GeNToo Linux Install Reference (April Fools)
1. Quick Install Reference
Due to copyright reasons, there are no installation ISOs for GeNToo. You can
download the ISO creator script (nt-isocreator.sh) from the GeNToo Project Page (once we
have sanitized it and cleared its legal status). You need to provide it with a
Windows XP Pro CD with Service Pack 2 applied. You will also need to provide it
with Windows Services for
Unix, 3.5.
The script has a detailed --help, and will tell you which packages to
emerge for it to work (zip, cabextract, etc). If you have
problems, join #gentoo-nt on irc.freenode.net to get help.
Before booting from your LiveCD, use a Linux boot CD to partition your
harddrive properly. It needs to look like this:
Code listing 1.1 |
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 5168 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 15120 * 512 = 7741440 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 1 7 52888+ 4 FAT16 <32M
/dev/hda2 274 4745 33808320 7 HPFS/NTFS
|
I.e., it must have two partitions, both on hda. The first partition
will be for GRUB, and must be FAT16 (type 4). The second will be your GeNToo
partition and must be of type 7 (NTFS). FAT32 will not work, as it cannot
support Unix permissions, symlinks and ownership. Unfortunately, at this point
you must use a Windows installation (or a Partition Magic boot disk) to format
the second partition as NTFS.
Note:
You may have additional partitions after these two, but the two first partitions
must be of the types shown.
|
Once you have partitioned your drive, make certain your network has a DHCP
server running. You will not be able to configure the network from the livecd
(yet). Then, boot from the LiveCD. You'll eventually receive a prompt.
Code listing 1.2: Beginning settings |
# date (Make sure your time and date is correct. If wrong, set it with date MMDDhhmmCCYY )
# ping www.gentoo.org (Make sure the network has been detected)
|
You should already have partitoned the drive, if not, read above.
Initialise your partitions using the script prep-install. This is a
convenience script which will create a symlink /mnt/gentoo into the
correct /dev/ node (this is where the partitions are available on
NT with POSIX), and install all the kernel files.
If you get to this point, you're almost home free. The rest is mostly
familiar ground.
Code listing 1.3: Preparing the Installation |
(Go to the mountpoint) # cd /mnt/gentoo
(download the latest tarball...) # wget http://www.gentooexperimental.org/nt/distfiles/stages/stage1-latest.tar.bz2
( ... and extract) # tar -xvjpf stage*
(Optional: unpack a portage tree) # tar -xvjf /mnt/cdrom/snapshots/portage-*.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr
(Optional: copy over distfiles) # cp -R /mnt/cdrom/distfiles /mnt/gentoo/usr/portage/distfiles
(Select a mirror) # mirrorselect -a -s4 -o | grep -ve '^Netselect' >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf
(Copy over nameserver information) # cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf
(Chroot into the new environment) # chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
(Load the necessary variables) # env-update; source /etc/profile
(update Portage) # emerge sync
(Tag the Portage tree with the NT keywords) # prep-porttree
|
Now we install Gentoo:
Code listing 1.4: Installing Gentoo |
(Change USE, CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS) # nano -w /etc/make.conf
(bootstrap system) # cd /usr/portage; scripts/bootstrap.sh
(install base system) # emerge system
|
Note: Be very careful about changing the CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS. Please
report any errors you encounter. You must leave CHOST as is. |
Next we set up the necessary information:
Code listing 1.5: Setting up Configuration Files |
(Set timezone information) # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/ /etc/localtime
(Edit fstab file) # nano -w /etc/fstab
|
At this point, you would normally edit /etc/fstab, but on
GeNToo, you should leave the default as-is.
Now install other tools you might want:
Code listing 1.6: Install important system tools |
(Install system logger; choice: sysklogd, metalog, msyslog, syslog-ng) # emerge tinynt-logger
(Have the systemlogger automatically started at boot) # rc-update add tinynt-logger default
(Install cron daemon; choice: vixie-cron, dcron, fcron) # emerge vixie-cron
(Have the cron daemon automatically started at boot) # rc-update add vixie-cron default
(Domain name init script) # rc-update add domainname default
|
Finalise the settings for your Gentoo system:
Code listing 1.7: Finalise the Configuration Settings |
(Set root password) # passwd
(Create a user) # useradd your_user -m -G users,wheel,audio -s /bin/bash
(Set password for that user) # passwd your_user
(Set the system hostname) # echo mymachine > /etc/hostname
(Set the system domainname) # echo mydomain.com > /etc/dnsdomainname
(Set the hostsfile, ex:"127.0.0.1 localhost mymachine") # nano -w /etc/hosts
(Configure basic system settings; follow comments) # nano -w /etc/rc.conf
|
Now install the grub bootloader, do emerge grub. Since your
setup is fixed, we have provided a installation script that sets up a default
grub installation for you, called prep-bootloader. Run it. It will setup
grub to forward to NTLDR as a chained loader, which in turn will start NT. If
you don't want the ability to install Linux side-by-side, do not install grub
and run prep-booloader --no-grub instead. This will install the NT boot
loader on the MBR of your drive.
Now unmount all partitions and reboot into your new system:
Code listing 1.8: Finishing off and installing GUI |
(Exiting the chroot) # exit; cd /
(Unmounting partitions) # prep-reboot
(Reboot; Remove the universal CD from the tray) # reboot
|
You can get more information from the GeNToo Project Page.
The contents of this document are licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution / Share Alike license.
|
