99 lines
3.4 KiB
HTML
99 lines
3.4 KiB
HTML
---
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layout: post
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title: "Installing Gentoo on a Lenovo ThinkPad X60s"
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date: 2016-07-12 13:00:00 +0200
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categories: linux
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---
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<p>
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Currently, my only laptop is a
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<a href="http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X60s">IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad
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X60s</a>, a top line <em>ultrabook</em> from 2006 that features:
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<ul>
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<li>An Intel Core Duo L2400 dual core 32 bit CPU, clocked at 1.66 Ghz;</li>
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<li>2GB of RAM;</li>
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<li>60GB of SATA1 hard drive;</li>
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<li>Wifi, Bluetooth, trackpoint mouse only, 56k modem, and a decent set of
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I/0 ports (including a CardBus slot!).</li>
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</ul>
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</p>
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<p>
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<img
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src="/images/thinkpad1.jpg"
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alt="An image of the ThinkPad X60s">
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</p>
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<p>
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<img
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src="/images/thinkpad2.jpg"
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alt="Another image of the ThinkPad X60s">
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</p>
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<p>
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This machine had an installation on <em>Arch Linux</em>, and I was using it
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for school stuff. It runned smoothly <em>KDE5</em>, <em>Atom</em> (great
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editor, I am using it to write this article), and it was usable even with
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<em>PhpStorm</em>. Pretty impressive for such an old thing, right?
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</p>
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<p>
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Since now I don't need this laptop every day I decided to give a try at Gentoo,
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another rolling relase, DIY install distro. This was both a test of my
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skills, my patience and the performances of the machine. For those of you
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that don't know, Gentoo hasn't binary packages: imagine using Arch with just
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a developer mantained AUR.
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</p>
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<p>
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I followed the <a href="https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Handbook:Main_Page">
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installation guide</a> without any problem until I had to <em>emerge</em>
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and install 309 packets from my <code>@world</code> set: it took 15 hours!
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The compilation of <code>cmake</code> crashed because of memory starvation,
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and so I had to use a spare USB stick as swap (the root file system was not
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resizable as it was JFS). After some research and a couple of seconds in
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<code>top</code> I discovered that
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension">PAE</a>
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was not implemented in the install disk kernel. <strong>TIP:</strong> if you
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want to use a nicer install enviroment, use the <em>Arch</em> ISO. With
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<em>Gentoo</em>, the initialisation of the file system is made with a
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<a href="https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Stage_tarball#Stage_3"><em>stage 3
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tarball</em></a> and not by tools like
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<a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/beginners'_guide#Install_the_base_packages">
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<code>pacstrap</code></a>.
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</p>
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<p>
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I had another problem with <code>make menuconfig</code>, the tool used to
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specify what features add or remove in your compiled from source Linux kernel.
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The <code>ncurses</code> menu showed me 64bit options, even if the install
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disk and the CPU were both 32 bit. If you have this issue too, you can set
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the <code>ARCH</code> variable by your own:
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</p>
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<p>
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{% highlight bash %}
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# make ARCH=i386 menuconfig
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# make ARCH=i386
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# make ARCH=i386 install
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{% endhighlight %}
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</p>
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<p>
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At the end, I made it! I only have a base install, but i can show you
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<code>screenfetch</code>:
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</p>
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<p>
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<img
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src="/images/screenfetch.jpg"
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alt="The laptop running 'screenfetch'">
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</p>
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<p>
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I have not installed <em>Gentoo</em> in dual boot because I did not figure
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out how to switch my bluetooth dongle in HID mode yet, so I can't select the
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OS with <code>rEFInd</code>. Hope this rambling was, if not useful, at least
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entertaining!
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</p>
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