Fresh WORKING install of Gentoo

Well I have done it. What did I do differently? I don’t have any idea. I guess experience means more. One major thing that I did change is that I used genkernel instead of compiling my own. I did this because I felt like the reason most of my previous installs failed was because I improperly compiled my kernel. If you looked at my previous post you notice that successfully compiled my own kernel for my previous Ubuntu install. Looking at TWO major successes in a row, I’ll probably be compiling my own kernel again for my new Gentoo install after I get her setup the way I like it. Of course I will be using the Gentoo sources of course. Those are kernels that have been tweaked by the Gentoo engineers to fix bugs and improve performance.

If your wondering, I haven’t tried to setup my new hardware mentioned in my previous post. Well my DVD-RW drive is setup and running obviously since that’s part of installing Linux in general, but the wireless card I have not touched. I have the drivers waiting to installed, and the proper utilities emerged but I have not had the time to truly set it up yet. As your probably aware of the new pain in the side of most Linux users is setting up their wireless card.

For my install I used the Gentoo Guide for AMD64 processors. If you follow you really can’t go wrong, but you have to follow it. I figure I blew my install atleast twice because I didn’t really follow the directions. After getting that installed I installed X11, again following the X Server Setup Guide, for my x server. Which by the way takes for ever. So if you install Gentoo start your emerge of x server before you go to bed and check it when you wake up in the morning, it really does take several hours. I have broadband and my computers stats are posted all over this blog, so its not because I have a slow anything. After that I debated on using Gnome like I have in the past with my Kubuntu and Ubuntu installs, instead I decided to try something new. Fluxbox is what I ended up choosing. I choose Fluxbox because its different, its not your typical “Windows” style interface like Gnome or KDE. I guess to say its different might be an understatement. Again, I followed the Fluxbox Setup Guide provided by Gentoo. They say Gentoo is the best documented Linux out there, and it doesn’t take long before you start to believe it. If you need to use it, odds are there is a setup guide from Gentoo somewhere on the internet. The Fluxbox guide is great because I had not idea how to setup Fluxbox, past “emerge Fluxbox” I was lost. The guide though takes you through everything you need to do. From installing, and then setting it up, and finally installing some extra programs to make life easier for you as a Fluxbox user. One of the coolest things about the Fluxbox guide is that the guy that wrote it included all of the Gentoo theamed items, so after you get it setup you can have a true Gentoo box.

Finally after getting the main system setup, I’m now down to installing the basic programs I need to have a usable system. Unlike when you install KDE or Gnome, Fluxbox doesn’t include basics like Firefox and Thunderbird when you install it. So that’s what I’m currently in the process of doing. But while you guys install your copy of Gentoo, Enjoy the Penguins!

Movin’ on up

After successfully compiling 2.6.15 I realized I didn’t set it up right. There were several things that I missed setting up properly. First I did not include the proper support for my hardware clock. For anyone who is not aware, that’s the clock built into your motherboard. Also I did not properly install the kernel resulting in my nVidia drivers not installing properly.

So to solve the problem I simply re-downloaded the kernel, this time with the patch, and reconfigured. Which wasn’t hard at all. Simply run “make oldconfig,” change the incorrect settings, save and exit, and then “make install install.” That’s it. A lot simpler than you would expect it to be. After then all you have to do is reload your modules and your set. So now my Ubuntu install is running kernel 2.6.15.6 fresh from www.kernel.org.

While I’m enjoying my new kernel, Enjoy the Penguins!

New Hardware

Well here it is March, and I’m just having my birthday party (my birthday by the way was in February). Naturally for my birthday I asked for some new hardware for my work-in-progress. My new computer is starting to come along nicely but slowly. I asked for, and received, a DVD burner (+ and -) and a wireless network card. With those included here’s what’s inside:

ABIT Motherboard Socket 775
AMD 64bit 3700+
1G DDR 400 RAM
80G HDD (IDE)
52x CD Burner
16X DVD Burner
Belkin Wireless PCI Card (G)
Floppy Drive

I suppose that’s all the important stuff. Things like fans and such aren’t terribly important. The DVD drive, which is made by NEC, I can say for a fact is 100% compatible with Linux and I’ve had no trouble what so ever out of it. The wireless card from Belkin? Well I’m not so sure yet, but I’m crossing my fingers. Remember the web pages in previous posts about wireless networking in Linux? The card came from those sites as having drivers for Linux. So I’m hoping that getting it installed and running won’t be to much of a hassle. I’ll let you know how it goes. Enjoy the Penguins!

New screen shot

This is a more recent screen shot. If you can’t tell by now I have a thing for 6 cylinder coupes. I’m not a huge fan of BMW Zs but the new Z4 coupe is about as sexy as they come. My favorites though would have to be the newest Porsches. Like the 997 Turbo seen in this shot.

For anyone thats wondering, thats an aDesklet running in the top right corner, I’m using Simple controls, Zote OSX window borders, and Vista-Inspirante-1.0 icons. Just in case you couldn’t tell thats Gnome with Metacity for my window manager. Enjoy the Penguins (and the Porsches)!

My new Kernel – 2.6.15

Well for the first time, I successfully compiled, installed, and now using my own custom kernel ver. 2.6.15.

