Re: [gentoo-user] Is Gentoo for me?

[Dale]

John wrote:
> On Sunday, February 26, 2012 07:36 Dale wrote:
>> Alan McKinnon wrote:
>>
>>  I'm the resident old fart around here
>>
>>
>>
>> I beg your pardon.  ;-)
>>
>> Dale
>>
>> :-)  :-)
>
>   Heh, if I can find someone close by that has a fast connection, I bet *I'll* be the new
> resident old fart at 50 years of age just this last Monday the 20th.
>
>   I figure if I can find a fast connection, I can get what I need downloaded and burned
> onto a dvd. I'll just 'update' things one or two at a time so that it's easy on my dial-up
> connection. If I really, really need to update something like a kernel or something else
> that's huge for a dial-up download, I'll just find that fast connection again and put it
> on a cd or dvd (I *can) 'update' (emerge? still trying to get all the nomenclature down)
> from a cd or dvd, right?) and do it that way.
>
>   A question about the stage 3 tarball thing...if I download that instead of the iso
> (which is for 486 and up, whereas the tarball is 686 and better), how do I burn it (the
> tarball) as an iso onto a dvd so I can install Gentoo? Also, Distrowatch.com says that
> Gentoo has the latest in 'packages' as Feb 26, yet when I downloaded the tarball of
> CONTENTS, it shows mostly things (gcc, glibc, kernel, etc) that are used in the January
> release of Gentoo 12.0, not what Distrowatch has in their list of up-to-date lib's and
> such for the 26th of Feb. Where do I find the 'package' that Distrowatch seems to have
> found with almost everything being the latest and greatest?
>
>


In a small nutshell.  First, find something Linux to boot and install
from.  It can be a CD/DVD or a full Linux install of some other distro.
 It can be a image on a USB stick thingy.  You need that first. It needs
to have the chroot command.  I have yet to see or hear of a Linux ISO
that doesn't but just saying.  If that is a install on a hard drive, be
prepared to have something else to install to.  Another drive, separate
partitions or whatever you got planned.

Second thing, you need a stage3 tarball.  Put that on something:  DVD,
CD, stick thingy to get it back to your machine.

Third thing:  Get a portage snap shot.  That's what tells portage the
packages that can be installed, what they need to install first and all
sorts of other goodies.  Put that on something to get it back to your
machine.  The same thing #2 is on will be fine.  Just separate things
into different directories so YOU know where they are.

Forth, download the grub source tarball and a kernel tarball at least.
Remember the version of the tarball too.  You will have to tell emerge
the exact version or it will try to download some other version.  Most
other tarballs can be downloaded over dial-up and not take to long.
Even grub can be.  The kernel is pretty good size for dial-up.

You need those things first to even start.  Make sure you can get to the
docs on Gentoo's website.  You can get that over dial-up since it is
text and not much else.  You can also get to this mailing list most
likely.

With that, it should get you to a point where you can boot into Gentoo.
 Then you can emerge -fvp kde/gnome/fluxbox or whatever to get the list
of tarballs.  Keep in mind, it will list the sizes of those.  The small
stuff, let it get those over dial-up if you want.  Me, I'd just get the
larger stuff that takes a hour or so to get over dial-up and leave the
rest to dial-up.  You can sort of judge your patience on that one.

Keep in mind, you will have to drive off the reservation when it comes
to copying the tarball and snap shot over.  Instead of copying it from
the location the docs say to, you will have to substitute where YOU put
it.

I will say this, Gentoo over dial-up is a bitter pill but the install
and KDE upgrades are the worst parts.  When I first started using Gentoo
the sources were MUCH smaller.  I even considered switching to something
else just because it took ages to download something even small.  Also,
if you use KDE, it is going to be fun.  Open Office, LibreOffice, is
going to be at least as much fun.  By the way, OOo and LOo are what we
generally call Open Office and LibreOffice.  Shorter.  lol

Given your situation, I would update about once a month maybe two
months.  I'd set aside a FULL weekend to do it if you plan to use only
dial-up.  Also, be ready for down time.  KDE has got to where it does
not like being used while the upgrades are being installed.  I have
Fluxbox installed as a back-up to KDE.  If you do the same and you can't
get the login manager to come up, try this command:  startx
/usr/bin/startfluxbox and see if that works.

Also, by all means learn tab completion.  When you are typing in a
command, trying to get to a location you can use the tab key to help
keep things along.  If it beeps once, there are more than one matching
commands/location.  If it beeps twice, nothing matches.  Back up and try
again.  Tab completion can save you lots of time.  It should work during
the install and when you are actually running it.

One last thing.  Gentoo has a steep learning curve.  Just when you think
about giving in and doing something else, you're getting close to the
prize.  ;-)  Words to remember when it gets tough.

Second last thing, if you have to stop during the install but it is not
bootable.  It will be there when you come back.  Just exit the chroot
and do what you need to.  When you can come back to the install, mount
the partitions like you did to install, follow the guide to chroot in
and basically pick up where you left off.  It is very rare that you need
to start over.  Where did you leave off?  That is what notes are for.
Hint.  Hint.

If I missed anything, somebody speak up.  I'm not a elephant you know.  lol

Dale

:-)  :-)

-- 
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or
how you interpreted my words!

Miss the compile output?  Hint:
EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="--quiet-build=n"