first time gentoo reboot

[svt23]

Hey there,
I am a first timer in installing Gentoo, I have followed all the instructions in the handbook and reboot Gentoo just fine with no errors. However, I don't know what to do next after entering my login and password during boot.

*initializing random number generator
INIT: entering runlevel: 3
*starting local

This is svt23.homenetwork (Linux i686 2.6.20-gentoo-r7) 09:19:53

svt23 login: svt23
Password:********

login(pam_unix)[7203]: session opened for user svt23 by (uid=0)
Last login: Fri Jun 29 09:19:53 2007 on tty1

svt23@svt23 ~ $ <<-------- what is this?? what do I do next?? I have read the handbook and don't see anything related to this.

Please someone help. sorry it might be so simple but am new at this.

[nixnut]

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Other Things Gentoo.

Congratulations! You have succesfully installed gentoo and logged into your new system. What you are seeing is a command line prompt. You probably want a graphical desktop environment. So head over to http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/list.xml and read some of the documentation in the section Gentoo Desktop Documentation Resources.

[John R. Graham]

Yes, congratulations are definitely in order. Next steps:

• You'll almost certainly want to install X. X is the foundation for most of the graphical environments available for Linux. See The X Server Configuration HOWTO.
• Then you can choose a GUI to install. There are guides for KDE, Gnome, and others mentioned on the link that nixnut provided.
• Finally, you'll probably want sound to work. Check out the Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide.

Whew. After installing all of that, you'll have a basic graphical Linux installation. Please note that these installs should be done as root.

Hope this helps.

- John

[Etal]

Welcome to Linux! This is your command line!
This is where you plug your command in.

I assume you used the graphical install method, you don't seem to know what's going on.

Back when I installed Gentoo for the first time (almost 2 years ago), there was no graphical installer. When you booted the CD, this is what you were presented with - a command line. The only way to install was by following the instructions in the Handbook. Unfortunately, more recently, a graphical installation method was offered, which was intended for experienced users, but instead many new users including you chose this method, thinking that it's the easier way. As a result, you missed out on all the fun stuff, and you feel a bit lost. I recommend that you skim through the Handbook, so that you know what you've missed. Now, enough of my rambling; I'll tell you what to do next.

Unlike other Linux distributions, Gentoo does not come with tons of useless stuff preinstalled. It comes with the bare minimum. This means that there is no graphical user interface until you actually install it.

The first thing you want to do is to login with administrative privileges. just type in:

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su

. You will be prompted for a root password, and after that you will be able to install X by typing in:

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emerge xorg-x11

Anyway, here's the guide that tells you what to do:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xorg-config.xml
(The link was here: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/?catid=desktop)

Whenever you want to install a new piece of software, you can use Gentoo-Portagewebsite to find it.

If you need any further help, don't hesitate to ask us!

Edit: Whoa, it took me a long time to reply! Two people came before me...

[yuwy]

oh snaps lol. Yea the good old (not so old ) days of command line installation.

Generally speaking you would probably want to install Xorg server, then a webrowser and stuff.
Personally when i first got my basic install up, i started looking at configuration files and what not.

[svt23]

hello thanks for you help everyone. however, when I try to install X I get error. here it is.

Calculating dependencies.... done!

>>>emerging (1 of 151) sys-apps/man-1.6e-r3 to /
>>>Downloading ftp://gentoo.mirrors.pair.com/distfiles/man-1.6e.tar.gz
--07:48:43--ftp://gentoo.mirrors.pair.com/distfiles/man-1.6e.tar.gz
=>'/usr/portage/distfiles/man-1.6e.tar.gz'
Resolving gentoo.mirrors.pair.com....failed: temporary failure in name resolution

>>>downloading http://primates.ximian.com/~flucifredi/ ... .6e.tar.gz
--07:48:43-- http://primates.ximian.com/~flucifredi/ ... .6e.tar.gz
=>'/usr/portage/distfiles/man-1.6e.tar.gz'
resolving primates.ximian.com... failed: temporary failure in name resolution.

[John R. Graham]

Do you know that your network is working? You can type

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ping google.com

to see. Also, have you successfully been able to run "emerge --sync" yet? If your network is working and you've been able to sync, then none of your mirrors (servers that host Gentoo-specific files and other packages) are currently responding. Do you have a program called "mirrorselect" installed? Just log in as root and try running it. Setting up the mirrors properly is described in section 6.a. Chrooting of the Handbook.

- John

[svt23]

Yes I was able to run "emerge --sync" during my minimal installlation livecd. I also did the mirrorselect.

Ping: unknown host google.com.

so might network is not working propertly? umm. wierd cause I was able to download during installation as far as mirrorselect, portage, and releases.

[John R. Graham]

Okay, we know what to do next, then. Your network was working on the install CD (which means that there's native support for it) but it's not working in your newly installed Gentoo (which means that there's a kernel configuration issue). Two questions:

• How did you build your kernel? With genkernel or with the "manual" method?
• Run "lspci" and tell me what the output is for your network interface.

Don't worry; you're close.

- John

[vipernicus]

Yes I was able to run "emerge --sync" during my minimal installlation livecd. I also did the mirrorselect.

Ping: unknown host google.com.

so might network is not working propertly? umm. wierd cause I was able to download during installation as far as mirrorselect, portage, and releases.

