This is how linux idiots install gentoo...

[goosegg]

What am I doing wrong??

This is what I am doing:

-boot with the LiveCD, type "root", passwd <hit enter>
-I skip forward to the partition portion and dd -if=dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=1024 count=1024 and the same for hdb
-then cfdisk - prompts "do you want to start with a zero drive?" I say yes. Then I create 4 primary partitions on 2 hdd's as follows:

-hda1- bootable 50 mb, ext2
-hda2 - swap 512mb, swap
-hda3 - root 1550mb, reiserfs
-hdb1 - var 2110mb, reiserfs

-reboot

-boot with the LiveCD, type "root", passwd <hit enter>, type "passwd" and assign new password.
-type "pci-setup" I have no idea what I'm looking at so I say "ok, ok"
-I hook to the net through a router so I type "dhcpcd eth0"
-/sbin/ifconfig -a returns the 'up and running' I need, I'm off
-I have already setup partitions and they are in a nice 1,2,3 order so
-mkswap /dev/hda2
-mke2fs /dev/hda1
-mkereiserfs /dev/hda3
-mkreiserfs /dev/hdb1
-set mountpoints
#swapon /dev/hda2
#mkdir /mnt/gentoo
#mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/gentoo
#mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
#mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot
#mkdir /mnt/gentoo/var
#mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/gentoo/var

-get tarball
-I start with a STAGE3 tarball
# cd /mnt/gentoo (makes sure I have enough diskspace for the tarball, since this puts it on the 1550 MB partition)
# wget http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo/releases/1.4_rc1/x86/stage3-i586_k6.2-1.4_rc1.tar.bz2 (I have fewer problems with the wget command)
# tar -xvjpf /mnt/gentoo/stage3-i586_k6.2-1.4_rc1.tar.bz2
# mount -o bind /proc /mnt/gentoo/proc
# cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf
#chroot /mnt/gentoo
#env-update
#source /etc/profile
#emerge sync

-Now, since I started with a STAGE3 tarball, I skip the "#nano -w /etc/make.conf" I have looked in there...don't know whats going...hope that default will be good enough
-I skip the "progressing from stage1 to stage2" step...since I'm a stage 3

-Timezone
#ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Chicago /etc/localtime
-I skip the next step "progressing from stage2 to stage3" since I am a stage 3 tarball

-Kernel and system logger
#emerge sys-kernel/gentoo-sources

#cd /usr/src/linux
#make menuconfig
Here is where I into substantial problems until I realized that I could change the processor type. AMD has been referred to as "pentium class" for years so when I saw "pentiumII/celeron" under Processor types I thought it had autodetected a "pentium class" processor. As you all know, this sends me into the eternal reboot cycle. So for anyone else as dumb as me, move the cursor to the processor type and hit enter, it doesn't look like a selection line, but it is. Select your processor from the list.

All I'm doing is menuconfig is trying to get a kernel that works.
I select the "code maturity level options",
Under filesystem, I select all the ext2 options and reiserfs support and virtual memory,
and I "use DMA"
I haven't selected enable "IDE disk" support before..hmmm maybe that's another thing I'm doing wrong.

I save the config file and
#make dep && make clean bzImage modules modules_install
#cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot
(I either didn't do this or did it wrong the last time and grub couldn't find the kernel. I booted with the liveCD and entered the chroot to move the kernel, but when I rebooted, it still wasn't there&#8230;?)

-choosing a cron daemon
#emerge sys-apps/vcron
#rc-update add *cron default

-Install additional packages
#emerge sys-apps/reiserfsprogs

-/etc/fstab

looks like this when I'm done:

/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 noauto,noatime 1 2
/dev/hda3 / xfs noatime 0 0
/dev/swap none swap sw 0 0
/dev/hdb1 /var xfs noatime 0 0
/dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto 0 0
/proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

-Root password

I choose a different password.

-/etc/hostname
#echo maryjane > /etc/hostname

-/etc/hosts

127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.1.3 maryjane maryjane
*this is the 3rd comp on my router.

