NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Alienware Notebook Forums › Alienware Area-51 and Aurora Notebooks › Installing and configuring Gentoo Linux
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Installing and configuring Gentoo Linux

post #1 of 16
7/6/04 at 4:05pm
Thread Starter 
We've recently started a site about the configuration of Gentoo Linux on the Alienware Area-51m. This site is organized as a "wiki", meaning (after registration) anyone can add information to the site.

Have a look at:
https://opensource.luminis.net/confl...play/A51m/Home
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 16
7/17/04 at 7:19am
Hey dude. I noticed you have an nvidia card? Do you know of anyone who uses an ATI radeon and has managed to get it to work for those modes? I've been struggling for ages with this problem.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 16
7/17/04 at 12:23pm
Thread Starter 
Nope, sorry, I haven't. To be honest, I'm sticking with nvidia cards for quite some time because of their (in my opinion) very good support for linux. But what is not working for you? Are you just getting the wrong resolution, or no image at all?
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 16
7/17/04 at 11:38pm
Gentoo Linux on the Alienware Area-51m, Ordered the CD's.
Ive tried to install other distro's but get a ide controller and bios error when doing so on my M-51m....!!!
Any ideas...???
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 16
7/18/04 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
Our experiences so far:
- Gentoo live CD 2004.1 (using a 2.6 kernel) works.
- Mandrake 10 community edition aborts somewhere during installation.
- Suse 9 works.

So check if you have the 2004.1 live CD. If not, download it. If you do, have you tried booting directly to a 2.6 kernel. If you don't hit [enter] to boot, but give the option "smp" you'll get a 2.6 kernel with SMP support. Also note that you really want to use SMP support because of the Hyperthreading P4 you have.

Check out this page for more help on getting and booting from a live CD:
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handboo...?part=1&chap=2

Hope this helps.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 16
7/18/04 at 6:01am
Thread Starter 
Btw, if you need a basic kernel configuration to start with, try one of these (which worked for us):
https://opensource.luminis.net/confl...tachments=true
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 16
7/19/04 at 2:58am
Good job. I cant get Fedora 2 to install, it hangs at boot. Any suggestions?
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 16
7/19/04 at 4:18am
Thread Starter 
I haven't tried Fedora 2, so not really, sorry.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 16
8/29/04 at 5:04pm
gentoo 2004.2 does not work hangs on usbcore search.
Redhat 9.0 does not work hangs on BIOS cache error
Mandrake 10.0 does not work hangs on ide error of some sort.
Knoppix does not work same as above.

It is really because of the bios. Linux can run on almost anything but not a $3,000 + laptop. Funny how it runs on HP's just fine.

I'm going to try suse 9.0 and see if it works but I'm thinking it is just a waste of my bandwidth.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 16
8/29/04 at 5:26pm
Well... In my trials... RH9 worked, RHE3 worked, Mandrake worked, FreeBSD worked... Maybe its the way your trying to install the packages. The best solution to install is to do a basic install. and install only the applications you need. I have better luck with the server install than the workstation install.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 16
8/29/04 at 5:44pm
Koolaide,

It doesn't even get to the install. Always freezes on the pre-install boot. I'm starting to think it may be because of the ATI video card... not sure though.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 16
8/29/04 at 5:56pm
Its possible.. I don't have any problems...
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 16
8/29/04 at 5:57pm
Have you tried a text install?
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 16
8/30/04 at 1:03am
Every Install has the same result.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 16
8/30/04 at 5:54pm
Best way to install Gentoo is stage 3 with Knoppix. I have my 8790 running everything except the camera. Awaiting driver for it. Everything else works even the latest driver for the Ultra controller works well. I have a few games running on it like UT 2004, AAO, DOOM3 and a few others. I mostly am doing developement on it for a new drug screening system.
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 16
8/30/04 at 5:55pm
You can not use FB and ATI driver together they fight over the 128mb that the driver only sees. Meaning if you use the bootsplash your killing you ATI driver.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Alienware Notebook Forums › Alienware Area-51 and Aurora Notebooks › Installing and configuring Gentoo Linux