Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Quick Search: in
Gateway 4535GZ (or setting up Gentoo on a Centrino)
View unanswered posts
View posts from last 24 hours

 
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Documentation, Tips & Tricks
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
sixshot
n00b
n00b


Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 52

PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 3:27 am    Post subject: Gateway 4535GZ (or setting up Gentoo on a Centrino) Reply with quote

This will be my first guide here. But I've been somewhat documenting various parts of my journey of installing Gentoo 2005.0 on his laptop of mine. Comments, info, and notes are appreciated.

First is an overview of the hardware pertaining this laptop model.

  • Intel Pentium M 735 (1.7GHz / 400MHz fsb)
  • 512MB PC2700 DDR RAM
  • Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG
  • Intel 855GM Integrated chipset
  • RealTek RTL8139 Fast Ethernet NIC
  • Ricoh R/RL/5C476(II) / Compatible CardBus Controller

Before you begin...
You'll need a blank CD-RW disc to make the most out of this guide if you plan on dual-booting Windows and Gentoo Linux. Either way, it's better to use a CD-RW overall since the minimal LiveCD is so small and it'd be a waste of a CD to burn so little on it.

Quote:
If you want to dual-boot...
Use ntfsprogs which contains the ntfsresize program to help resize your partition. Also at the site are links to various other bootable distributions that contains this software. For reference, I used BG-Rescue Linux to resize my NTFS partition. Your mileage may vary and you're on your own when you decide to resize your partition.


You should follow (mostly) the Gentoo Installation Handbook to get a rough idea what steps are needed to install Gentoo overall. While I could provide you with step by step instructions on how to get this done, it'll make this guide too long and will repeat a lot of what was said in the Handbook. What will be outlined here are details and steps that is necessary to get this and perhaps other laptops working.

LiveCD - Network
The drivers found on the LiveCD contains the ipw2200 driver which enables support for the wireless adapter that's installed. It's possible that you may need to disable encryption on your WAP or router, as I did not look into determining whether WPA or WEP works well under Linux. To be safe, disable encryption entirely and lock out wireless access with MAC filtering. Otherwise, fall back to using wired connection to access the Internet.

LiveCD - Installation Files
Grab the stage of your choice. I started with stage1. But you can choose a different stage if you want. When you get to modifying make.conf for setting your CHOST and CFLAGS values, use the following as reference.

Code:
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"


Depending on your version of gcc when you nabbed your LiveCD, you need to set one or the other CFLAGS.

Code:
(if gcc version is *** below 3.4 ***)
CFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium3 -msse2 -fomit-frame-pointer"

(if gcc version is *** 3.4 and up ***)
CLFAGS="-O2 -march=pentium-m -fomit-frame-pointer"


While you're there, look up and define any USE flags like "mmx" and "sse".

Kernel Configuration
Here's the lengthy part. There's a lot you can set up and you may end up missing a module here and there. If that's the case, then go back, enable module or option, and possibly recompile the kernel. Here, I'll list by category, not by section, what you need to look through or need to enable via built-in or module.


  • CPU - 'Pentium M' for Family, Uniprocessor, and APIC
  • Power Management - ACPI (AC Adapter, Battery, Button, Video, Fan, Processor, and Thermal Zone)
  • CPU Frequency Scaling - choose a governor profile, Intel Enhanced SpeedStep
  • PCMCIA - CardBus-yenta support
  • IDE - Intel ATA (PIIXn), ATAPI CD-ROM
  • USB/FireWire - OHCI-1394, EHCI USB 2.0, UHCI USB1
  • Mouse - Legacy psaux for touchpad pointer
  • Networking - RealTek RTL-8139 PCI (8139too), Wireless LAN drivers (enable only for support, disable any included kernel drivers below it)
  • Cryptographic API - AES, ARC4, Michael MIC, CRC32c (module/enable for use with wireless adapter above)
  • Video Card - /dev/agpgart support & Intel 440LX/GX/BX, I8xx, E7x05; Direct Rendering Manager & Intel 855GM (i915 driver)
  • ALSA - Intel AC97 (under PCI devices)
  • MMC/SD Cards - MMC Support -> MMC block device driver


Set up anything else you feel you need. There may be some things missing so do not worry about that. What's listed above should suffice for day-to-day use. Once you're done, save the configuration, and compile the kernel and modules as instructed by the Handbook guide.

