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