Quick Question: On Which Distribution is Gentoo based?

steveglimache · n00b Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 12

Did I understand correctly that it is based on Debian (like Knoppix)?
Or is it not based on any other distribution?

The reason I am asking is because I need a xircom_tulip_cb.ko module for my PCMCIA NIC (Xircom CE3B-100 Ethernet 10/100) which is absent from the LiveCD.

I need it before installing portage, since I want to install portage from the Internet, not the LiveCD. It is kind of a "chicken and the egg" situation, since if I had everything installed, I could have compiled my own xircom_tulip_cb.ko from source, but in order to have everything installed, I need xircom_tulip_cb.ko...

Thanks!

Frodg · l33t Joined: 11 Feb 2004 Posts: 761

Try visiting the home page then the 'about' link for Gentoo:
http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/about.xml

There is a full history there and it makes great reading.
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Gentoo - Registered Linux User # 361400

IvanYosifov · l33t Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 778 Location: Bulgaria

Gentoo is a distribution on its own , unlike and not based on any other.
You can install portage from the cd and then --sync with the main tree. If you are using 2004.3 there are no terribly outdated packages (ebuilds) and you will be getting the currently stable version of the portage software. A few packages might want to be updated afterwards , but it should not be a problem. An other thing you can do is prepack the needed ko-s on a floppy and load them from the floppy.