-Final network
not much to do here. Everything in conf.d looks like it should work so I leave this file alone
#rc-update add net.eth0 default

after re-reading the directions, it looks like I need to load the module for my NIC&#8230;

-Configure basic settings
I don't see anything that I think needs changing here.

-Configure Grub - I have issues here I know

When I get to point of reboot I always get to the grub prompt and have to type
Grub> kernel /boot/bzImage
Grub> /boot

And then I always discover that I screwed something up again.

My setup should be as simple as the example in the installation instructions

Grub> root (hd0,0)
Grub> setup (hd0)
Grub> quit

-grub.conf

looks like this:

default 0
timeout 30
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz

title=maryjane
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/hda3

? is root (hd0,0) right?

-unmount

#etc-update
#exit
#cd /
#umount /mnt/gentoo/boot
#umount /mnt/gentoo/proc
#umount /mnt/gentoo
(this always says that /mnt/gentoo is busy and won't unmount it )

I reboot and, the last time, just beeped and beeped and beeped and I had to hit the reset button.

I really only wrote this as a checklist for myself but thought I would post it anyway. Maybe it will help some other Xtreme noobies out.
_________________
When the going gets tough, and the tough get going...somebody has to stay behind to check on the wives and girlfriends!

[rac]

Wow, lots going on here! See the "noauto" in the /etc/fstab entry for /boot? That means you have to manually mount /boot before copying things (like new kernels) to it. This is likely responsible for all the times you thought you installed a new kernel, but it didn't take.
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For every higher wall, there is a taller ladder

[kipz]

[goosegg]

The 'xfs' was already in the fstab so I thought it was ok. What would be the right abbreviation?
_________________
When the going gets tough, and the tough get going...somebody has to stay behind to check on the wives and girlfriends!

[kipz]

no abbreviation, just 'reiserfs'. Good luck!

[Cyris]

"cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot "

I noticed this while doing my install. You said that your kernel that you made using the make menuconfig wasn't in /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot?

Look in here /usr/src/

You will notice that there are two directories in here. One being the above mentioned linux directory and the other being linux-whatever_kernel_version_you_downloaded. CD into that directory (linux-whatever_kernel_version_you_downloaded) and you should find YOUR bzImage under /arch/i386/boot/

copy that bzImage into your /boot directory. Also, make sure you create a symlink between your grub.conf file and the menu.lst file. The command to do this is below.

ln -s /boot/grub/grub.conf /boot/grub/menu.lst

That is the letter L in menu.lst, not the number 1.

Hope that helps some.

[Lovechild]

[rac]

[BradB]

I experienced the same problems with GRUB as you in my last install, just this weekend. When I looked at my already running system I noticed that I only had a menu.lst, and no grub.conf. Ah-ha make a symlink so that menu.lst -> grub.conf. Still no joy. So I

[jdc]

You might want to go through those kernel options more carefully...
You enabled devfs, right?

You should have to edit something in conf.d...
There should be one line you uncomment to enable dhcp, if I remember correctly (and I might not be remember correctly, so beware).

Playing with make.conf is the whole fun about Gentoo!

[Kot-II]

goosegg
Try to re-merge grub and then re-install grub

[snowmoon]

If you believe the problem is with the bootloader ( grub ) you can also try lilo.

emerge lilo
cp /etc/lilo.conf.example /etc/lilo.conf
nano -w /etc/lilo.conf
lilo

I have had laptops before that didn't like grub. Specifically it was a Dell lattitude c610 from work. I was able to get lilo running in less than 5 minutes.

[goosegg]

Thanks for the help. Alas, the install time was increasing as fast as my wife's patience was decreasing. I went with slackware instead.

Thanks.
_________________
When the going gets tough, and the tough get going...somebody has to stay behind to check on the wives and girlfriends!

[nachiketa]

2.6 ..............................lol:
_________________
Stop Thinking
Start Forgetting!

[sparks]

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