installing Gentoo linux. help needed.

[cb911]

well i've got around to installing Gentoo. let it be known that i'm a linux n00b, but a determined n00b.

i'm trying to follow the Gentoo PPC install instructions but i've already had problems partitioning the HD.

first question: i know it's easiest to install linux over OS X to you can use the Linux boot loader, but can i install Linux, then OS X. i keep seeing words like "OldWorld" boot loader & BootX? it would be alot easier to install Linux first, cause i think i just wiped my HD...

just checked, my HD is gone. so much for re-installing Panther.

out of curiosity, can i get my data back from my HD. i think Gentoo just made a big 80GB partition, now i get the flashing Mac face & question mark (?) when i try to boot OS X. doesn't that just overwrite the file allocation table or something? is there any easy way to get my data back?

on with the partitioning problem... the instructions say to use mac-fdisk, but do you have to type anything to use it? or just type commands right away?

so Gentoo needs it's swap partition, root partition, and special bootstrap partition. but i also only want all of these in total to take up 5-6GB, and leave the rest as free space to format later for OS X. can anyone help me do that?

also, this is fairly urgent... i've got a pretty much useless PB here now, so i really want to get all of this out of the way.

thanks heaps for any and all help.

edit>> i just want to add that if anyone knows some really good LinuxPPC forums where i could get help quicker, please share some linkage. thank you.

2nd edit>> i'm having a look at the Gentoo forums, and i've worked out using fdisk now. i'm just wondering what size i should make my partitions? i've got 300MB for swap, and 2GB for /hda1. will /hda1 be used as the root partition? and how much space do i need for the 'special bootstrap partition'?

 

[cb911]

well i've gone and made 3 partitions, and i've left free space on the rest of the HD, or at least i think i have.

i think i'm just going to have to go to the Linux forums... oh well.

 

[Nermal]

Regarding OldWorld and NewWorld, chances are you have a NewWorld machine. So you most likely don't have to worry about BootX.

I've been too scared to install Gentoo, I don't want to screw up my OS X! Maybe I'll give it a go when I've finished my exams (only one left!) and don't need to worry about deleting something I need.

On the other hand, why would you want to run Linux on a Mac? OS X is the best Unix out there, why change? I liked Linux when I had a PC, because it's not Windows, but now on the Mac I don't see what's so great about Linux, because after all, OS X isn't Windows either

 

[Westside guy]

Re: installing Gentoo linux. help needed.

If you install OS X last so you don't have the linux bootloader, then you won't be able to boot into linux without some sort of a boot disk.

There's another option. With Gentoo you can get what's called a "Live CD", which is a bootable CD. When you boot from it you'll be running Gentoo, without having to touch your hard disk at all. Also, I'm pretty sure the Live CD gives you read access to your hard drive (Linux has some HFS+ support, even on x86 distributions).

 

[cb911]

yeah, you should definitely back up all of your stuff before installing (or attempting) Gentoo.

i was planning on installing Panther, then Linux, so i could use the Linux boot loader. so i re-installed Panther, and even put some of my files back on... then i went to partition my remaining HD space in Gentoo LiveCD using fdisk... completely wiped everything. in fact i've had to re-partition about 4 times, but don't let that scare you off - you've just got to figure out how it works.

right now i'm re-bootstrapping (for an up to the minute version of Gentoo) and i'll see how i go later. i've still got to install the base system, which can take a while.

i think alot of people get scared off by the lack of a graphical interface, but it's not all that hard. it's definitely good if you want to learn Linux. that's basically all i wanted to do, and it's good because it forces you to learn stuff. i know if i just tried to learn things in OS X/Terminal i'd never get very far. it also gives you a bit more incentive to do it if you've got an unusable machine in from of you unless you install it.

it's definitely not too hard. if you're a determined newbie, you'll get it eventually.

also, if anyone knows how to use fdisk, could you tell me how to partition 'free space' on a HD to use Linux on it, without wiping OS X and it's partitions?

 

[powerbookje]

why install linux on a mac when running OSX??!? If you realy want to play with linux, I'd suggest installing Mandrake. it's by far the most user friendly linux for the PPC ( esp. when installing). another option is Yellow Dog Linux, but as a noob I'd suggest mandrake. ; It's easy to partition your HD with mandrake
go to
http://public.ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/mandrake-iso/ppc/

and download the images. I installed Mandrake on an old Powerbook, works OK, but I prefer OSX. Good luck!

 

[cb911]

why install Linux if i've got OS X? well, i want to learn Linux, and yes i know i could use Terminal and other stuff in OS X to do that. but if there's always an easier way to do something, then i know i'll always do it.

installing linux, and particularly Gentoo, i've already learned heaps, and i'm not even finished installing yet. i didn't really want a user/newbie friendly distro because i just wanted to force myself to learn Linux.

well i've just started emerge system. now it's time for bed. and more learning tomorrow.

