The Jackass! Project for Intel ~x86

96140 · Retired Dev Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 1324

All right, I've done the 2x command sequence of "make && make modules && make modules_install && make install" after slight kernel changes (like discovering and setting the right options for my chipset, Intel i830M), rebooted two or three times after executing the same commands, just to work around the possible kernel 2.6.11-r6 bug, but to no avail. I still can't get Gentoo to finish booting. At least Grub works; I can boot to XP without a hitch.

I noticed that overlayed on the random screen fuzz was a pattern of 6 distinct rectangles dividing the screen, so I enabled tile blitting under the graphics options for kernel config. However, that doesn't make a difference; I just took a chance that the Intel graphics chip worked the same as a lot of Matrox cards. I'm not familiar with Intel cards, and the Dell site for the Latitude X200 doesn't detail much in the way of capabilities for the various Intel components of this computer. Alas, I was far more familiar with my old laptop; I knew that Toshiba through and through.

As this now is probably only just a hardware recognition/enabling problem, and not a Jackass problem, I'll be searching the forum threads elsewhere, or if any of you have any questions or suggestions, PM me.

I couldn't reproduce the kernel installation failure; examining /boot showed my kernel as well as the config.old entries from the initial compilation.

obsidianblackhawk · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 6:04 pm Post subject:

Bob P · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 6:05 pm Post subject:

intel chipsets can be a bitch to get configured with framebuffers. my experience has been that even when properly configured, the intel chipsets' framebuffers still have bugs in the display. search for i810 in the subject and bob p in the author, and you'll find LOTS of hits.

another thing you may want to consider is skipping the intel framebuffer problem and testing jackass. :wink:

edit: dang! Jeremy beat me to the punch!
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96140 · Retired Dev Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 1324

obsidianblackhawk · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 6:14 pm Post subject:

Sith_Happens · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 6:25 pm Post subject:

You'll have to put in your own resolv.conf, and you can copy /proc/mounts if you want, it won't hurt anything. I also just wanted to say that I sent an e-mail to the catalyst mailing list about a blocked packages problem I was having when building the livecd, and a developer responded first saying that they hacked the portage tree to do it (what I figured they had done, and what I was planning on doing), and then later sent another reply told me that he went and removed the block in the official portage snapshot.

Now that is service.

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obsidianblackhawk · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 6:25 pm Post subject:

Sith_Happens · Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 7:58 pm Post subject:

Ok, well I've changed the server authentication process yet again, now you all login with your forum usernames and passwords which I will send to you ASAP. If you want to use your own password, just pm me with one and I'll set that as your password. (make it one you don't use for anything else, I don't want that kind of responsibility. i.e. don't give me your forum password).
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"That question was less stupid; though you asked it in a profoundly stupid way."
I'm the brains behind Jackass! | Tutorials: Shorewall

Bob P · Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 12:59 am Post subject:

Jeremy, on the subject of that "make install" failure, please post your experiences to this thread:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-2363915.html

and to the bug report on bugzilla:

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=90871
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96140 · Retired Dev Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 1324

Okay, gents. I've finally got a working Jackass Pentium (plain ol' Pentium) tarball system to install and boot up. So far I've emerged gpm and Lynx (the only text-only browser I know of besides links2, which is far superior but is only found on the LiveCD. The first thing I did was do "emerge sync" followed by "emerge -auDv world" which tried to update Python to 2.3.5, which failed miserably. I posted about that in Bob's related thread.

I have no idea which of the five final kernel options I chose after 9 or 10 recompiles finally worked. Though I booted this time without framebuffer at all, at least I have a working system, ya know? In spite of digging through all sorts of the generated info & options when still using the LiveCD in an attempt to discover what it used to get a working framebuffer console, I didn't find anything in particular. So I bypassed the crappy Intel i830 framebuffer entirely. Next step: emerge X11 and Gnome. I assume you want me to live with this system for awhile? Or just emerge common "big" desktop packages like X, Gnome, and Firefox?

I must say, this system just FLIES along. I always forget just how much faster my systems are when they're text-only, but even on top of that, this Pentium stage actually seems a smidge faster than the last time I did a stage 1/3 install using the 2004.3 official Gentoo tarball with the arch specified as P3! I like the potential here; I like it a lot.

