Installing Gentoo onto an old Toshiba laptop.

creighto · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:47 am Post subject:

Apparently it doesn't much matter, when I merged gcc, it went straight for version 6.4.0.rc1, so it looks like I'm probably good to go; but I will follow the order out before returning to the emerge ... @world step in the handbook.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 9:36 am Post subject:

creighto,

The profile swap changes the default gcc options.
The defaults for the /13.0/ profile and the /17.0/ profile don't mix.
Many packages compiled with a mix won't run.
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NeddySeagoon

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

creighto · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:39 pm Post subject:

Everything seems to be doing fine, but emerge told me that it was switching from 'native' to 'i486'. I don't know why, but I guess that isn't the greatest issue.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:07 pm Post subject:

creighto,

Can you post some context?
That may slow graphical software.
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NeddySeagoon

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

creighto · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 6:04 pm Post subject:

Not really, I had read it before starting the next step. I'm still using pure command line, without screen, so I don't have a buffer/log to refer to yet. I started this install using the i486 minimal install iso, so I suspect that switching to profile #3 then back to #13 probably overwrote my config change to 'native'. I don't think it's going to be a real problem, however, and I'm sure that I will recompile again someday. So as long as i486 isn't significantly slower than i686, which I would doubt, I will just live with it until I decide to recompile.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 7:11 pm Post subject:

creighto,

The i486 toolchain will run on an i686 and produce the same output code as the i686 toolchain.
If you have CHOST=i486... thats harmless.

Your CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS control the output code.
Its here you need -march=native, rather than -march=i486.

It will make a significant different to graphical applications as the i486 has no multimedia instruction set extensions.
Check your

creighto · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:38 am Post subject:

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:09 am Post subject:

creighto,

That's fine.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

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

sao98021 · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:24 am Post subject:

creighto · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 3:31 am Post subject:

Alright, I have a new problem. I know what a fstab does, but I don't know how to write one. I don't seem to have an example to go off of. Is there a script somewhere that can help me out? Also, after running fdisk -l I discovered that threre is a second drive on this laptop. At least it looks like one. Fdisk calls it /dev/sdb1 and it's 297 megabytes with a type Id of 17 (Hidden HPFS/NTFS). Does anyone know what this is, and if I can repurpose it to my own advantages? Apparently it's also bootable. Could this be the Windoze recovery partion that my bios has mentioned before? If so, is it safe for me to turn it into something else?

sao98021 · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 3:41 am Post subject:

Tony0945 · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:05 pm Post subject:

Several examples,UEFI and legacy in this thread: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1078058-postdays-0-postorder-asc-start-50.html?sid=7112099c76abb984ec1a965e0776733b

creighto · Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 3:43 am Post subject:

creighto · Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 4:03 am Post subject:

Crap! finally get some time to work on this, and the little laptop has lost it's internet connection, and net-setup can't be found! Does anyone know what might have happened, and what I can do to fix it?

The Doctor · Moderator Joined: 27 Jul 2010 Posts: 2678

net-setup only exist on the minimal CD. You should use the net scripts, wicd, networkmanager, dhcpcd, or your tool of choice to set up networking on your new install.
_________________
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.

creighto · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 7:43 pm Post subject:

creighto · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 8:49 pm Post subject:

What I really need is an ncurses based wifi manager, that I can add new networks with passwords to quickly, and will autoconnect like my phone when in range. Any suggestions out there?

Also, it looks like I screwed up my kernel config. It reboots fine, but can't see the wifi device at all.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:21 am Post subject:

creighto,

WiFi is usually in two pieces. The kernel driver and firmware. Make the kernel driver <M> as its easier to make work.
There is a whole wifi stack you need too.

wpa_supplicant has a command line interface but I've never used it.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

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

The Doctor · Moderator Joined: 27 Jul 2010 Posts: 2678

I don't think wpa_supplicant will do the autoconnect.

Using wicd from the command line may be your best choice but wifi tools and GUI interfaces are kind of linked at the hip. I've never seen a decent command line tool.
_________________
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.

creighto · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:31 pm Post subject:

I'm trying to download packages that I "might" want to compile later with the --fetchonly flag, because compiling is slow on this machine and I want to have the packages in case I fail to get wireless started again. Is there an emerge flag that will get it to complile all the --fetchonly packages that it has already downloaded? Or mist I emerge them separately anyway?

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 7:09 pm Post subject:

creighto,

Things you have fetched will be used provided the ebuild tree has not moved on.
At emerge time, portage will check for the distfiles and will not download them if you have the correct version.

Take care to keep your tree and prefetched distfiles in sync.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

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

The Doctor · Moderator Joined: 27 Jul 2010 Posts: 2678

I'd suggest you get Xorg server installed with fluxbox or i3 configured so you can use wicd plus a terminal. Both are light enough so you shouldn't run into resource problems and are very nice. From there you can easily configure wicd to do what you want it to X or no plus you get the benefits of having a GUI when it suits your needs.
_________________
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.

skellr · Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:03 pm Post subject:

creighto · Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:49 pm Post subject:

I'm getting stuck on two points. First, I have completely recompiled a standard modular kernel, in order to avoid not having my wifi work after restart. However, upon reboot, grub just sits there with a prompt, so I assume that it doesn't see the new kernel. How do I get grub to recognize the new kernel?

Also, I've been trying to get Xorg up and running, and I have it installed and it starts on the screen just fine using "startx /usr/bin/blackbox" but does not respond to either the keyboard or the touchpad, so I have to crash the laptop to get out of X. I don't even know what I'm doing wrong here.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 5:17 pm Post subject:

creighto,

One thing at a time.

Grub sitting at a prompt means that grub cannot find it configuration file.
That's /boot/grub/grub.cfg for grub2 or /boot/grub/grub.conf for legacy grub.

If you know what to type, you can type at the prompt to boot without a configuration file.
_________________
Regards,

NeddySeagoon

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