So, my new 4760 arrived yesterday, and after some agonizing, I selected Gentoo as the distro to install. It seemed to be a good compromise between the source-based goodness and hardcore do-it-yourself of Linux From Scratch, with the convenience of a command-line installer and well-established setup routine. Slackware tempted me somewhat, as another very back-to-basics, do-it-yourself option, but since I've used it before I decided to go experimental.

I downloaded the Gentoo basic LiveCD and burned it to disc. To boot from CD on the 4760, I had to hit the ESC key once, very quickly, after the initial bootup display and before XP Home jumped in. It took several tries to get it right since the machine boots so fast. (Yes, I bought XP Home. I figured I should have it to test on alongside OS X and XP Pro, and will set up the dual boot later.)



The machine booted on the LiveCD, detecting the proper screen resolution right off. I then followed the instructions on the Gentoo site which are quite detailed and explicit. I read them on my PowerBook, which, placed next to the 4760, looks like a small, pallid reflection of the new beast.

The only place I found myself scratching my head was on the kernel config. I had the hardware specs from Sager's website ("Compare Models" page), and I had Laclasse's outstanding install guide to refer to, but I had never done an lspci befor starting the install (d'oh) and ended up making best guesses about most of it. I will almost certainly be going back to tweak things and I will definitely want to post my config file when I have tested all the functionality.

The stage 1 -> stage 2 compile went overnight, so I am not sure how long it took. Stage 2 -> stage 3 was supposed to take a very long time (according to the docs; the author recommended a Star Wars PS2 game to pass the time) but it took less than two hours for me. The kernel compile was very fast - took less than an hour. It was so fast that the first time I checked up on it it was already done! I will pay more attention next time. I should hve tacked a "&& date" at the end of the compile commands.

Well, I am caught between the dual pressures of wanting to take this opportunity to learn everything about linux internals (since I have mainly been a user up to this point and have only picked up enough sysadmin knowledge to get by) and being basically flat out busy. I am still mining this forum for more info on the various hardware issues. I find myself still wondering about Hyperthreading (SMP?), Integrated Wireless, the 6-in-1 card reader (wonder if that'll work with any available drivers), and so on. Stay tuned, I'll post my progress to this thread.

Oh, and I'm glad to finally be part of the Sager-owning el33t crew!

-Ratha

About time you got a Sager, Ratha! I am still hesitant to pop a linux distro on (mainly due to time issues).

All my "free time" (such as it is) is spent playing BF1942 online. I guess when that wears off, I'll start looking to break things.

-myrkat

glad you got linux working - welcome to the club! gentoo is my distro of choice, too.

you can use the 'time' command to time how long a command runs for.

i can tell you all about working with hyperthreading (SMT) and the integrated wireless, if you'd like. can't help you with the 6-in-1 reader, though, since i don't have one and there is a good chance it would be a proprietary thing (the media-handling internals, the connection to the laptop is just usb). though i could very well be proved wrong.

i can help you with the kernel config, too, if you want. while lspci -v is quite helpful, the options in the kernel can be quite confusing until you've done it a bunch of times. unless, of course, you _have_ done it before and already have it all down - then i suppose you won't need any help.

New kernel. Fresh boot. Brand new OS. Good stuff but: no network. Hmmm. I had net when I booted from the stage1 LiveCD, but on the fledgling install, with what should be the same settings, no joy.

driver: 8139too (Realtek) module, installed via 'modprobe'
(note: no 'mii' module, which the LiveCD also loads)

Ethernet is configured with static IP, fixed gateway, broadcast, netmask, etc., the same configuration that worked when used from the boot CD.

'ifconfig' claims that eth0 is UP and RUNNING, but there are no packets moving (all the counts are at 0.)

My best guess is that this 'mii' module that the boot CD loaded needs to be compiled for this kernel, but I can't seem to find it anywhere in the kernel menuconfig interface, because I don't know what it is, and a google search didn't turn up anything. A browse through some of the stuff on these forums didn't seem to help either but I haven't dug very deeply yet.

Well, it's late, and this is a good start for now.

the mii module is a common library used by several network card drivers; it is for interacting with certain pci nics' hardware. the 8139too driver needs it.

if you specify a static ip address, you are essentially forcing the interface up, so it will say 'up' and 'running,' even if it is not.

i think the 8139 sometimes gets picky if the default network card is left selected (for me, the etherexpress pro 100 driver is selected by default - probably the same for you). it may be because that driver uses the same mii library. try deselecting every network card, with only the 8139too driver selected. and on that note, it is generally better to compile the network card driver directly into the kernel - that way, it should make sure that all dependencies are compiled in too. (having the dependency as a separate module increases the chance of it getting lost or not loaded correctly, which seems to have happened in your case) maybe give that a shot.

