XP then Gentoo?!?

medicnick83

medicnick83

Paramedic
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
21,158
Reaction score
565
Location
CBD, Cape Town
Hi guys,

Okay, so I got my laptop, the Acer Aspire 1.

Now, I've deleted the Linux on the laptop, recreated the partitions.
1x 60GB which I've loaded XP on.
The other 60GB I want to load Gentoo on.
I've got the LiveCD, but now I've realised something...

Now, bare in mind I don't know Linux.

Won't installing Gentoo kill the GRUB or mess it up... ultimately, what I want to do is dual boot XP & Gentoo.

Thoughts, suggestions?
 
do yourself a favour and move to gentoo when you have some solid experience in Gnu/Linux.And not just the clicking experience. Get some of the typing kind too. To put it in perspective,i went from

redhat5.2 all the way up to fedora 9, played with some suse8(i think). Rocked FreeBSD for about 6 months AND THEN ONLY did i attempt gentoo.

Get ubuntu, and mess around break it a few times, fix it, reinstall it, learn how to recompile the kernel and install packages from source. Try to pick up perl/python/bash scripting as you go along.
 
Last edited:
I need to learn Gentoo and I might as well start now, so thus I'm doing this.

But I need XP on the laptop too for normal use.
 
And for those curious, my boss knew that I don't know Linux, or Trixbox or alot of the stuff he uses, but he firmly believes in throwing my into the deep end -using google and your guys help and coming out learning... and honestly, I am looking forward to learning :)
 
gdiza said:
I need to learn Gentoo and I might as well start now, so thus I'm doing this.

But I need XP on the laptop too for normal use.
Click to expand...

Good luck gdiza!!

I recently decided that I want to learn Linux, but will start with Ubuntu. Got a great book at Exclusive Books at Tyger Valley (its twice as thick as a Bible!!) and now I am starting to discover a new world.

I am struggling, but also having a lot of fun! And keep on nagging the linux boffins on here, cos in their hearts they know that once they were just like you & I know they will help you....maybe with a bit of ranting, but thats the least of your worries. :)

Enjoy, and if it gets too much, come cry on another noobs shoulder. :p
 
gdiza said:
Hi guys,

Okay, so I got my laptop, the Acer Aspire 1.

Now, I've deleted the Linux on the laptop, recreated the partitions.
1x 60GB which I've loaded XP on.
The other 60GB I want to load Gentoo on.
I've got the LiveCD, but now I've realised something...

Now, bare in mind I don't know Linux.

Won't installing Gentoo kill the GRUB or mess it up... ultimately, what I want to do is dual boot XP & Gentoo.

Thoughts, suggestions?
Click to expand...

Gentoo will not touch Grub, part of the install process is that you actually learn to do that manually.
 
Drake2007 said:
Gentoo will not touch Grub, part of the install process is that you actually learn to do that manually.
Click to expand...

And apparently that is what made Larry the Cow happy. :p
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you follow the Gentoo Handbook to install and you follow the Grub section, grub will most definitely replace the Windows boot manager on your MBR.
 
They stopped the GUI liveCD version of Gentoo and all the latest LiveCD's are like the good old days again.

Just print out the handbook and read it while you install. Try and understand why you have to do something a particular way, that way you will know if something breaks where to look.

It is a fun ride, and once you have Gentoo under the knee all other Linux distros will look pale in comparison.

EDIT:
DO NOT USE THE GENTOO 2008.0 LIVECD!!!
It is over a year old and you WILL have something break with your first update. Use the autobuilds, and in this case (I take it the laptop is not 64bit) this one:
ftp://ftp.is.co.za/linux/distributions/gentoo/releases/x86/autobuilds/20090728/

It is the latest and most up to date one, do not mess with outdated software on Gentoo, you WILL break something.
 
Last edited:
Ok, as you can imagine, I'm struggling - I'm a windows boy so this is totally new to me and the hand book is not exactly helping :(

I'm going to try, but if anyone here has interest in helping me, please PM me your MSN so I can add you and IRRATATE THE HELL OUTTA YOU with QUESTIONS! :D

Thanks :)
 
MyWorld said:
EDIT:
DO NOT USE THE GENTOO 2008.0 LIVECD!!!
It is over a year old and you WILL have something break with your first update. Use the autobuilds, and in this case (I take it the laptop is not 64bit) this one:
ftp://ftp.is.co.za/linux/distributions/gentoo/releases/x86/autobuilds/20090728/

It is the latest and most up to date one, do not mess with outdated software on Gentoo, you WILL break something.
Click to expand...

Okay, I do have the 2008 LIVECD but I"m downloading the autobuild and will burn that to CD.
 
gdiza said:
Ok, as you can imagine, I'm struggling - I'm a windows boy so this is totally new to me and the hand book is not exactly helping :(

I'm going to try, but if anyone here has interest in helping me, please PM me your MSN so I can add you and IRRATATE THE HELL OUTTA YOU with QUESTIONS! :D

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Nay, discuss those issues here blog-fashion, so that other folks can learn from your experience!
 
flarkit said:
Nay, discuss those issues here blog-fashion, so that other folks can learn from your experience!
Click to expand...

Nah, I agree, but I'm already struggling and the bloody thing isn't even installed yet... I'll go up 10000 posts before I know anything at this rate :)
 
Okay, well, basically, I have XP on the first partition of the 120GB.
The 2nd partition is unallocated as I want to use that for Gentoo.

Must I do anything with the unallocated space, something tells me I do, if I'm reading things properly.

Next it comes to a mount point, but it doesn't allow me to do anything and then the installer fails :( So I'm stuck at this point currently.
 
gdiza said:
Okay, well, basically, I have XP on the first partition of the 120GB.
The 2nd partition is unallocated as I want to use that for Gentoo.

Must I do anything with the unallocated space, something tells me I do, if I'm reading things properly.

Next it comes to a mount point, but it doesn't allow me to do anything and then the installer fails :( So I'm stuck at this point currently.
Click to expand...

You need to partition the unallocated space using fdisk.
 
Ok, on a bright note guys, I've learnt (using cfdisk) how to make the NTFS drive bootlable, and then the Linux drive bootable.

I'm still stuck (haven't passed the mounting part) but baby steps!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X