I'm trying to experiment with Gentoo, and I'm having some trouble with
installation. I downloaded the LiveCD installer and burned it. I chose
it because I didn't want to do an internet install. Everything seemed
to be working fine, but when the install got to the point of installing
additional packages, it slowed down to a crawl because it was still
installing from the internet. 12 hours later, it choked on package 297
of 341, and the install failed.

I figured the way to get around this was to start the install with the
network disconnected, but when I tried that, the install set the root
password, then did absolutely nothing (for several hours, before I gave up).

I'm not a Linux expert, but I've installed several distros, including
FC, Ubuntu, and one of the older Redhat distros several years ago, and
I've never had such difficulty.

I've heard good things about Gentoo, and I want to give it a fair
chance, but so far it seems to be more trouble than it's worth. What am
I doing wrong?

Thanks,
Mark

Hello Mark,

> I'm trying to experiment with Gentoo, and I'm having some trouble with
> installation. I downloaded the LiveCD installer and burned it. I chose
> it because I didn't want to do an internet install.

I recommend not using the graphical installer. Internet install is also
nearly necessary for Gentoo. It's really complicated to do it without
internet connection. Do you have a dial-up connection? You may want to
download all the packages in one rush and set up a little FTP server one
another computer. Then you could do "internet" install without being
connected to the actual internet...


My favourite distro had been Debian and I still think it's very good for
some purposes. It takes some time to install Gentoo the first time but
even my very first test convinced me.

Download the 2005 minimal install CD and read the installation handbook
first. Then follow it and install your system step after step by hand.
This way you'll be able decide about many things and you'll learn a lot
of stuff about your PC. Take your time and try Gentoo! Looking back I
say it was worth reading this long handbook and spending some time
installing it. It's nice:-)


Daniel Böhmer,
Germany

Thanks, Daniel -

I did finally get it up and running by not selecting any additional
packages. One thing I didn't see during install was any way to specify
maximum screen resolution; maybe I just missed it. I find myself stuck
now with a maximum of 1024x768, when I really want 1280x1024. There
must be a way to change it post-install, but I don't know what that way is.

I've had my best success with Fedora; the installation is as painless as
I've seen, the most recent updates are readily available (unlike Ubuntu,
for example), and it has worked very well for me so far.

What is it about Gentoo that you appreciate over other Linux distros?

Mark


Daniel Böhmer wrote:
> Hello Mark,
>
>> I'm trying to experiment with Gentoo, and I'm having some trouble with
>> installation. I downloaded the LiveCD installer and burned it. I chose
>> it because I didn't want to do an internet install.
>
> I recommend not using the graphical installer. Internet install is also
> nearly necessary for Gentoo. It's really complicated to do it without
> internet connection. Do you have a dial-up connection? You may want to
> download all the packages in one rush and set up a little FTP server one
> another computer. Then you could do "internet" install without being
> connected to the actual internet...
>
>
> My favourite distro had been Debian and I still think it's very good for
> some purposes. It takes some time to install Gentoo the first time but
> even my very first test convinced me.
>
> Download the 2005 minimal install CD and read the installation handbook
> first. Then follow it and install your system step after step by hand.
> This way you'll be able decide about many things and you'll learn a lot
> of stuff about your PC. Take your time and try Gentoo! Looking back I
> say it was worth reading this long handbook and spending some time
> installing it. It's nice:-)
>
>
> Daniel Böhmer,
> Germany
>

On Wed, 17 May 2006 10:36:10 -0700, Mark Baker wrote:

> What is it about Gentoo that you appreciate over other Linux distros?

Maximum flexibility, choice and ease of maintenance. The downside
to this is, instead of being given a button that says "install now",
you're given a manual and a command prompt.

This way suits some but not many. If you're not comfortable with manuals
and command prompts (and don't ever want to be) you should steer well
clear of Gentoo.

That said, don't get me wrong - a Gentoo installation is often painless,
just rarely the first time. For me, the payoff was more than worthy.

Hth,
--
Ben Measures
$email =~ s/is@silly/@/

Gentoo is not meant as a "no brainer" version of Linux.

Gentoo was made for those Linux users that do not mind working and learning
the operating system.

Capability to build from source the entire OS and applications.
Great package management.


If you were looking for a simple install, simple package management system
then we would have recommended some other disto.



