[SOLVED] Any post stage 3 tar suggestions?

DavidLee1A · 05-29-2013, 09:58 PM

So, I am installing Gentoo from the amd64 minimal and have applied tar to stage3*.tar.bz2 and, tomorrow, will use VIM to edit */make.conf (next step in the manual).

My system is a 10 GB RAM AMD 6-core.

1) I skipped mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot since I am already running GRUB 2 for Debian (Gnome 3) ... can't I SUDO os-prober to get GRUB to add GENTOO from Debian when I'm done? (the fact that I am putting Gentoo on a logical partition shouldn't hurt anything, I think)

2) Any suggestions for how I edit make.conf?

3) I was going to use a KDE desktop ... but I started thinking, maybe something lightweight and faster like an XFCE, would anybody like to weigh in on this?

This is all a matter of style, I know, but I wouldn't mind hearing someone elses opinion. I'm installing Gentoo as a learning tool and warmup for an LFS project (which may be a better longterm choice for an XFCE desktop). I guess I am just trying to do this "right" the first time.

DavidLee1A · 05-30-2013, 09:06 AM

I'm setting the /etc/portage/make.conf flags and a portion of cat /proc/cpuinfo generates:

Code:

processor	: 5
vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
cpu family	: 21
model		: 1
model name	: AMD FX(tm)-6200 Six-Core Processor             
stepping	: 2
microcode	: 0x6000626
cpu MHz		: 1400.000
cache size	: 2048 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 6
core id		: 5
cpu cores	: 3
apicid		: 21
initial apicid	: 5
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 13
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes xsave avx lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs xop skinit wdt lwp fma4 nodeid_msr topoext perfctr_core arat cpb hw_pstate npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale vmcb_clean flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold
bogomips	: 7580.85
TLB size	: 1536 4K pages
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

In addition to -march=athlon64 -O2 -pipe will I also set -msse -msse2 -msse3 -mmmx -md3now ? How does one know when setting flags reaches the point where it will negatively impact performance?

i92guboj · 05-31-2013, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidLee1A

So, I am installing Gentoo from the amd64 minimal and have applied tar to stage3*.tar.bz2 and, tomorrow, will use VIM to edit */make.conf (next step in the manual).

My system is a 10 GB RAM AMD 6-core.

1) I skipped mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot since I am already running GRUB 2 for Debian (Gnome 3) ... can't I SUDO os-prober to get GRUB to add GENTOO from Debian when I'm done? (the fact that I am putting Gentoo on a logical partition shouldn't hurt anything, I think)

I am not familiar with os-prober, but yes, you should be ableto edit your grub config from any other linux os that you have already installed, and add an entry for Gentoo. If you wish, you should even be able to share the same kernel accross all your linuxes, though that might be more or less difficult depending on the external drivers you use (if any).

Quote:

2) Any suggestions for how I edit make.conf?

Just do the basic stuff, most of it can be changed afterwards without much pain. USE flags concretely are a thing that takes time to get the hang of, so don't worry, you'll eventually catch up.

Quote:

3) I was going to use a KDE desktop ... but I started thinking, maybe something lightweight and faster like an XFCE, would anybody like to weigh in on this?

This is all a matter of style, I know, but I wouldn't mind hearing someone elses opinion. I'm installing Gentoo as a learning tool and warmup for an LFS project (which may be a better longterm choice for an XFCE desktop). I guess I am just trying to do this "right" the first time.

I don't think there's a "right" approach when it comes to DEs. EvilWM is just as Good as KDE/Gnome. It's a very personal thing. There are guides for the major desktops, and there are also profiles to ease their installation without having to set a thousand used flags for yourself. Minor WMs ("minors" in size, that's it) are easy to set up in the sense that they don't require any special settings such as bigger ones. You just install them and that's about it.

i92guboj · 05-31-2013, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidLee1A

In addition to -march=athlon64 -O2 -pipe will I also set -msse -msse2 -msse3 -mmmx -md3now ? How does one know when setting flags reaches the point where it will negatively impact performance?

If you don't plan to use binaries produced on that machine in any other, you can just set -march=native, and forget about the rest of the flags you posted. GCC will enable anything that your cpu supports and use it if it will improve the performance.

Anyway, using -march=athlon64 also includes all that stuff, no need to explicitly enable each flag, you can check the gcc man page:

Code:

k8, opteron, athlon64, athlon-fx
    AMD K8 core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set support.  (This supersets MMX, SSE, SSE2,
    3DNow!, enhanced 3DNow! and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)

DavidLee1A · 05-31-2013, 11:13 AM

Thank you i92guboj. I selcted AMD-64/KDE so hopefully that will automatically set the USE flags. It is now time to do step 7 Configuring the Kernel (any advice is welcome). So far I have had no more problems, thank you again!

i92guboj · 06-01-2013, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidLee1A

Thank you i92guboj. I selcted AMD-64/KDE so hopefully that will automatically set the USE flags. It is now time to do step 7 Configuring the Kernel (any advice is welcome). So far I have had no more problems, thank you again!

You're welcome. The truly important thing about your kernel is setting your sata or ide chip driver statically compiled in your kernel, as well as your fs driver(s), so that your kernel can actually open your partitions and load the rest of the drivers. The rest can usually be left as modules.

You can also set an initrd,or use genkernel, but usually there's no need to (and i don't have a clue about genkernel anyway, never bothered with it].

DavidLee1A · 06-01-2013, 03:21 PM

So, I did everything up to reboot in the handbook. I don't know anymore if I set the sata/ide driver ... I watched youtube videos, read the handbook, scanned some kernel compiling articles, and went through evey yes/no/module menu I could. I ran into an issue on reboot and posted it on the gentoo forum (although I seem to get the best responses on here). I tried to do what seemed most straightforward for a first try and posted the problem here: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-960972.html
I am going to wait a while and post the issue on this forum if it doesn't get solved.

i92guboj · 06-02-2013, 05:07 PM

I answered there. To avoid cross-posting, let's continue that issue there, this thread has already achieved its purpose.

bloody · 06-17-2013, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidLee1A

My system is a 10 GB RAM AMD 6-core.

Decent machine, regarding using a source-based distro. So no showstopper there..

Quote:

Any suggestions for how I edit make.conf?

Depends on your prefs, but certainly you want fast compiling:

MAKEOPTS="-j6"

Quote:

I was going to use a KDE desktop ... but I started thinking, maybe something lightweight and faster like an XFCE, would anybody like to weigh in on this?

Using Gentoo as a "warmup" for LFS, maybe you want something that compiles fast. Remember that KDE is huge and also written in C++ which compiles pretty slowly compared to C code, so if you don't really need all the fancy stuff, Xfce is certainly a good choice.