Testing out Gentoo!

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 27, 2010

The base install was successful. After reading probably the most straightfoward documentation I saw in a long time!

But, now, how should I go with installing XOrg and the Intel driver support for my other rig. It uses i915.

I get confusing options of how to get the proper drivers and modules!

But, compiling the kernel was a piece of cake! Zero problems with the kernel.

And emerging KDE is taking a lllloooongggg time! Feels like I'm on a 486 SX 25 Mhz!

But, I may have the wrong options, so X could be still kicking me.

petteyg359 · Aug 27, 2010

The X Server Configuration HOWTO
Gentoo KDE Guide

Personally, I detest meta packages, so instead of kde-meta or kdebase-meta I use "kdebase-startkde kdm kdesktop dolphin"

mbentley · Aug 28, 2010

just out of curiosity, which profile did you go with? if you went with the desktop profile, it will include USE flags that are more useful with a desktop. that can be found in this section of the handbook:

Choosing the Right Profile

First, a small definition is in place.

A profile is a building block for any Gentoo system. Not only does it specify default values for USE, CFLAGS and other important variables, it also locks the system to a certain range of package versions. This is all maintained by the Gentoo developers.

Previously, such a profile was untouched by the users. However, there may be certain situations in which you may decide a profile change is necessary.

You can see what profile you are currently using with the following command:

Code Listing 2.2: Verifying system profile

# eselect profile list
Available profile symlink targets:
[1] default/linux/x86/10.0 *
[2] default/linux/x86/10.0/desktop
[3] default/linux/x86/10.0/server

The default profile will provide you with a Linux 2.6-based system. This is the recommended default, but you have the option of choosing another profile too.

There are also desktop and server subprofiles available for some architectures. Running eselect profile list will show all available profiles.

After viewing the available profiles for your architecture, you can use a different one if you wish:

Code Listing 2.3: Changing profiles

# eselect profile set 2

it has been a while since i have set up X on gentoo but it might actually have the specific video card flag for that. you might post your 'emerge --info'. if you used genkernel to compile the kernel, then you probably have the kernel modules for your video card already set up. i am not sure if it is still true, but the default gentoo kernel used to not include sound support. that may have changed though as it has been a while since i have used it as a primary OS.

if compiling seems slow, you might also want to make sure you have 'MAKEOPTS' set in your make.conf to 'MAKEOPTS="-j3"'. like you said, the documentation is pretty straight forward but it can be easy to skip over some steps if you aren't totally sure what they mean.

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 28, 2010

Anyone know why I can't run Xorg -configure without a seg fault?!

It replies back with:

Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting

petteyg359 · Aug 28, 2010

Use nvidia-xconfig if you've got an nVidia card. If you've got HAL and DBUS installed, and make sure evdev is in your INPUT_DEVICES, all you need in your xorg.conf is

Code:

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "GeForce 9300m GS"
    Driver  "nvidia"
    Option  "NoLogo" "true"

EndSection


Section "Screen"

    Identifier  "Screen 1"
    Device  "GeForce 9300m GS"
    Monitor "Generic Monitor"

    DefaultDepth 24

    SubSection "Display"
      Depth   24
      Modes   "1280x800"
    EndSubSection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

    Identifier  "simple layout"
    Screen  "Screen 1"

EndSection

Just change the screen resolution. You can also change the name of the card from 9300m GS, but that's just cosmetic.

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 28, 2010

Wait, I'm running this on my Acer Aspire M5630 (Intel GMA graphics)

I just emerged KDE, but why is startx failing?

When I run startx to test, it just returns back to the command line!

It's looking like to me that it can't find a window manager for KDE!

How can I solve this?

petteyg359 · Aug 28, 2010

Just change the driver line in my previous post to say intel instead of nvidia.

How did you install KDE?

Have you set DISPLAYMANAGER in /etc/conf.d/xdm?

Don't use startx. There's a reason for the existence of conf and init scripts. /etc/init.d/xdm start

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 28, 2010

petteyg359 said:
Just change the driver line in my previous post to say intel instead of nvidia.