Mark Baker wrote:

> Thanks, Daniel -
>
> I did finally get it up and running by not selecting any additional
> packages. One thing I didn't see during install was any way to specify
> maximum screen resolution; maybe I just missed it. I find myself stuck
> now with a maximum of 1024x768, when I really want 1280x1024. There
> must be a way to change it post-install, but I don't know what that way
> is.
>
> I've had my best success with Fedora; the installation is as painless as
> I've seen, the most recent updates are readily available (unlike Ubuntu,
> for example), and it has worked very well for me so far.
>
> What is it about Gentoo that you appreciate over other Linux distros?
>
> Mark
>
>
> Daniel Böhmer wrote:
>> Hello Mark,
>>
>>> I'm trying to experiment with Gentoo, and I'm having some trouble with
>>> installation. I downloaded the LiveCD installer and burned it. I chose
>>> it because I didn't want to do an internet install.
>>
>> I recommend not using the graphical installer. Internet install is also
>> nearly necessary for Gentoo. It's really complicated to do it without
>> internet connection. Do you have a dial-up connection? You may want to
>> download all the packages in one rush and set up a little FTP server one
>> another computer. Then you could do "internet" install without being
>> connected to the actual internet...
>>
>>
>> My favourite distro had been Debian and I still think it's very good for
>> some purposes. It takes some time to install Gentoo the first time but
>> even my very first test convinced me.
>>
>> Download the 2005 minimal install CD and read the installation handbook
>> first. Then follow it and install your system step after step by hand.
>> This way you'll be able decide about many things and you'll learn a lot
>> of stuff about your PC. Take your time and try Gentoo! Looking back I
>> say it was worth reading this long handbook and spending some time
>> installing it. It's nice:-)
>>
>>
>> Daniel Böhmer,
>> Germany
>>

--

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Salvor Hardin

Dennis wrote:
> Gentoo is not meant as a "no brainer" version of Linux.
>
> Gentoo was made for those Linux users that do not mind working and learning
> the operating system.
>
> Capability to build from source the entire OS and applications.
> Great package management.
>
>
> If you were looking for a simple install, simple package management system
> then we would have recommended some other disto.
>
>
>
> Mark Baker wrote:
>
>
>>Thanks, Daniel -
>>
>>I did finally get it up and running by not selecting any additional
>>packages. One thing I didn't see during install was any way to specify
>>maximum screen resolution; maybe I just missed it. I find myself stuck
>>now with a maximum of 1024x768, when I really want 1280x1024. There
>>must be a way to change it post-install, but I don't know what that way
>>is.
>>
>>I've had my best success with Fedora; the installation is as painless as
>>I've seen, the most recent updates are readily available (unlike Ubuntu,
>>for example), and it has worked very well for me so far.
>>
>>What is it about Gentoo that you appreciate over other Linux distros?
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>
>>Daniel Böhmer wrote:
>>
>>>Hello Mark,
>>>
>>>
>>>>I'm trying to experiment with Gentoo, and I'm having some trouble with
>>>>installation. I downloaded the LiveCD installer and burned it. I chose
>>>>it because I didn't want to do an internet install.
>>>
>>>I recommend not using the graphical installer. Internet install is also
>>>nearly necessary for Gentoo. It's really complicated to do it without
>>>internet connection. Do you have a dial-up connection? You may want to
>>>download all the packages in one rush and set up a little FTP server one
>>>another computer. Then you could do "internet" install without being
>>>connected to the actual internet...
>>>
>>>
>>>My favourite distro had been Debian and I still think it's very good for
>>>some purposes. It takes some time to install Gentoo the first time but
>>>even my very first test convinced me.
>>>
>>>Download the 2005 minimal install CD and read the installation handbook
>>>first. Then follow it and install your system step after step by hand.
>>>This way you'll be able decide about many things and you'll learn a lot
>>>of stuff about your PC. Take your time and try Gentoo! Looking back I
>>>say it was worth reading this long handbook and spending some time
>>>installing it. It's nice:-)
>>>
>>>
>>>Daniel Böhmer,
>>>Germany
>>>
>
>
Gentoo has it's up side and it's down side.
Because Gentoo is installed from source (mostly) it is very possible
for an upgrade to new packages to break "something" in your system.
I've lost count of how many times after doing an "emerge -uD world"
some packages either broke, or wouldn't rebuild. Usually there is
a good reason for this and the fix is simple (though not always
obvious). A quick query on the forums usually turns up someone who
has seen the problem before and has posted an answer (or post the problem
yourself and someone will let you know how they fixed it).
Sometimes I've screwed myself by the use of "etc-update" overwriting
a config file that I should have left alone (like /etc/fstab!), or NOT
updating a config file that was necessary for the new version of a
package. I've also ended up with conflicting USE flag settings that
wouldn't work causing problems. Gentoo's ability to optimally configure
packages is a double edged sword, in that it is VERY possible to set
things up in a way that causes problems. That's why Debian takes so
long to release. They have SO many packages and they need to fine tune
their builds for EVERY arch they support, and build all those binaries.
But Gentoo's ebuilds are just as tricky to fine tune so they work on
all arch's as well. Add in the mix of user selected USE flags and
it becomes IMPOSSIBLE to insure that some ebuilds won't fail for SOMEBODY.

