Learn to be Patient (Fold your hands and take a deep breath)

To install gentoo you need a great deal of patience. A system only install will take around 8-10 hours and a full desktop installation around 24 hours. On a slow PC expect more.

Boot From CD [Gentoo 2004.2]

The latest CD available is gentoo 2004.2 universal live CD. However you can boot off any other CD, even a Knoppix CD. You just need a linux enviroment to install gentoo.

Change root password, [passwd]

It is wise to change the root password as the default is scrambled. You need to do this to utilize multiple terminals by using ALT and Function key sequences.

Setting Network Interface

ifconfig eth0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx netmask 255.255.255.128
route add default gw 202.79.36.250

Create partition using fdisk,plan your partation

fdisk /dev/hda

Template

/dev/hda1 /boot 100M
/dev/hda2 / 10G
/dev/hda3 swap 2xRAM
/dev/hda4 /home Rest

Format your Partitions/Slices using mkreiserfs or mke2fs -j 

mkreiserfs /dev/hdax

Format Swap partition and mount it

mkswap /dev/hdax
swapon /dev/hdax

Mount the partitions to /mnt/gentoo

mount /dev/hdax /mnt/gentoo
mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
mkdir /mnt/gentoo/proc
mount /dev/hdax /mnt/gentoo/boot

Make sure your system date is OK

date

You can also change the date using date

date MMDDhhmmYYYY

Configure DNS

  • Edit resolv.conf
vi /etc/resolv.conf
search wlink.com.np
nameserver  202.79.32.35
nameserver  202.79.32.34

Start the installation using Stage1

cd /mnt/gentoo
tar -xvjpf /mnt/cdrom/stages/stage1*.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo

2005.0

stage1 snapshots is not available in Gentoo 2005.0 universal CD
get it from here:

Install Portage

tar -xvjf /mnt/cdrom/snapshots/portage-*.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr
mkdir /mnt/gentoo/usr/portage/distfiles
cp /mnt/cdrom/distfiles/* /mnt/gentoo/usr/portage/distfiles

Edit make.conf

vi /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf

( sample only )

USE="mmx sse crypt ethereal tcpd"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=pentium4 -O3 -pipe -ffast-math -fomit-frame-pointer"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
MAKEOPTS="-j2"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://mirror.datapipe.net/gentoo"

Entering the chroot enviroment

cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf
mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
chroot /mnt/gentoo
env-update
source /etc/profile
emerge sync

Bootstrapping

cd /usr/portage

[Note:Check the TIME of the machine before bootstraps]

./scripts/bootstrap.sh -f
./scripts/bootstrap.sh

Build the System

emerge --pretend system
emerge --fetchonly system
emerge system

Configure the Timezone

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Katmandu  /etc/localtime

Fetch the Kernel Sources

emerge gentoo-sources

Build the Kernel

cd /usr/src/linux
make menuconfig
make dep && make bzImage modules modules_install
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.4.2x-gentoo-rx
cp System.map /boot/System.map-2.4.2x-gentoo-rx
cp .config /boot/config-2.4.2x-gentoo-rx

Edit fstab ( sample only )

nano /etc/fstab

Alternatively you can use vi /mnt/gentoo/etc/fstab in non-chroot shell

/dev/hdax   /boot     ext2    noauto,noatime    1 2
/dev/hdax   none      swap    sw                0 0
/dev/hdax   /         ext3    noatime           0 1

none        /proc     proc    defaults          0 0
none        /dev/shm  tmpfs   defaults          0 0

/dev/cdroms/cdrom0    /mnt/cdrom    auto      noauto,user    0 0

Configure Networking

echo hostname > /etc/hostname
echo wlink.com.np > /etc/dnsdomainname
rc-update add domainname default

Configure IP Address

nano /etc/conf.d/net
iface_eth0="xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx broadcast 202.79.36.255 netmask 255.255.255.128"
gateway="eth0/202.79.36.250"

Configure Network on boot

rc-update add net.eth0 default

Configure DNS

nano /etc/resolv.conf
domain wlink.com.np
nameserver 202.79.32.35
nameserver 202.79.32.34
nameserver 202.79.32.33

Configure Hosts File

/etc/hosts
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx      hostname.wlink.com.np  hostname

Root Password

password root

Configure rc.conf

nano /etc/rc.conf
CLOCK="local"
EDITOR="/usr/bin/vim"

Installing Essential packages

emege syslog-ng
emerge vixie-cron
emerge reiserfsprogs

Load the services in startup

rc-update add syslog-ng default
rc-update add vixie-cron default

Install the bootloader

emerge grub

Configure grub

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

title=Gentoo Linux 2.4.2x-rx
root (hd0,0)
kernel /kernel-2.4.2x-gentoo-rx root=/dev/hdax

Install bootloader

 cp /proc/mounts /etc/mtab
grub-install --root-directory=/boot /dev/hdx

User administration

passwd root
useradd -m vicky
passwd vicky
usermod -G wheel vicky

Reboot and Enjoy !!

exit
cd
umount /mnt/gentoo/boot /mnt/gentoo/proc /mnt/gentoo
reboot
Remove the CD

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