How did you install KDE?

Have you set DISPLAYMANAGER in /etc/conf.d/xdm?

Don't use startx. There's a reason for the existence of conf and init scripts. /etc/init.d/xdm start

Why can't it find KDE? Then when I emerged xdm, I get a different login screen.

I have a feeling if I could login that it won't go to KDE!

I'm SOO reformatting! I screwed up!

petteyg359 · Aug 28, 2010

You didn't answer the questions. Nobody can help you if you don't answer questions.

How did you install KDE? What specific packages did you install?

Have you edited /etc/conf.d/xdm? If it's a blank file, then you haven't installed the right packages.

If you were using the meta packages, you want at least "xorg-server kdebase-meta".
If you are not using the meta packages, you want at least "xorg-server kdebase-startkde kdm kdesktop konqueror dolphin"

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 28, 2010

petteyg359 said:
You didn't answer the questions. Nobody can help you if you don't answer questions.

How did you install KDE? What specific packages did you install?

Have you edited /etc/conf.d/xdm? If it's a blank file, then you haven't installed the right packages.

If you were using the meta packages, you want at least "xorg-server kdebase-meta".
If you are not using the meta packages, you want at least "xorg-server kdebase-startkde kdm kdesktop konqueror dolphin"

I installed kde-meta. What do you mean by /etc/conf.d/xdm being blank?

petteyg359 · Aug 28, 2010

Does it look like this?

Code:

[COLOR="Lime"]$[/COLOR] [COLOR="White"]cat /etc/conf.d/xdm
[/COLOR]
# We always try and start X on a static VT. The various DMs normally default
# to using VT7. If you wish to use the xdm init script, then you should ensure
# that the VT checked is the same VT your DM wants to use. We do this check to
# ensure that you haven't accidentally configured something to run on the VT
# in your /etc/inittab file so that you don't get a dead keyboard.
CHECKVT=7
                                                                                                                                                             
# What display manager do you use ?  [ xdm | gdm | kdm | kdm-4.3 | gpe | entrance ]                                                                          
# NOTE: If this is set in /etc/rc.conf, that setting will override this one.                                                                                 
#
# KDE-specific note:
# - If you are using kdeprefix go with "kdm-4.Y", e.g. "kdm-4.3".
#     You can find possible versions by looking at the directories in /usr/kde/.
# - Else, if you are using KDE 3 enter "kdm-3.5"
# - Else, if you are using KDE 4 enter "kdm" without a version
DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm"

# Set whether xorg should depend on hald or not. If set to 'auto' then the init
# script tries to determine the dependency on hald automatically, by examining
# xorg.conf files on various locations. If you have built xorg without hal
# use-flag, you should set 'no' here.  If xorg has been built with hal then you
# may set 'auto' or 'yes' here.
# Possible values are: [ yes | no | auto ]
NEEDS_HALD="auto"

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 28, 2010

petteyg359 said:

Does it look like this?

Code:

[COLOR="Lime"]$[/COLOR] [COLOR="White"]cat /etc/conf.d/xdm
[/COLOR]
# We always try and start X on a static VT. The various DMs normally default
# to using VT7. If you wish to use the xdm init script, then you should ensure
# that the VT checked is the same VT your DM wants to use. We do this check to
# ensure that you haven't accidentally configured something to run on the VT
# in your /etc/inittab file so that you don't get a dead keyboard.
CHECKVT=7
                                                                                                                                                             
# What display manager do you use ?  [ xdm | gdm | kdm | kdm-4.3 | gpe | entrance ]                                                                          
# NOTE: If this is set in /etc/rc.conf, that setting will override this one.                                                                                 
#
# KDE-specific note:
# - If you are using kdeprefix go with "kdm-4.Y", e.g. "kdm-4.3".
#     You can find possible versions by looking at the directories in /usr/kde/.
# - Else, if you are using KDE 3 enter "kdm-3.5"
# - Else, if you are using KDE 4 enter "kdm" without a version
DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm"

# Set whether xorg should depend on hald or not. If set to 'auto' then the init
# script tries to determine the dependency on hald automatically, by examining
# xorg.conf files on various locations. If you have built xorg without hal
# use-flag, you should set 'no' here.  If xorg has been built with hal then you
# may set 'auto' or 'yes' here.
# Possible values are: [ yes | no | auto ]
NEEDS_HALD="auto"

OK, I started over and I'm at the /etc/make.conf setup stage.