• Was it hard? If the steps are laid out for you in a pretty good fashion, then no, not really.
• Would I recommend doing it? Yeah sure, why not? The worst that could happen is it doesn’t work, you pick your old kernel from the menu at boot and then delete your new one.
• Are there any real advantages? Of course! It can potentially make your computer faster, and your kernel will better reflect your hardware making it more efficient.
• Will I ever do it again? Definatly.

With that said here’s how it went for me. I first did a make oldconfig, which takes your current configuration, applies all of the still relevant settings to the new one, and then asks you to choose yes, no, or module, for the new settings. After that I then did make xconfig, a new feature in the 2.6.xx series that allows you to edit your kernel graphically, to streamline the kernel. After that you do an install and before you know it you have a whole new kernel.

On the downside, I didn’t do it totally right. For one I somehow managed to not enable support for my hardware clock. This is why they say if your going to do this, you need to know your hardware, I mean really know it. Another problem I ran into was I didn’t enable Net Filtering, which means I don’t have iptables setup. Which is extremely un-cool, and prevents me from running any firewalls. Something I should really have going. Finally, I didn’t install the sources where they’re supposed to be so I can’t install my nVidia driver. Well I can, but it would be a pain in the butt and not worth it since I’ll just have to reinstall them again when I reconfigure my new kernel.

That’s right, I’m going to have to reconfigure another one. You can’t change your kernel settings on the fly, so I need to recompile and install another one. This one is going to be version 2.6.15.6 though. I’m going to install the patch for it. Mainly because I can, but also because the patches provide bug fixes and such.

If you’ve never done it, I strongly recommend compiling your own kernel. Sources can be found at www.kernel.org, just goto the HTTP or FTP and download them from there. Download the patch too if you want, but again its not necessary. While your compiling that new kernel, Enjoy the Penguins!

A response

To the 1st, and at the time of this writhing, the only comment on my previous post.

One word… wow.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Sylvain Fourmanoit is author of aDesklets. To that extent then I’m extremely proud that he responded to my thread. Never has anyone responsible for anything in the Linux world actually respond to my blog.

I guess that shows, much like the USA Today article I read the other day, you never know who is actually reading your blog posts. I try to keep my blog very clean of rude or insulting comments because of that and now I see my efforts have paid off… or at least I hope he wasn’t offended by anything I said. If he was, then I am sorry. My anger at things not working properly sometimes gets the best of me. Just like with my postings on me not being able to Gentoo to install correctly, or why the kernels I compile never work right. I live in a very cruel world folks.

In response to his comment. Yes I did read a lot of the documentation. How much or which parts? I don’t honestly remember. I think my problem extended more from confusion than lack of reading. It was not that I didn’t read it. I just didn’t understand what I read. Looking back at the documentation again I’m not sure if I really understand it now. As to how can we make it clearer? Assuming that was not a rhetorical question, then I would be glad to tell my opinion, but I need to have a nice, long, hard look at it first.

How on earth he found my site, I don’t know, maybe he’s a member of LinuxQuestions.org as well. Either way though I’m glad he stumbled on it. Its totally makes my day to have him read it! Enjoy the Penguins and the aDesklets. I recommend both!!

An aDesklets follow-up

First of all I must say that I’m way more impressed with aDesklests than gDesklets. Though I haven’t tried any other alternitives, I for now can see no need to try anything, since aDesklets is doing such a good job. Currently I’m only using one desklet, the weather of course. The hardest part about this for me was figuring out to setup the desklets. Some guy on a forum gave me down the river for not reading the directions, than gave me some lame directions of his own. Well neither he or the documentation really helped me, so here you go, here’s how I set it all up.

1. Compile and/or install aDesklets. This is found in most repositories or can be downloaded from one of the mirrors found on aDesklets site.
2. Download and unpack the desklets you wish to use. Where you put the folder is immaterial so any where will do.
3. Find the *.py file inside the unpacked folder. There is usually more than one, so read the accompanying documentation to find out which one to run. Odds are, based on the ones that I have tried out, it will be the file with the name closest to that of the desklet.
4. The desklet will now appear on the screen, right click, select move, and place it anywhere on the screen.
5. Now is probably the best time to configure your desklet. The *.config file may not appear in the directory until you’ve run the python file, so that’s why this step is where its at. Open the file with any text editor and change any parameters needed. Most desklets include documentation to assist you in this.
6. This step took me forever to figure out. If you want the desklet to reopen every time you reboot or restart X you don’t want to go back in and re-click the python file. That will only mess things up, and when you start doing it the right way you’ll have 20 of the same desklets running on your desktop. I only know how to do this on Gnome and seeing as how that’s all I use, I wouldn’t know how for the others anyway. Go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions. Once that window is open you’ll need to select the Startup Programs tab. Click “Add” of course and type in “adesklets” as your command. The next step is crucial and the whole process relies on it, so don’t skip it. You have to set the order to “51.” If you leave it at 50 with the rest of your desktop, it won’t start. Trust me. It took me forever to figure that out.

I hope that helps anyone else looking for a decent guide on how to setup and use aDesklets on a Gnome desktop. I wish it would of been written for me to use. While your enjoying the desklets, don’t forget to Enjoy the Penguins!