Gentoo Rant

[openbsd-flipp]

Today I decided to install Gentoo 2005.0 on my work laptop. This is where I plan on dumping my thoughts on that system as well as documentation for later use.

First off I am really liking the whole emerge system. It has the dead nut simplicity of a BSD ports tree with out having to remember where anything is. For example, I just removed FreeBSD 5.3 for the system to do this install. To install xfce4 to the system on FreeBSD you have to cd /usr/ports/x11-wm/xfce4 && make install clean. To do this in Gentoo all you have to do is (as root) emerge xfce4. Almost to easy. The base install was moderatly easy, It took a little bit of *nix knowhow and the ability to read the installation handbook(which is VERY complete by the way) and follow along. I did a stage 3 installation since i was to lazy to have the laptop down all damn day but it only took about an hour, Since it has been so long since I recompiled a linux kernel I relized that I did not quite remember what I needed in it. So instead I did the same thing that I did on the other Gentoo install I attemped on the server and just ran genkernel. About 20 min. later I was booted into my new system.

After that I just browsed arround the portage tree (/usr/portage) and noticed that the firmware and code to get the internel wireless card. That is where the problems arrose. I got the drivers installed and working and the ethernet dard stoped working. I have to figure out if it is just the port replicator that is needed or what but it does not look to promising.

[openbsd-flipp]

Day two,I have figured out the NIC problem. Apperently when I installed the OS in the docking station the net works. When I undock it the ehternet dies. No big deal but it is a pain in the rear. Kde emerged real nice as well as gaim. I am getting Gnome built right now and then I am going after xfce4 and blackbox. Yes I do use all of them and not just for their toolkits. I like having multiple logins configured for specilized uses. Any way all the mice work (config file available upon request) compelte with scroll wheel. I am working on a quick write up of a quick install cheet sheet for anyone that wants to give gentoo a go.

[spankers]

After that I just browsed arround the portage tree (/usr/portage) and noticed that the firmware and code to get the internel wireless card. That is where the problems arrose. I got the drivers installed and working and the ethernet dard stoped working. I have to figure out if it is just the port replicator that is needed or what but it does not look to promising. There is no substitute for a hand rolled kernel. I've had a lot of troubles with distro provided kernels not working as advertised.

Does Gentoo configure the kernel source for you? If so it might be worth your time to configure by hand. I like to build most drivers for permanent system devices (network controllers, IDE, framebuffer, etc...) inline, not as modules. USB & PCMCIA stuff I leave as modules.

If you haven't tried the Con Kolivas patch set you may want to give it a go. I'm running 2.6.11-ck3 and have found it MUCH snappier for desktop/laptop applications.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/

[openbsd-flipp]

The Gentoo philosophy is all about choice, You can hand roll your kernel or you can use genkernel. There are also alot of diffrent sources you can get. In this install I used genkernel just to save some time and get the thing installed. I really like the fact that I have a choice in loggers and cron daemons as well as deciding on every thing else you have the control of what you want installed.

[openbsd-flipp]

I am currently instaling two computers side by side with FreeBSD 5.3 and Gentoo 2005.0 to test the preformance. They are both 650's with 256 megs of ram. the only diffrence is that the Gentoo box wll have a larger hard drive in it since I do not have two 160g drives avalble. So far I have found a few shortcuts in installing Gentoo. The most savings that I have recieved was not to untar the portage archive, Instead since I am doing this on a T1 I just run emerge --sync right after i boot into the chroot env.

[openbsd-flipp]

Finally got arround to hand rolling a new kernel and adding the orinoco patches. I have noticed a better preformance increase but not really that much. I do agree with the hand rolled option more then the a stock configuration.

The the test box comparison, Both boxes are still compiling the same software (including rebuilding the world) but it is going slowly

[dang]

I just replaced my orinoco wireless card in my laptop with a netgear. The orinoco constantly dropped the signal, even if i was within 5 feet of the wap. The netgear has worked great.

Of course, I'm not using linux on this machine though... :(

[openbsd-flipp]

Since I am only using the Orinoco card for scanning I really do not care how well it holds onto a signal as long as it can see it. The laptop I am using has a built in intel 2100 card in it that Gentoo has the drivers for in portage. I find the open network with the orinoco and pop in on the ipw2100

[spankers]

Finally got arround to hand rolling a new kernel and adding the orinoco patches. I have noticed a better preformance increase but not really that much. I do agree with the hand rolled option more then the a stock configuration.
Have you tried Con Kolivas' patch sets? It's not easy to quantify the performance benefit but on my laptop it feels quite a bit snappier. This is either due to his staircase scheduler or my delusional brain... not sure which. ;)

In any case you may want to give his kernel patches a whirl. I'm currently running 2.6.11-ck4 and am quite happy with the results.
http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/

Err... sorry, this post is redundant. I just noticed I'd already plugged Con's kernel.

[spankers]

I just replaced my orinoco wireless card in my laptop with a netgear. The orinoco constantly dropped the signal, even if i was within 5 feet of the wap. The netgear has worked great.

Of course, I'm not using linux on this machine though...
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Chipsets, chipsets, chipsets! One of the things I absolutely hate is that the wireless vendors are not forthright about which chipsets they are using in their products. They will even switch chipsets without changing model numbers... I've bought what I thought was Intersil Prism GT based cards turn out to use Atheros chipsets.

This is a BIG problem when using wireless cards with Linux/BSD/*nix.

I've heard good things about RA-Link cards. They even provide Linux drivers.
http://www.ralinktech.com/home.asp

[ECA]

I found a program that will read PCI slots and there PNP ID...I dont know if it works under anything but windows/DOS..

[spankers]

Linux does the same... the command is 'lspci'.