And this time, I'm not gonna use fomit-frame-pointer. (I heard that it can make slower code)

And I added hal to USE.

mbentley · Aug 29, 2010

RJARRRPCGP said:
OK, I started over and I'm at the /etc/make.conf setup stage.

And this time, I'm not gonna use fomit-frame-pointer. (I heard that it can make slower code)

And I added hal to USE.

i would imagine that if you choose the desktop profile (see my other post about selecting an appropriate profile), that the hal USE flag would already be enabled. with gentoo, you are going to run into problems like this. it will happen. it is best to try to resolve them without just starting over. otherwise, how are you ever going to learn how to resolve issues like this? you can recompile packages with new USE flags...

as for setting up your make.conf, check out this page:
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Safe_Cflags

this will tell you the appropriate CFLAGS to set.

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 29, 2010

mbentley said:
i would imagine that if you choose the desktop profile (see my other post about selecting an appropriate profile), that the hal USE flag would already be enabled. with gentoo, you are going to run into problems like this. it will happen. it is best to try to resolve them without just starting over. otherwise, how are you ever going to learn how to resolve issues like this? you can recompile packages with new USE flags...

as for setting up your make.conf, check out this page:
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Safe_Cflags

this will tell you the appropriate CFLAGS to set.

Does my make.conf look fine? Things are compiling completely.
I didn't see a failed compile, which I would expect if "march=core2" was an invalid option.

petteyg359 · Aug 29, 2010

-march=native is preferred for anyone not using distcc or icecream (or any other distributed compilation tool).

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 29, 2010

petteyg359 said:
You didn't answer the questions. Nobody can help you if you don't answer questions.

How did you install KDE? What specific packages did you install?

Have you edited /etc/conf.d/xdm? If it's a blank file, then you haven't installed the right packages.

If you were using the meta packages, you want at least "xorg-server kdebase-meta".
If you are not using the meta packages, you want at least "xorg-server kdebase-startkde kdm kdesktop konqueror dolphin"

Sorry, your emerge options are wrong. I get "They are no ebuilds to satisfy (one of the KDE packages)" Seems to be the Portage equivalent of Debian's "E: Package has no installation candidate."

petteyg359 · Aug 29, 2010

RJARRRPCGP said:
Sorry, your emerge options are wrong. I get "They are no ebuilds to satisfy (one of the KDE packages)" Seems to be the Portage equivalent of Debian's "E: Package has no installation candidate."

I'm quite sure there was more information than that in the output from emerge.

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 29, 2010

petteyg359 said:
I'm quite sure there was more information than that in the output from emerge.

That's all it said. Seems that it failed to find part of it.

It didn't like it when I did:

emerge xorg-server kdebase-startkde kdm kdesktop konqueror dolphin

IIRC, it was one of the KDE packages.

mbentley · Aug 29, 2010

RJARRRPCGP said:
Does my make.conf look fine? Things are compiling completely.
I didn't see a failed compile, which I would expect if "march=core2" was an invalid option.

maybe it is just me, but i didn't see where you posted your make.conf

if you had the error as to which ebuild it couldn't find, that would definitely help.

RJARRRPCGP · Aug 29, 2010

mbentley said:
maybe it is just me, but i didn't see where you posted your make.conf

if you had the error as to which ebuild it couldn't find, that would definitely help.

I'm posting this from my other PC, sorry. Because I don't even have X.Org installed.

I'm now at => emerge xorg-server

Testing out Gentoo!

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