Bob P · Posted: Sun May 01, 2005 4:21 pm Post subject:

BertsInn · Posted: Sun May 01, 2005 6:53 pm Post subject: Installing Jackass Now

I am in process of installing the Jackass(plain pentium) right now. On the "emerge --nodeps acpid ntp" section. As I am using a K6-2/500 box, am I polluting anything by not changing the -march & -mtune settings? i.e. not optimizing for a specific chip. In talking with Ryan the project needs as many ebuilds tested as possible after installation. Hoping my tests are of value and not skewed by incorrect processor. Comments welcome and appreciated.
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Sith_Happens · Posted: Sun May 01, 2005 7:30 pm Post subject: Re: Installing Jackass Now

BertsInn · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 12:54 am Post subject: Re: Installing Jackass Now

Bob P · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 3:12 am Post subject:

yes, the K6 boxes all use a 586 CHOST setting, so you can just use the pentium-mmx tarball on them. my web server is actually hosted on a K6 box. i have installed it using the pentium-mmx tarball. i've even configured the kernel as if the CPU were a pentium-mmx, instead of a k6. i've done this primarily so that i can move the hard disk to another pentium-class box if the need should arise.

on the subject of testing jackass!, i would prefer that you DO NOT discuss the jackass! project outside of this thread. you should certainly not be discussing your activities as a tester in other threads on the forum. i thought that confidentiality issues would have been addressed before you were added to the private server.
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Bob P · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 3:15 am Post subject: Re: Installing Jackass Now

Sith_Happens · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 7:30 am Post subject:

96140 · Retired Dev Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 1324

Mein Gott. After umpteen+ hours (well, maybe not quite that many ^_^), I finally have a working graphical desktop on top of the basic Jackass install. Gnome is up and running, though I've had more emerge & installation problems in this one Gentoo install than I had when running my old Gentoo system(s) for months at a time!

Specifically, I had problems compiling libsvga (for xscreensaver, a requirement of Gnome & other graphic packages), problems compiling glibc-2.3.5, getting package.provided to work correctly and filter out Evolution and Mozilla, a broken Flash installer script for Firefox, and sundry others.

HOWEVER, I am pleased to report that none of them were caused by the Jackass toolkit, AFAIK. In fact, on a couple of the support threads I visited, some users pointed out that using GCC 3.4.3 and up would fix emerging certain packages! That the "stable" (but broken) complaining package could only be compiled by the "unstable" (testing) versions of GCC. BVery good news, indeed.

So, what's the plan now? I mean, I'm back in business and everything, unlike last month when I was stuck in Windows and hence could only theoretically contribute, besides spreading the good word about Linux in general--and getting a very smart computer-savvy friend of mine to switch from Debian to Gentoo!

By the way, like the new icon? I was browsing around for pictures of jackass penguins, and I found one that I just had to use as my icon. Penguins are in.

BertsInn · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 12:04 pm Post subject:

Sith_Happens · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 2:28 pm Post subject:

obsidianblackhawk · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 3:14 pm Post subject:

Hey Bob. Check your PM's

EDIT: Hey ryan, is the server down again?

Sith_Happens · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 6:24 pm Post subject:

obsidianblackhawk · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 6:51 pm Post subject:

I keep getting a forbidden error every time i access it.

Sith_Happens · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 7:46 pm Post subject:

Sorry, I was messing with the apache configuration and forgot to change it back. All better now.

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"That question was less stupid; though you asked it in a profoundly stupid way."
I'm the brains behind Jackass! | Tutorials: Shorewall

Bob P · Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 9:53 pm Post subject:

@Bert, i don't have any real problems with anything that you did. my point is just to say keep everything Jackass! in this thread, and don't put it into other forums. its no big deal if this thread gets long -- that's what its here for. :wink:

@Jeremy, i've got the tarball up for you to download on my FTP box. let me know if everything is ok, and after the prelininary test i'll pass it along to Ryan.

@Jack, there is a problem with 2.3.5 on 586 platforms, referenced in this thread:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-329143.html

Jackass! for Pentium has been specifically designed to avoid the problematic ebuild. If you undermine the integrity of Jackass! by changing the values contained in package.keywords, thereby facilitating the emerge of a package that has otherwise been blocked, then you're no longer using the Jackass! toolkit, and you're on your own. :!:

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