The installation ISOs are on the Gentoo Mirrors. Detailed descriptions of the different CDs are available in the Gentoo Store. A universal CD contains everything you need to install Gentoo Linux quickly and without a connection to the Internet. A Package CD is optional and contains pre-compiled packages such as KDE, GNOME, OpenOffice, Mozilla, Evolution and more.
Boot from the Universal CD. Press <F1> and/or <F2> to see what boot options are available. For installing Linux 2.4, press <ENTER> at the bootscreen to continue with the default kernel. For Linux 2.6, type smp<ENTER>.
# loadkeys /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwertz/fr_CH (Load keyboard definition) # date (Make sure your time and date is correct) # date MMDDhhmmCCYY (Set time and date) # cat /proc/meminfo (check memory size)
My setup is
/dev/hda1,/dev/hda5,/dev/hda6,/dev/hda7,/dev/hda3,/dev/hda4.# fdisk /dev/hda (Partition the drive) # mke2fs -L Boot /dev/hda1 (Initialize the boot partition) # mkswap /dev/hda5 (Initialize the swap partition) # swapon /dev/hda5 (Activate the swap partition) # mke2fs -jL System /dev/hda6 (Initialize the system partition) # mke2fs -jL Backup /dev/hda3 (Initialize the backup partition) # mke2fs -jL Data /dev/hda4 (Initialize the data partition)
Continue by mounting the partitions and extracting the appropriate stage file.
# mount -t ext3 /dev/hda6 /mnt/gentoo (Mount the root partition) # cd /mnt/gentoo (Go to the mountpoint) # mkdir boot (Create the boot mountpoint) # mkdir home (Create the home mountpoint) # mkdir proc (Create the proc mountpoint) # mount /dev/hda1 boot (Mount the boot partition) # mount -t ext3 /dev/hda4 home (Mount the home partition) # mount -t proc none proc (Mount the proc partition) # cat /proc/cpuinfo (look for processor type) # tar -xvjpf /mnt/cdrom/stages/stage3-*.tar.bz2 (Extract a stage tarball) # tar -xvjf /mnt/cdrom/snapshot/portage-*.tar.bz2 -C usr/ (Copy portage files) # mkdir usr/portage/distfiles (create distribution files directory) # cp -v /mnt/cdrom/distfiles/* usr/portage/distfiles/ (copy over distfiles)
Configure the system installation process.
# nano -w etc/make.conf (Edit configuration options) # mirrorselect -a -s4 -o >> etc/make.conf (Select a mirror) # ln -snf /usr/portage/profiles/default/linux/<profile> etc/make.profile (2008) # cp /etc/resolv.conf etc/resolv.conf (Copy over nameserver information)
Now that all partitions are initialized and the base environment installed, it is time to enter our new installation environment by chrooting into it.
# chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash (Chroot into the new environment) # env-update (Load the necessary variables) # source /etc/profile
In order to have more information about the machine, one can install following tools:
# emerge isapnptools (For information about the ISA cards) # pnpdump | less (Get info) # emerge pciutils (For information about the PCI cards) # lspci (Get info) # USE="-gtk" emerge lshw (For information about the mainboard) # lshw (Get info)
Now we can install the system:
# emerge gentoo-sources (Install the 2.6 kernel sources) # cd /usr/src/linux; make menuconfig (Configure the kernel) # make && make modules_install (Compile your kernel) # cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot (Copy over the kernel) # cp .config /boot/config (Copy the kernel configuration settings)
One can find the liveCD .config file
in usr/share/genkernel/x86/kernel-config-2.<n>.
Next, we configure Gentoo and install basic tools.
# ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Zurich /etc/localtime (Set the time zone) # nano -w /etc/fstab (Build the filesystem table) # nano -w /etc/conf.d/hostname (Set the host name) # nano -w /etc/conf.d/domainname (Set the network domain name) # rc-update add domainname default (Domain name init script) # nano -w /etc/conf.d/net (Configure IP) # rc-update add net.eth0 default (Have ethernet started at boot) # nano -w /etc/hosts (Add the host name at the end of the first line) # nano -w /etc/conf.d/keymaps (Define keyboard layout) # nano -w /etc/conf.d/clock (Define clock options) # emerge syslog-ng (Install system logger daemon) # rc-update add syslog-ng default (Have the systemlogger started at boot) # emerge vixie-cron (Install cron daemon) # rc-update add vixie-cron default (Have the cron daemon started at boot)
For a DHCP ethernet setup, you have to install dhcpcd as well.
Let's define the users.
# passwd (Set the root password) # useradd <username> -m -g users -G wheel,audio,tty -s /bin/bash (Add a user) # passwd <username> (Set the user's password)
Now install a bootloader.
# emerge lilo (Install the bootloder setup program) # nano -w /etc/lilo.conf (Configure boot options) # lilo (Have lilo write the MBR)
You might as well use grub.
# emerge grub (Install the bootloder setup program) # nano -w /boot/grub/grub.conf (Configure boot options) # cp /proc/mounts /etc/mtab (update information on mounted filesystems) # grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/hda (Have grub write the MBR)
Finally, unmount all partitions and reboot into your new system.
# exit (Exit the chroot) # cd /mnt/gentoo (Move to mount point) # umount boot/ home/ proc/ (Unmount the secondary partitions) # cd .. (Move one level up) # umount gentoo/ (Unmount the root partition) # reboot (Reboot)
Remove the Gentoo CD from the tray!
You can get more information from the Gentoo Documentation.
Clean-up your installation.
# cd /usr/src/linux; make mrproper (Clean compiled modules) # cp /boot/config .config (Copy the kernel configuration back) # make && make modules_install (Compile the kernel) # cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/ (Copy over the kernel) # reboot (Reboot)
Reboot on the Gentoo liveCD.
# mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/gentoo (Mount the backup partition) # cd /mnt/gentoo (Move there) # mkdir backup (Prepare the backup mount point) # mount /dev/hda6 backup (Mount the system partition) # tar -cvjpf hda6.tar.bz2 backup (Compress and archive the system) # umount backup (Unmount the backed-up partition) # cd .. (Move one level up) # umount gentoo/ (Unmount the backup partition) # reboot (Reboot)
Remove the Gentoo CD from the tray!