Help installing Gentoo on a USB external drive

Lukasz Tarkowski · n00b Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Hey Everyone

My name is Lukasz
I am Polish/Canadian
I was born in Poland and I live in Canada

I have a question
I am getting a 40 gb external 2.5 inch hardrive through usb
I would like to know how I can install Gentoo there. Not on my laptop internal just external like I said

My laptop is Compaq Presario R4255CA
Amd Athlon
Ati Graphics Card 128 mb
Gigahertz 2.19

Is 20 gb enough for linux
Could you tell me how to partition the 20 gb space for Gentoo Linux

Which version should I download of Gentoo

Thank You
_________________
Best Regards Lukasz Tarkowski

noup · l33t Joined: 21 Mar 2003 Posts: 917

Short answer: yes, you can. 20GB is more than enough for the distribution.

You should start with the Gentoo Handbook, IIRC the only difference with your setup will be in the end, when it comes to installing grub.

P.S. - One tip: use a more specific title in this thread, something like "Help installing Gentoo on a USB external drive".
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noup.

Lukasz Tarkowski · n00b Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Sup?
I have a question?
Does anyone know what version should I download?
Thank You
_________________
Best Regards Lukasz Tarkowski

noup · l33t Joined: 21 Mar 2003 Posts: 917

Lukasz Tarkowski · n00b Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Sup?
I have downloaded the gentoo livedvd cd for amd64.
I will install it from there, once I get my hard drive

_________________
Best Regards Lukasz Tarkowski

dmartinsca · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:46 pm Post subject:

Lukasz, welcome to the forums.

Just to be clear, that cd is for a 64-bit computer. Do you have an Athlon 64? If not, you will need either the minimal x86 cd, or the 686 live cd.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 7:17 pm Post subject:

Lukasz Tarkowski,

An Athlon CPU is not 64 bit. Are you sure your laptop is Athlon ?

A few points for later in the install.
To boot from a USB device, your laptop BIOS must support booting from USB.
With the root on USB you must build into the kernel everything to support usb-storage. Modules won't work.

Lastly, the kernel normally mounts the root file system before the usb subsystem is started. You need an extra kernel parameter, rootdelay=<sec> where <sec> is a period for the kernel to delay mounting root. USB will get started in this time.
Some trial and error is needed. Values for <sec> between 7 and 30 are reported to work.

Genkernel will not build you a suitable kernel without some manual intervention.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Lukasz Tarkowski · n00b Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Sup? dmartinsca
Yes I have Amd Athlon 64 Processor

_________________
Best Regards Lukasz Tarkowski

Lukasz Tarkowski · n00b Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Sup NeddySeagoon?
I am getting a hadrive soon, Im getting it on Christmass, I know cause they tell me most of the time, my Grandfather does, thats all I can say, rest is personal
I have Amd Athlon 64 Processor
I have read the tutorials about genkernel liveusb and gcc, I will be reading them again once I get the hardrive like I said
And Yes I have a dvd-burner on my laptop

_________________
Best Regards Lukasz Tarkowski

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:31 pm Post subject:

Lukasz Tarkowski,

Other than the points I have mentioned, the USB install is the same as a normal install.
Good luck and happy Christmas
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Lukasz Tarkowski · n00b Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Hey NeddySeagoon
Is there a tutorial on getting the usb to work on kernels when I compile the new one? or will it work anyways after compile
Will the usb work on the new kernel? If not please find for me a guide. Where can I get usb mass storage for linux
I will need to set the timezone for the kernel my timezone is -5 and my windows has "Automatically Adjust daylight savings"
_________________
Best Regards Lukasz Tarkowski

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:56 pm Post subject:

Lukasz Tarkowski,

There is no guide that I know of.
If you have ever built a kernel before, you will not have problems, if not, there are several kernel building guides.
Mine is [https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-2431534.html#2431534]here[/url] don't be disappointed if your first attempt is not quite right. The rules in that post apply, you have a few extras to rememeber.

Since you share your system with Windows, you set your BIOS time to your local time, to keep windows happy and set your linux timezone to localtime. Its a symbolic link in /etc, not a kernel oprtion.

The handbook covers everything you need other than the extras for root on USB.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

im247black · n00b Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Ottawa, Canada

I have a Wesern Digital, USB, 250GB disk,
Laptop - Satellite Pro, 1 GB RAM, NviDia Graphics, Internal HD has UBUNTU and Windosnt XP
I installed Gentoo from the LiveCD unto the WD USB
GRUB was already on a boot partition (UBUNTU install)

It all works!

danpixley · n00b Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 66