 

[maradong]

Originally posted by powerbookje
why install linux on a mac when running OSX??!? If you realy want to play with linux, I'd suggest installing Mandrake. it's by far the most user friendly linux for the PPC ( esp. when installing). another option is Yellow Dog Linux, but as a noob I'd suggest mandrake. ; It's easy to partition your HD with mandrake
go to
http://public.ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/mandrake-iso/ppc/

and download the images. I installed Mandrake on an old Powerbook, works OK, but I prefer OSX. Good luck!

Listen, I know you probably only want to help, but why tell him to use os x if he wants to check out linux. Osx hasn't gotten only pros.
Just try to help the people, or answer their questions. Don't you dare tell them to not try this or that. It's not what they were asking for.

 

[cb911]

well emerge system completed with one error. i tried # emerge --verbose to view the error, but it seems that's not the proper usage. but i'm guessing it won't hurt to just continue installation.

also in the Gentoo instructions it says to edit make.conf:

Note: If you haven't done so, please edit /etc/make.conf to your flavor.



# nano -w /etc/make.conf (Adjust these settings)

i'm not entirely sure how to do it... but i guess i'll just keep playing around with it.

edit>> well i hope it doesn't matter if you don't edit make.conf. i just went ahead with the installation.

also, is there any way to do a net-less install of Gentoo? i thought the LiveCD's had everything on them? but i've been frequently downloading stuff durning the install? is this just to ensure that it's an up to the minute version?

 

[f-matic]

some help

just out of interest what machine are you installing this on?

i assume you've already partitioned and all that jazz, but here's how i would recommend setting it up:

*separate partitions for /usr and /home (i recommend at least 2 gigs for usr, home has all your personal data so that's up to you)

*separate partition for /boot (if you think you'll be messing around with compiling new kernels very much)

*one partition for swap (generally should be the same as your RAM, i.e. 256M)

*one bootloader partition (this can be very small, 10M)

*everything else on / (or root)

as for the netless version, i imagine the cd you're installing from would give you a full version, but it checks the net for security updates, new versions, etc. it's usually a good idea to install these rather than use the cd version -- the newer versions are often patched for security exploits, more features, etc.

good luck with gentoo.. feel free to PM me if you have any more linux ppc questions.. i spent a good 6 months working all this stuff out and asking questions was a savior for me!

best,
np

 

[cb911]

i'm installing this on a new PowerBook.

i'll just keep trying and i guess i'll get it eventually.

 

[cb911]

well now i've re-installed Panther, but i still don't have Gentoo on my PB yet. i'm trying to do it this way because then i won't have to worry about bootloaders, i'll just use yaboot or whatever.

but i'm stuck on formating/partitioning the linux partition now. in Disk Utility i've got 4 partitions. the first one is really only 6GB of free space, this is where i want to put Linux. the rest are for OS X and documents.

the problem is if i boot up the Gentoo LiveCD i will probably just end up wiping my HD again, because i don't really know how to use fdisk.

if there's anyone that can help me to partiton and set up linux ext2 etc, please contact me on AIM - mugg3t.

i really want to get this done, because i'm not going to install anything on OS X because i just might wipe my HD again.

also, what's the difference between 'fdisk' and 'mac-fdisk'? should i be using 'mac-fdisk' to partition?

 

[cb911]

in case anyone's interested, i thought i'd update you on my progress...

i spent most of yesterday starting form scratch again. i re-installed Panther, and left 6GB of free space at the start of my HD. i later found out that it doesn't matter where you put the linux partition.

well i've got yaboot configured correctly, so now i have the choice to boot into linux or OS X.

i found out why i was having problems before... i was using fdisk to partitoin. i saw that mentioned on the web, so i just used that, and it seemed to work. but then i found out you are supposed to use mac-fdisk. everything was a breeze after i used that, no need to re-partition or anything.

well i've got Gentoo installed now (i only used the stage 3 tarball, i'll do a stage 2 later probably). the only problem is that i get a kernel panic when i boot into linux. so i'm going to have to boot from LiveCD again sometime and compile a new kernel or fix fstab or something.

also it was a big help getting on the Gentoo irc channels. #gentoo-ppc on irc.freenode.net, and #gentoo for more general stuff.

so to all the people out there thinking about installing Gentoo: just go for it. as long as you make sure you read (and re-read) all the documentation you can it's not that hard. thankfully you can join the irc channel when you're booted off the LiveCD, and that's a big help.

also Gentoo is really good because you can configure everything just the way you want it.