Before I start...

V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

I plan to try an install of Gentoo this week. I have printed out the docs for hard-copy reference, and I'm going to use the rc4 stage 3 install.

My Current setup is thus:

PC: XP2000+ on Asus A7N-266C (nForce1) with 512Mb. GF4400 video card, and a Realtek 10/100 NIC
HDD: 1x120GB (All WinXP stuff): Primary Master; 1x40Gb IBM with 6.5Gb primary partition empty for Gentoo: Secondary Master.
Optical: CR-RW: Primary Slave DVD: Secondary Slave

Connections: 10/100 connection via cheap-ass 8-port switch to a W2k PC. Internet connection to the W2k PC is on a USB modem to PPPoE ADSL, shared to my PC via ICS.

I'm planning to use Bootmagic to point to my Gentoo install (for now at least).

I've asked in chat about installing on this setup, and the response were generally very encouraging and positive, but I'd like to know if anyone has any warnings, tips, comments, etc, that I should be aware of before I begin.

On a side note, I have a friend who is something of a linux fan and wants to try Gentoo, but he's confined to a dial-up connection (and a crappy one at that). Apart from giving him my stage3 install CD when I'm done, what else can I do for him?
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idl · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2003 6:35 pm Post subject:

Your hardware sounds fine, all supported AFAIK.

As for your net connection its just a matter of configuring your NIC with an IP, default gateway, DNS etc...

Go for it! Looks like your all set

I first installed Gentoo over a 56k from stage1, wasnt that bad either.. allthough I had a server handling my connection, redial and what not. Downloads auto resume after a disconnect.
Your mate may need to use wvdial during the install to handle his modem (if hes not on a network) Search the forums and take a look through Gentoo Docs, i'm sure its well documented.

Good Luck!
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V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

Thank you for your reply. I wasn't so much worried about my hardware being supported as the network/internet setup. It's an alcatel speedtouch BTW, but hopefully that should be irrelevant to Gentoo as long as it can get the W2k PC to talk to it.

I guess what I'm really asking is any pointers on "obvious mistakes to avoid". The docs are quite good and thorough, but I guess I'm asking about mistakes that are commonly made; not so much "what to do" as "what not to do"....

It's reassuring to hear about the resuming BTW. I generally get a disconnect once per day or so.

As for my friend, he connects at 33.6 if he's lucky. He also shares the connection with his wife's telephone demands. I'd rather give him a CD full of .src's ;o)
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V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

Update: I have sacrificed one (or possibly more if they were small ones) TREE worth of paper printing out all the conceivably-related documentations, I have my ~rc4 stage 3 boot CD, a new jar of olives, plenty of fresh OJ, a new notepad and I am ready to begin.

See you on #gentoo when the problems start ;o)
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goldjd · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 4:18 pm Post subject: Tip/side note

Once you boot from the live cd (and use passwd to change the root password using the passwd command) and have your net connex up and running you can do

V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

Well I'm hoping that the shiney rc4 installer lives up to all the big promises made (or implied) in the install docs!

BTW, to be on the safe side, I'm going to be disconnecting my WinXP HDD and installing direct to the second HDD's primary partition. I'm taking no chances.

Oooh, one last question: which filesystems should I use for my partitions? I was thinking of ext3 for BOOT and ReiserFS for the main partition. Is the basic BOOT/SWAP// suitable?
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V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

Should I disable ACPI, etc, in the BIOS?
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synapscape · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 6:27 pm Post subject: my 5 cent...

ACPI: Well, just try.

If something fails, you will know.

Partitions: The setup /boot, /, swap ist generally ok for a home setup. Maybe putting /home on a separate partition is an idea for you. You would be able to keep your data if something goes wrong with /. I have 2 disks for linux in my box, with one partition on each disk for / (raid-0) and one partition on each disk for /home (raid-1). If one disk would fail, I'd lose my gentoo, but my data is (hopefully) still there to recover...
I'm only using ext3. I still have the impression that this is the "maturest" of all linux filesystems. But this is just my opinion, cannot really proove other filesystems to be faulty (which they ain't, i'm sure)....

