> > focus.
>
> OK.
>
> so I but up a ubuntu lived CD.
> SET up the disk (fdisk)
>
> follow the handbook setting up partions, file systems and such.
> Then setup chroot and at that point,
> copy over the 2008 stage3 and get the latest snapshot,
> thus following the rest of the handbook, more or less?

Yeah, pretty much just like that. 

All that a LiveCD, or a so-called "host system" a-la LinuxFromScratch, or even 
the Gentoo installer ever did, was give you a running kernel and a means to 
unpack a stage and chroot into it.

Only one caveat - the LiveCD must support all the hardware and system features 
you intend to use during the install. If you will need to read a filesystem on 
an LVM lv for example, you will need an LVM-capable LiveCD - not all of them 
are. Ubuntu for example isn't.
 
-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

Re: [gentoo-user] Installation questions

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 437 bytes --]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:26:21 +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote:

> Yes, you heard me right - I recommend one uses Ubuntu to install
> Gentoo :-)

I took that a stage further with my Eee.
Knowing how long it would take to build everything, I installed
Ubuntu, then used that while Gentoo was building in a chroot.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

<Linuxgeek> How do i find the model of my card?
<Serena[T]> your nick is misleading, seriously

[-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 198 bytes --]

[gentoo-user] Re: Installation questions

[James]

Neil Bothwick <neil <at> digimed.co.uk> writes:


> > Yes, you heard me right - I recommend one uses Ubuntu to install
> > Gentoo 

> I took that a stage further with my Eee.
> Knowing how long it would take to build everything, I installed
> Ubuntu, then used that while Gentoo was building in a chroot.


OK, got it.

thanks
James

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installation questions

[b.n.]

James ha scritto:
> Neil Bothwick <neil <at> digimed.co.uk> writes:
> 
> 
>>> Yes, you heard me right - I recommend one uses Ubuntu to install
>>> Gentoo 
> 
>> I took that a stage further with my Eee.
>> Knowing how long it would take to build everything, I installed
>> Ubuntu, then used that while Gentoo was building in a chroot.
> 
> 
> OK, got it.

+1, just for the sake of history :).

I *never* used a Gentoo livecd. I always used Knoppix or Kubuntu cds. I
don't even understand why should one use the minimal gentoo cd when one
can have a working environment while installing.

m.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Installation questions

[Dirk Heinrichs]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 903 bytes --]

Am Sonntag, 22. Februar 2009 12:28:29 schrieb b.n.:
> James ha scritto:
> > Neil Bothwick <neil <at> digimed.co.uk> writes:
> >>> Yes, you heard me right - I recommend one uses Ubuntu to install
> >>> Gentoo
> >>
> >> I took that a stage further with my Eee.
> >> Knowing how long it would take to build everything, I installed
> >> Ubuntu, then used that while Gentoo was building in a chroot.
> >
> > OK, got it.
>
> +1, just for the sake of history :).
>
> I *never* used a Gentoo livecd. I always used Knoppix or Kubuntu cds.

I guess it always depends on what tools you actually need during installation. 
I use GRML, since it

* uses zsh as its default shell
* didn't drop EVMS like Debian (ok, they wanted to, but I could convince them 
to keep it)
* has some handy scripts like grml-chroot which does all the /proc and /dev 
bind mounting stuff
* ...

Bye...

	Dirk

[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 190 bytes --]