My X86-64 (AMD Athlon64) system is still buggy. I may just re-install
from scratch if I can't fix some broken packages after the last
emerge -uD world. Right now cups is broken (printer that used to work
doesn't anymore), XMMS no longer works (but Xine plays just fine),
and now K3B won't build (but I think I have the clue on this one).

Please don't think I'm ranting or telling anybody to keep away from
Gentoo. Just don't expect Gentoo to be as easy to install and keep
up to date as Debian or Ubantu. (actually Debian is very HARD to
keep up to date if you can't stomach unstable... hahaha).
I like Gentoo, and the support on the forums is second to none.
If I wasn't a software engineer by trade though, I'd use something
else. IOW if you speak computerese (don't have to be a dyed in the
wool Geek) you can handle it.
OK stepping off soapbox now.....

On Sat, 20 May 2006 17:46:07 -0400, Ken Scharf <wa2mzeNOTTHIS@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>Gentoo has it's up side and it's down side.
>Because Gentoo is installed from source (mostly) it is very possible
>for an upgrade to new packages to break "something" in your system.
>I've lost count of how many times after doing an "emerge -uD world"
>some packages either broke, or wouldn't rebuild. Usually there is
>a good reason for this and the fix is simple (though not always

Funny, my amd64 system is rock solid. The only two bugs I have is that
evolution is a POS and will crash when you close it and firefox's
java support doesn't work.

Can you list any real examples of packages that wouldn't install
any other unstability?

On Sunday 21 May 2006 01:29, AZ Nomad stood up and spoke the following
words to the masses in /alt.os.linux.gentoo...:/

> Funny, my amd64 system is rock solid. The only two bugs I have is
> that evolution is a POS and will crash when you close it and firefox's
> java support doesn't work.

If I'm not mistaken, then the Java support in your /Firefox/ doesn't
work because you've installed a 64-bit version of /Firefox,/ while the
Java Virtual Machine can't be compiled for 64-bit.

You would thus need to install a 32-bit /Firefox/ with a 32-bit JVM.

Again... if I'm not mistaken... ;-)

--
With kind regards,

*Aragorn*
(Registered GNU/Linux user # 223157)

On Sun, 21 May 2006 00:26:20 GMT, Aragorn <stryder@telenet.invalid> wrote:


>On Sunday 21 May 2006 01:29, AZ Nomad stood up and spoke the following
>words to the masses in /alt.os.linux.gentoo...:/

>> Funny, my amd64 system is rock solid. The only two bugs I have is
>> that evolution is a POS and will crash when you close it and firefox's
>> java support doesn't work.

>If I'm not mistaken, then the Java support in your /Firefox/ doesn't
>work because you've installed a 64-bit version of /Firefox,/ while the
>Java Virtual Machine can't be compiled for 64-bit.
Yes, I know that. And I don't care enough to remedy it. I'd rather
have the 64 bit version and not have java.

>You would thus need to install a 32-bit /Firefox/ with a 32-bit JVM.

>Again... if I'm not mistaken... ;-)

And again, the amd64 build is rock solid.

On Sunday 21 May 2006 06:52, AZ Nomad stood up and spoke the following
words to the masses in /alt.os.linux.gentoo...:/

> On Sun, 21 May 2006 00:26:20 GMT, Aragorn <stryder@telenet.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>> On Sunday 21 May 2006 01:29, AZ Nomad stood up and spoke the
>> following words to the masses in /alt.os.linux.gentoo...:/
>>
>>> Funny, my amd64 system is rock solid. The only two bugs I have is
>>> that evolution is a POS and will crash when you close it and
>>> firefox's java support doesn't work.
>
>> If I'm not mistaken, then the Java support in your /Firefox/ doesn't
>> work because you've installed a 64-bit version of /Firefox,/ while
>> the Java Virtual Machine can't be compiled for 64-bit.
>
> Yes, I know that. And I don't care enough to remedy it. I'd rather
> have the 64 bit version and not have java.

Just for your information, you could perfectly have a 64-bit build of
the entire operating system but opt to have /Firefox/ and its plugins
be 32-bit.

That should work perfectly fine and won't impede the rest of the system.
;-)

--
With kind regards,

*Aragorn*
(Registered GNU/Linux user # 223157)