Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Quick Search: in
My Gentoo journey
View unanswered posts
View posts from last 24 hours

 
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Gentoo Chat
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
korilius
n00b
n00b


Joined: 30 Oct 2013
Posts: 20

PostPosted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 3:07 pm    Post subject: My Gentoo journey Reply with quote

Gentoo is giving me a headache

[rant]This is harder than it should be. I'm chalking it up to ignorance on my part. I *finally* got Gentoo to boot (albeit, I had to do it through my Debian install on another disk) and I still don't know why Gentoo won't boot from its own disk.

I still have to plug and unplug my wireless lan on everyboot and restart networking - but I know how to fix that, just haven't done it yet.

I'm thinking "OK, I can effortlessly boot to Gentoo now, time to build a custom kernel. I go through all the help features and customize, follow the guide, boom - 1 hour later, a shiny new kernel. Update grub, tell Debian to update its grub. "Hey! It boots the new kernel! Aww shit... errors, not a valid root device, wtf?" OK. Calm down.. Let's do some reading.

I find this post https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-934684-highlight-.html which probably isn't the problem with me. I think "I'll go back through the kernel config and have a look around to see what the problem might be. Doesn't matter though, I'll remember what I've gotten changed and just undo back to a known point if I have even more problems" Cool, right!

Then I see a post about running mrproper, run it, and only realize until it's too late that my 30 minutes of configuring went right down the drain because of some bad advice "Aw, I remember that!" After the fact..

Gawd..if I had hair I'd pull it out.

[/rant]
_________________
-Thanks!-


Last edited by korilius on Mon Nov 11, 2013 2:08 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
steveL
Watchman
Watchman


Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 5153
Location: The Peanut Gallery

PostPosted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 6:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are stuck installing, log into IRC:chat.freenode.net and /join #gentoo for live support from over 1000 people.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
korilius
n00b
n00b


Joined: 30 Oct 2013
Posts: 20

PostPosted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 2:07 am    Post subject: Just venting a little Reply with quote

Thanks Steve - I'm just venting a little. :-) I really like Gentoo; hell, I've even learned a few things so far, ha!

My little Gentoo baby is running fine with the generic kernel, grub hell issues nonwithstanding. Just gotta take a break, read some more and move to the next goal! Soon enough I'll have a lean, mean, and stable Gentoo box :-)
_________________
-Thanks!-
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
shazeal
Apprentice
Apprentice


Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 206
Location: New Zealand

PostPosted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 5:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Custom kernels can be frustrating at times. My board for instance throws the cannot find root device if it dont build in the PATA for Intel chipsets even thought I am using AHCI.

Stick with it, debian is a nice fall back if Gentoo breaks. I keep a debian install handy for those times, but I find the customization in gentoo worth every second spent sorting this stuff out :)
_________________
CFLAGS="-OmgWTFR1CE --fun-lol-loops --march=asmx86go"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
The Doctor
Moderator
Moderator


Joined: 27 Jul 2010
Posts: 2678

PostPosted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 5:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm surprised no one posted this yet. http://www.kernel-seeds.org/ includes lean kernel seeds as well as detailed instructions and an online app that will tell you exactly what you need to turn on to get a working kernel. It should take the bite out of configuring your kernel. The only catch is you need to check the filesystem support. Pappy dislikes ext4 and doesn't enable it by default.

I have been running one for years and I have absolutely no complaints. They work and they are easy to use.
_________________
First things first, but not necessarily in that order.

Apologies if I take a while to respond. I'm currently working on the dematerialization circuit for my blue box.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
korilius
n00b
n00b


Joined: 30 Oct 2013
Posts: 20

PostPosted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 10:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Doc, you're the third person who's suggested that site to me! I've got it bookmarked and will be using it soon!
_________________
-Thanks!-
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
666threesixes666
Veteran
Veteran


Joined: 31 May 2011
Posts: 1248
Location: 42.68n 85.41w

PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 4:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i do gentoo by unwrapping stage3, emerging vanilla-sources, start getting the kernel ready, and emerge lilo in background while doing the kernel....

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Lilo

i get kernel+stage3+bootloader squared away, and make sure gentoo boots... then proceed from there. lilo is very straight forward, grub has strange syntaxes to it unless its grub2 as grub 2 is just 2 commands to generate the configs.

vanilla sources default config it ships with + what ever i need for specific machines found via lsmod && lspci -k on live cds and / in kernel menuconfig to find the modules & ensure my config is fit for my system.

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Hardware_detection
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Kernel/Configuration

vanilla-sources are not supported by gentoo security team or what ever, go with gentoo-sources+stage3+bootloader. lilo and grub can be installed side by side. i tried to make lilo as painless as possible, i symlink kernels to bzImage instead of monkey with configs trying to remember exact version numbers, and tabbed auto completion and ls -al /boot to ensure the kernel i want booting is selected.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
TheLexx
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 04 Dec 2005
Posts: 137
Location: Austin Tx

PostPosted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I tend to already have a good general purpose Linux kernel for my system and I tend just to copy that one over when I install Gentoo. However, I do see this as a sticking point for many people installing Gentoo for the first time.

I would see it as a bonus to be able to install a canned kernel onto a newly installed Gentoo system, perhaps the same kernel that runs onto the install disk. The advantage is that you could reboot without having to use the CD and chroot the system. I would not consider the install complete until you have a custom kernel, but it would allow the user more flexibility. He/She could work on other parts of Gentoo installation/compiling before being forced to drop everything and build a custom kernel RIGHT NOW.

Back in the days of Redhat 5.x I would install a caned kernel, but I would always choose to replace it with my own custome 2.0.x or 2.2.x kernel.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
666threesixes666
Veteran
Veteran


Joined: 31 May 2011
Posts: 1248
Location: 42.68n 85.41w

PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 5:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

agreed, we need a canned huge kernel, and canned generic kernel with initrd setup going. if were really about learning, then we must drop the elitist tude and provide baby steps for newbies.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Gentoo Chat All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum