# Just seeking general advice or tips.

## brent7890

Here I am, after a month or so, still trying to install gentoo and learn all that I can. I've learned quite a bit already, but I do not have much of a general background in computer science, though I'm not without any understanding and mostly I can address my own problems through internet searches and reading or personal study. I have repeated the first steps of installing linux from the Gentoo Handbook, steps 1 through 6, and am confounded when it comes to manually compiling the kernel. I've tried once to use genkernel, and it mostly worked, but felt uneasy that it had a few error messages, and also, I didn't want to limit my learning experience by not going through the manual process. There's some kind of virtue that's definate or percievable when it comes to the concept of "manually" doing something. I like the concept of choice, and what comes with it is a lot of confusion or learning when you've realized how much complexity is taken for granted. Though the Gentoo installation process may be percieved to be more complex than an auto-install from another distribution like Ubuntu, my understanding is that once the general means or methods of kernel compiling are understood, such as how to go about doing it, knowing which things to enable, or learning what you need to know to figure it out, will make kernel compiling much easier in the future. Here's the thing I'm struggling with most: When altering the linux configuration file, I noticed a lot of options, hundreds to configure, most of everything that needed to be enabled was, interestingly, already enabled. The first time I compiled the kernel, I was entirely oblivious to the <?> feature, and though I enabled the "really important features" the handbook says are necessary or the opperating system wouldn't run (actually they were already enabled) I was slightly dissapointed that after I bootstrapped, it didn't boot into a graphical interface, I was dissapointed it was not able to connect to the internet through ethernet, or wirelessly, I could not emerge anything since I couldn't connect, and I knew it had to do with how I configured the kernel. Though I was also relieved that I could have a more indepth look and have the opportunity to further understand the process. Going through the compiling process again, and using the <?> feature in make menuconfig, listing lspci and trying various google searches to get some kind of grasp on what is available in the kernel configuration screen, I realized -- I need to have a solid reference. Looking at lspci, and cross referencing it in make menuconfig, I've come to the understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) that it's not specific devices (by name) that are listed, but rather, they are catagorized under specific driver names, for example, I believe that the Intel GM965 video device is catagorized into the Intel i915 driver. The problem is, identifying the list of devices that fall under a driver catagory, and if the catagory, or tab in make menuconfig, corresponds to the device I want booted under the linux kernel. Maybe I'm going at it entirely wrong. I try to use the intel website to get the information I need, but notice that the process is cumbersome and not exactly direct. I would apprieciate some advice, I'm trying hard to get my system working, without going down too many wrong routes and giving up in frustration. I need sources that are useful and provide understanding for someone who's not an "expert". Otherwise, thanks for your time and consideration upon reading my post. Cheers.

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## desultory

Welcome to Gentoo, might I suggest borrowing a tool from Debian?

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## disi

That Debian tool tells you which driver to use (e.g. i915). Within "make menuconfig" you can use the search functionality for the driver by typing "/<drivername>" and hit enter. This shows you in what submenu the name appears in the kernel sources and you can browse there and enable it (I find this very useful).

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## brent7890

Test... testing... text check....

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## brent7890

Alright, I went through the process again and took the simple approach of leaving alone what I didn't understand. I found that while going over every tab and google searching I was able to set the (I think) correct drivers, such as the axxx (for atheros ath5k wireless) and Intel wireless pro (for ethernet) as examples. The Debian tool is a useful tool, thank you for directing it's discovery. I figure, if I have to, I should be able to change my kernel whenever I feel the opportunity is necessary, since it is Gentoo linux afterall. If anyone has anymore interesting suggestions, I'd love to hear them since it cuts down the learning time. Wish me luck.

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