Thanks xiphux, it seems you were right. But I couldn't see what I was doing wrong so I decided to not bang my head against a wall for too long and decided to step back and use a prebuilt system... I deliberated between moving to a stage3 gentoo install, and switching to the other distro that I had been considering, Slackware. So I went with Slackware, and that installed fine, but now I'm having other problems. Man, I hate hardware.

what kinds of other problems? maybe i can help you out - unless it's an extremely slackware-specific problem...

hardware bothers me too, when i end up fighting with linux to get something working. but at the same time, it's kind of fun to solve problems, and i like the sense of accomplishment at the end, when everything is finally working right. i fought for four days with extremely little sleep to get a crappy old pentium 100 up and running with linux to be a router; and when everything was finally working - iptables set up exactly as i wanted, dhcp server working, ssh access, caching dns server, traffic shaping, print serving - it beat the crap out of any purchased router i had ever used, and i can't even describe how overjoyed i was...

heh... I know what you mean... I feel old for wanting to say "but I just don't have time anymore to do that sort of thing"... but seriously, I want to use it, not set it up. I like to tinker but not have to dig in and learn the underpinnings of things I don't need for my day to day pursuits, just to do something once. That's why I like Slackware, because the system is really simple, the config files are nicely commented and the package system is straightforward, so maintaining it does not require a PhD. The problem, (with all Linuxes, AFAICT), seems to be getting it working in the first place when you have nonstandard hardware. You know, I wish I could have someone set up my system and get everything working and give me the kernel configs and all the software settings so I could go from there if I ever wanted to modify anything. I would totally pay someone for doing that. If I only knew anyone close by who had the interest, time, and skill.

Anyway I made a new thread about my problem, it is with introducing a pointing device (I'd love to be a purist and stick with the console forever, but I don't think that's quite realistic )

After that, I will want to bring on sound, SMP, printing, and various other things, but none of those are showstoppers like a lack of mouse is...

i would set up your computer for free if i lived anywhere near you...

well, what do you mean by nonstandard? linux runs on sparc, alpha, and quite a few other architectures. i'd call that pretty nonstandard. getting linux to work with hardware it doesn't natively support, however, is a pain. problems with hardware it does support is more just rooting out the conflict and fixing it.

i'll check out your other thread and see what i can do.

aw... thanks...

By nonstandard I didn't mean a nonstandard CPU per se, but the zillions of off-brands of CD rom drives and networking cards and sound cards and video cards, etc.

You're right, I guess getting things to work is just a matter of having enough combined expertise and patience...

If you want to just plug it in and have it work - use Mandrake 9.1 - nothing I have come across yet beats it for out of the box running. I am a 10 year linux user and a UNIX admin and I use it because I want my machine to run out of the box, sure I could tinker with getting everything to try and install etc - but why? Ive been there dont that got the t-shirt to proove it. After its installed I proceed to tear my machine to bits - custom kernel , programs compiled from source etc, but to start with I just want it to work enough to get to the point I can start customizing stuff. Do a minimal install if you are worried and build everything else. Don't listen to the elitests when they say you have to struggle etc etc to install linux and stuff like Mandrake is weak. In the end its all about uptime

actually, i've had all sorts of problems with mandrake, from stupid install problems to diskdrake messing up partitions to things just not working, back with versions 7 and 8. i never went back. personally, i hate it, and it's been the most troublesome distro i've used - but that's through my experience and it just seems to dislike my computer specifically; everyone else seems to love it. YMMV, i guess. maybe they've fixed it all in 9.

Tell you what, Ratha, you send me your laptop and I will setup Gentoo on it. I'm just that kind of guy.

Yeah 9 fixed a lot of the bugs from 7/8 - Ive pretty much run the entier gambit of installs (and will probably be going with gentoo for my new 5680) But wanted to give him the best chance of success and in my experience mandrake 9.1 is pretty solid - however I see a post this morning saying it locks up on kernel boot - which doesnt bode well

QUOTE]Originally posted by xiphux
actually, i've had all sorts of problems with mandrake, from stupid install problems to diskdrake messing up partitions to things just not working, back with versions 7 and 8. i never went back. personally, i hate it, and it's been the most troublesome distro i've used - but that's through my experience and it just seems to dislike my computer specifically; everyone else seems to love it. YMMV, i guess. maybe they've fixed it all in 9. [/quote]

I got the console up and running and even emerged kde yesterday. Now I am fighting to get X to work. Has anyone had any luck yet? Is the 16:9 1440x900 supported?

Thanks
David