Did you remember to install dhcpcd? If not, you'll need to chroot back in with the livecd and install it.

[svt23]

I did the genkernel configuration.

this is the output for lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge : Via technologies, inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE?Pro Host Bridge
00:00.1 Host bridge : Via technologies, inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE?Pro Host Bridge
00:00.2 Host bridge : Via technologies, inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE?Pro Host Bridge
00:00.3 Host bridge : Via technologies, inc. PT890 Host Bridge
00:00.4 Host bridge : Via technologies, inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE?Pro Host Bridge
00:00.7 Host bridge : Via technologies, inc. CN700/VN800/P4M800CE?Pro Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge : Via technlologies, inc VT8237 PCI bridge
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
00:0a.0 Firewire (IEEE 1394) VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80)
00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)

here it is. thanks

[svt23]

yes I installed dhcpcd

[svt23]

ok. maybe here is the problem and am trying to get to it. I rebooted Gentoo once again and I get this now.

*initializing random number generator
INIT: Entering runlevel : 3
*ERROR: problem starting needed service net.eth0 netmount was not started.
*starting logical...

So is having a problem connecting to the net. do I have to go back in to the livecd and fix it or can I do it with "su"? if so how ?

[Etal]

What output do you get if you type in (as root)

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/etc/init.d/net.eth0 start

Maybe you forgot to add it to the default runlevel?

[svt23]

this is what I get

*starting eth0
* Bringing up eth0
* 130.203.194.152 <--- my IP addr.
netmasks: Host name lookup failure
ifconfig: '--help' gives usage information

[shaumux]

Ok
Now its sure that the problem is configuration related

Do you have the file /etc/resolv.conf
You can check it like this ls /etc/resolv.conf

resolv.conf holds the DNS server info
Sample content of resolv.conf

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nameserver 201.53.8.1

Make sure you have the you have your DNS server address inplace of the sample IP address.
If you make changes try running this command again

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/etc/init.d/net.eth0 start

Post the content of /etc/conf.d/net

[svt23]

yes I do have the /etc/resolv.conf

how do I view the DNS info?

[shaumux]

The file resolv.conf is just a plain text file.

Just open it using the text editor nano or any other preferred text editor.

With nano

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nano -w /etc/resolv.conf

You can open any text file using the above systax just replace the filename and path.

You should have something similar to the sample i posted earlier corresponding to your DNS server, if not then put it in there.

Open the file

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/etc/conf.d/net

using nano in the same way and post the contents here if that is possible for you. (No need to post the lines with the # signs as the first character of the line they are just comments and doesn't affect anything. This is applicable for all configuration files.) Shouldn't be difficult that way.

[svt23]

ok when I open /etc/resolv.conf I have this

nameserver 201.53.8.1
search 130.203.201.7

when I use
/etc/conf.d/net <-- permission denied

[shaumux]

You were suppsosed to open it with nano like this

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nano -w /etc/conf.d/net

Now try posting the contents

I am little suspicious about the line

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search 130.203.201.7

in your /etc/resolv.conf

Open the file using nano again and Try putting a # sign before it and make it

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#search 130.203.201.7

and save it.
Commands are at the lower part of the screen.
As a shortcut for now ctrl+x is close which will prompt if you want to save or not, press y
then It will give you the filename you are going to save under just press enter(All of this at the lower part of the screen).
To make sure it worked just reopen the file using nano. and check if the changes has taken effect.
Then try to restart the net. using the comand

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/etc/init.d/net.eth0 start

[svt23]

nameserver 201.53.8.1
#search 130.203.201.7

in my /etc/resolv.conf

ok now I am wondering where exactly I should post the contents

this is my contents

this is my /etc/conf.d/net

config_eth0=( "130.203.194.152 netmasks 255.255.255.0 DNS1 130.203.197.7 DNS2 130.203.201.18" )
routes_eth0=( "default via 130.203.194.1" )

[svt23]

by the way thanks for your help I know it might be something simple...

[shaumux]

The settings you have posted are looking very peculiar to me.
I haven't seen any setting like this ever neither does the Handbook tells of this kind of setting.
This is very simple just looking complicated because you are doing it from command line.
It is definitely the settings that are causing the problems.

[shaumux]

Read Carefully and Throughly what i write and understand it

I may have found the cause of your problems.
Its basicaly the settings as i said and you should read more clearly what i had written.
I had provided you with the sample of /etc/resolv.conf and you just put the same thing over in the file.

Ok now I will give you you exact settings you need to put.
Open /etc/resolv.conf

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nano -w /etc/resolv.conf

Delte everything in the file
Put these threre

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nameserver 130.203.197.7
nameserver 130.203.201.18

Save and Close the file and verify the changes has taken place.

Open /etc/conf.d/net

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nano -w /etc/conf.d/net

Delete these lines
config_eth0=( "130.203.194.152 netmasks 255.255.255.0 DNS1 130.203.197.7 DNS2 130.203.201.18" )
routes_eth0=( "default via 130.203.194.1" )

Put new lines as follows

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config_eth0=( "130.203.194.152 netmasks 255.255.255.0 brd 130.203.194.255" ) 
routes_eth0=( "default via 130.203.194.1" )

Save and close and verify the changes

Reboot PC or restart the network to check if it works

[John R. Graham]

Typo alert: "netmasks" should be "netmask".

- John