Installing Gentoo - Networkless - WG111v2

Message

davejk · Post by **davejk** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 2:19 am

I have been playing with Gentoo 2008.0 on a VM and have been having a lot of fun. I think I am ready to try a real install, but I have one question; although I do have ethernet on my target desktop, I have no feasible way of plugging it in. My internet access is through a Netgear Wireless G USB adapter (WG111v2, uses rtl8187 driver on my openSUSE install; will post the driver name later). It seems to work fine with the latests releases of openSUSE, Fedora, and Ubuntu. There's even a Gentoo wiki page on enabling the driver. But I don't think I can manually configure a kernel without an internet connection. So basically, will Gentoo 2008.0 be able to correctly configure my wireless card (either the LiveCD itself, or the installer's genkernel)? Otherwise this may be a no go for me. I won't have an internet connection unless the genkernel from the LiveCD (or the LiveCD) supports this card.

Thanks alot!

gforum · Post by **gforum** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:03 am

prob not lad,
my advice:
read around over kernels, or simply... start 'configing' it, tehn if u dont know what-where-how, come back to the forums, and post.
step by step you'll get there.

or u can use the Ethernet... but since u said thats not possible...

gluck kiddo.

davejk · Post by **davejk** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:40 am

Well, the live cd does not seem to recognize my card. I tried to configure it with iwconfig, but it would not associate with an access point. So, I suppose I will have to improvise.

start 'configing' it,

Yes, but as I said above, I don't believe I can configure the kernel with the networkless install. can I? As far as I can tell, the networkless install means using the installer, which installs a genkernel that I doubt would work any better than the LiveCD kernel. I would need the gentoo-sources in order to configure the kernel manually, and I can't get them without an internet connection. Unless the sources are on the LiveCD? Are they? Otherwise, is there a way to get the gentoo-sources ebuild from another computer and install them from the local drive?

davejk · Post by **davejk** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:02 am

Okay, I've been reading around. I suppose what I might do is install from an existing distro? Would that allow me to download the gentoo-sources and compile my own kernel? I think that is the key for me. I need to be able to get the gentoo-sources and compile my own kernel before I boot into the new system. Since the LiveCD can't get me an internet connection, I think this is my only option. I would appreciate further explanation or hints!

gforum · Post by **gforum** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:42 pm

yes! most certainly!

thats what i did in my rookie'ing days, just booted my long trusting ubuntu cd and did the initial preps until i got the kernel there...

btw i woudnt necessarily recommend doing the whole process of installing on another system, since -i believe- it might miss configure a few things, not sure.

but either way, for ubuntu it was simple, you can follow the handbook normally. OR, you can even use sabayon which is like having a live cd that actually does its job

.
or RescueCD also, there are many alternatives.

i remember someone said once, use rescuecd, funtoo tars, and go stage 3 i think, or whatever.
what i did was:
-ubuntu and preps,
-log on to it(gentoo, afterwards), and do the rest... manually

but it was good learning, and i chose to do it.

gluck laddie.

pappy_mcfae · Post by **pappy_mcfae** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:08 am

If you have Gentoo installed on a VM, use it to set up your .config before you need it. You could then install an .ISO file editor, and put the new .config and the kernel source into a minimal install, along with a stage-3 tarball and a portage snapshot.

If you have another computer just sitting around, install apache2 or another www server, and put the .config, and the source, and other set up files from your own custom web page. That's how I set my systems up. Everything's premade. It makes things go sooooo much more smoothly. Of course, it requires two computers to achieve the result.

If you have two optical drives on your machine, you could put the install on one disk, and the extras on the other. Experiment. Get creative.

If that's a no-go, get the 2008 DVD, and use it to do a manual install. It usually contains the tarball, a snapshot, and enough distfiles to install the basic system manually. There is a document on doing networkless installs. You might want to read up on the subject.

Blessed be!
Pappy

cwr · Post by **cwr** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 12:28 pm

Unfortunately there is no Gentoo 2008.0 DVD, and the 2007.0 is pretty obsolete.
Sad, because it was an ideal way to install Gentoo when networking was difficult.

Will

pappy_mcfae · Post by **pappy_mcfae** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 5:15 pm

If it works with ubuntu, use ubuntu and the alternate install methods.

Blessed be!
Pappy

gforum · Post by **gforum** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:44 am

if using the ubuntu live cd u dont need to do anything 'alternative', just follow the handbook.