One note: Be sure not to mess up /dev/hda and /dev/hdc if you disconnect your WinXP-disk...

Good Luck!
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V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

"One note: Be sure not to mess up /dev/hda and /dev/hdc if you disconnect your WinXP-disk... "

Will not gentoo see the XP HDD as hdb when I reconnect it? Should I not disconnect it? (I'm a little paranoid about losing my precious install, which I have spent a great deal of time getting just how I like it [insofar as XP will let me do so]...)
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synapscape · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 7:18 pm Post subject:

In general, there should be no problem with the disc being connected or not. Errors which lead to a "bombed" config so that you cannot boot into WinXP are 99% human errors.
What I meant was simply that you should avoid to confuse yourself with /dev/hda and /dev/hdc. After installing some time with just one disc in your system it could leave you thinking that this disc is /dev/hda (because it's the only one, must be /dev/hda then)

Believe me, I've seen all kinds of errors when it comes to choosing partitions. I once made the mistake of installing grub into my Win98-partition, but not into the MBR (where it should have gone). This is what i wanted to say

Didn't want to confuse you!

To protect yourself you can backup your MBRs with "dd". This simply copies your mbr into a file so that you can recover it if something fails.

Backup your MBR with:

slais-sysweb · Apprentice Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 221 Location: London

V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

But it's the human errors I'm most afraid of ;o)
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V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

Thx, but I prefer to have as few FS as possible given that at least one must be journalled.

It doesn't really matter too much, as I suspect that my first install effort will eventually be tried and executed for crimes against my patience. (Especially since there's no AthlonXP optimised version of the rc4 stage3 install yet - which reminds me; can an install later be updated with specific optimisations? If so, Is this significantly easier than just reinstalling?)
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christsong84 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 8:31 pm Post subject:

Just make sure you have those Boot Magic floppies available...can't tell you how many times I've been screwwed over by not having the floppies when Boot Magic/Partition Magic messes up.

V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

Really? BM has always behaved very nicely for me. Actually, there is no floppy drive in this PC, but I have bootable CDs about the place.

BM is a useful expedient until I feel confident enough to mess about with grub. One thing at a time...
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christsong84 · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 8:49 pm Post subject:

Good you have the boot magic CD's...I found grub amazingly easy thx to the good docs from Gentoo...all of about three commands...w00!

V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

That is encouraging. Maybe it won't be long till I'm using grub.

Actually, the only bit I'm worried about is the internet connection. My setup:

V1mRig -> 10/100 switch -> W2k PC -> USB modem -> ADSL goodness
ICS-^

The W2k PC has "share this internet connection" enabled, and it's all via DHCP. I have my IP, subnet mask and default gateway.
The W2k PC is not mine; although I have admin access to it, I don't want to abuse it.
Now how easy will it be to get the W2k PC to hand over the bandwidth goodness to my gentoo install? The install docs are very positive about this not being a problem, but for some reason I just can't seem to accept that it will all go as smoothly as I keep being told.
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BradN · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 3:01 am Post subject:

Internet connection sharing should act as a DHCP server - so you should be able to get away just using that.

Otherwise, just set your IP's manually... 192.168.0.* for the laptop, and point to 192.168.0.1 for the gateway and DNS server (in resolv.conf) - but DHCP should take care of all of this for you.

V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

OK, I guess that makes sense. Thanks. See new thread for discouragement...

PS It's not a laptop, sir! How dare you!
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sms · Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2003 9:46 am Post subject: Re: Before I start...

V1m Fuego · n00b Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 59 Location: UK

Thx, that's a handy tip.

PS But it'll be moot until the problem in my other thread gets solved. Any suggestions in that one would be most appreciated.
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"A new kind of stupidity"