When it comes to copying the System.map and the bzImage files to their new location, delay that. Instead, issue the following command:

Code:
emerge ipw2200


This will pull and install several softwares including the wireless tools needed to configure your wireless adapter for use. Once it's done with the emerge, continue following the install guide outlined in the handbook. You will then have a working non-GUI Gentoo system and you'll be halfway done.

X11 & GNOME

If you didn't add any modules to the kernel-2.6 autoload file, do so now. Other than the ipw2200 module, you should have several other modules automatically loaded if you've set several things to 'M'. This includes things like the psaux, intel-agp, USB, and possibly the cryptographic modules.

Quote:
Note: the intel-agp module may not load as expected. If it doesn't, re-emerge 'module-init-tools' to fix this.


First thing you need to do is get X11 installed. So go ahead and issue the following command:

Code:
emerge xorg-x11

I hope you've got the laptop plugged in because we don't need your batteries drained of power while it's compiling Xorg. While you're waiting, take a quick glance at my xorg.conf file to get an idea as what's needed. You're welcome to use this configuration file as your own but be aware of any risks when using other people's configs.

When the emerge is finished, follow-up with:

Code:
emerge synaptics

This will install the synaptics X11 driver so you can use the touchpad. Make any final changes to xorg.conf and look through to ensure everything is correct.

Now for the big part: GNOME. Before you start rolling, insert the following command to get an idea what's going to be installed:

Code:
emerge -pv gnome-light


Quote:
Note: If you're aiming for a pure gtk2 system, you may need to issue the following command due to a weird emerge/portage bug in how it handles 'gtk-engines' ebuild:
Code:
touch /usr/portage/x11-themes/gtk-engines/gtk-engines-2.6.N.ebuild

Replace N with the micro-version number that emerge will use to install gtk-engines. This is mentioned here as a precautionary step in case people bring up this FAQ here or elsewhere.


If you feel everything is good and okay, go ahead and do:
Code:
emerge gnome-light


There's a good chance that you'll need to emerge a few more softwares to have a more useful GNOME installation. The following is just an example so do not issue the command unless you want to. Be sure to use the "-pv" option to view what USE flags are available to the ebuilds.

Code:
emerge mozilla-firefox gpdf eog gedit xchat gaim gnome-applets


From here on out, you can install other softwares of your choice and further customize your GNOME environment. If this guide was of any use to you, then that is great. If not, well I dunno what else to say.

(edit1: July 20, 2005 -- minor facelift, and changed suggestion regarding intel-agp not being loaded)
_________________
One shall stand. One shall fall.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
dager
n00b
n00b


Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 37
Location: State College, PA

PostPosted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome guide, i know when i installed Gentoo on my 4535gz, i had alot of trouble getting X configured. I may install my laptop, b/c i'm having some issues with my harddrive (connection between drive and mb fails, upon reboot PXE loader fails to find OS, says CHECK CABLE). so i'll be taking it back to best buy b/c it is still covered under warrenty. knowing best buy, they'll probably wipe out my whole system when they fix it, so it looks like i'll be starting from square 1 again..


Great guide!
_________________
AMD64 kernel 2.6.14 Dual Opteron
Gateway 4535gz running suspend2-2.6.16-r2
gcc-4.1.0
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
rajman
n00b
n00b


Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 7
Location: Tucson AZ

PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

did you every get a dual-monitor setup working through the VGA out? I used to just plug in a CRT and windows would let me turn it into an extended desktop, but now after messing with xorg.conf I've only ever been able to reproduce what I see on the LCD onto the CRT. thanks.
_________________
http://rajman.deviantart.com
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
sixshot
n00b
n00b


Joined: 30 Apr 2004
Posts: 52

PostPosted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 10:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't bothered with dual-monitor setup yet so I cannot provide any steps to get it up and running.
_________________
One shall stand. One shall fall.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Documentation, Tips & Tricks 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