New to boards & setting up Gentoo on a laptop..

lots · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 95

Hi im new to Gentoo linux.. i've been fiddling with linux off and on for a while now but not really learning anything.. but now i want to sit down and get into it.. i've fooled around with slackware, mandrake and redhat a bit.. and i found rh and mandrake kinda slow in comparison to slack.. so i've been looking for a streamlined os and a couple of friends recommended gentoo.. so im thinking of setting it up on my laptop.. i wanted to know of any foreseeable problems with trying to get it running on my laptop..

i have a Compaq 900z .. specs:
ATI IGP chipset (the mobility U1 graphics)
256 DDR
athlon XP 1500+
20 gig hd..

i also have a wireless linksys card i'd like to set up as well
WPC11 ver3

my main concern is that there wont be compatability with Xfree and the graphics card.. another not as important concern is the Power Now! that the athlon chip has.. im curious if linux supports the function.. and if i can get it up and running on the laptop.. its not very important since im either plugged in or using it on batteries for a very short time (most of the battery use will be in WinXP pro since the way the wireless network is set up at school.. it doesnt support linux cuz of this software u have to install to use the network.. retarded no?..)

i was also thinking of starting from stage3 (considering my experience in linux isnt very high)

thx in advance for any help

dirtboy · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2003 9:19 pm Post subject:

You shouldn't have any showstoppers here. I don't think Power Now! has a software component you have to use. I think it is all done in hardware, so it doesn't matter what OS you use. Just make sure to compile ACPI into your kernel when you get to that part, and you may want to edit make.conf and set your ACCEPT_KEYWORDS to ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" so you can get xfree 4.3 which gives native ATI acceleration. If you don't like using beta ebuilds, you can use the VESA xfree driver. No 3D, but it works.

unai · n00b Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 13

lots · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 95

3D accelleration is unimportant to me so having just basic 2d functionality is fine..

edit: forgot to mention im gonna dual boot, is there anything i need to make sure not to do so i dont screw up the windows partition?

Sven Vermeulen · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2003 7:46 am Post subject:

If you don't want to screw up your windows, don't touch the windowspartitions. However, since your laptop will probably have windows preinstalled on the complete HD you will be forced to resize the partitions (using parted).

Also, when you come to the bootloader-setup, be sure to have a listing for Windows (don't panic, this is mentioned in the installation guide).

lots · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 95

heh thnx for the tip/warning altho a few months ago i had set the laptop up (repartitioned windows' partitions) for a linux partition.. altho at the time i wasnt sure which distro i wanted.. i knew i'd need to do that.. so i did.. but since then i've worked some on my laptop and would perfer not to have my windows partition destroyed by accident (altho i've already started the install.. and so far my windows paritions are undamaged) currently im at step 17 .. and no probs thus far..

and besides i wanted XP Pro rather than home.. ill be sure to make sure the bootloader setup has a listing for the windows drive..

Edit:
Looking thru the options for the make menuconfig thing (17.2 of the guide) it says i should make sure the USE DMA option is set.. but im not quite sure where it is.. i've searched all the categories and sub catigories.. and havnt found anyhting similar to that..