Gentoo Question

[Matthew Carpenter]

See below.  Thanks in advance for your help and patience.

Collins wrote:

>On Sat, 01 May 2004 15:01:19 -0400
>Matthew Carpenter <matt at eisgr.com> wrote:
>
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>>So far I've installed the base Stage3 system as described in the 
>>Handbook.  Then I installed XFree86 and a couple graphics things and I 
>>somehow ended up with Gnome installed from the packages on the cd.  Then 
>>I emerged KDE but something interrupted it and I've had to start over.   
>>I have had some difficulties because the laptop in use doesn't like the 
>>acpi drivers and when I shut the lid I never get the screen to come 
>>back.  I can ctrl-alt-del and have it soft boot, but that interrupts 
>>whatever is emerging.  I can type init 6 and it will reboot when done 
>>with the emerge, but I never know the results from the emerge. 
>>    
>>
>
>OK, what model laptop do you have? I've read that 2.6 kernels do a better job with laptops, expecially with acpi. I'm writing this from an hp ze4630us with everything ~x86 (i.e. testing, not stable) and 2.6 kernels, and I've nevery had a bit of trouble. 
>
Dell Lattitude C640.  It runs SuSE 9.0 exceptionally well, with 
exception of APM/ACPI which I've also heard is better in 2.6 and have 
been meaning to try it.  Last time around with Gentoo, however, I was 
running on my Inspiron 1100 and decided to use 2.6 and ended up with no 
keyboard available :(  This time I thought I'd give Gentoo a running 
chance at stock software versions.

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>>I have a message that continually is printed as I emerge new packages, 
>>complaining about "Service 'syslog-ng' already provide 'logger'! Not 
>>adding service "sysklogd'...  
>>    
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>
>It sounds like you have both loggers engaged. Issue 'rc-update del xxxxx default' (xxxxx = either syslog-ng or sysklogd) to remove the one you don't need from the automated startup. 
>
# rc-update del sysklogd default
 * sysklogd not found in any of the specified runlevels.

# emerge unmerge sysklogd

--- Couldn't find sysklogd to unmerge.

 >>> unmerge: No packages selected for removal.

>
>I have had issues installing KDE, mostly 
>
My biggest one at the moment is it stopping at win32codecs complaining 
about the digest being different.  For now, I "inject"ed win32codecs and 
the rest of the packages are installing as we speak.
I am noew however getting complaints when I try to run X -configure and 
startx no longer works...
Complaints are about modules (from /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/):
    fglrx_drv.o
    nsc_drv.o
    sis_drv.o

>  
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>>with a package not being available   And I've had issues with 
>>"coreutils" being found as well.  
>>    
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>Post specific messages. 
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Sorry.  Not been able to use that laptop to post so I've lost track of 
the messages.  I will do better going forward.  Thx.

>
>It's been quite frustrating.  I've 
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>>emerge sync-ed several  times over the past  week to make sure I'm 
>>working with the latest package/dep info.  So I am trying the emerge 
>>world/emerge --emptytree world in hopes that whatever versions are not 
>>available will no longer be necessary.  
>>I've also had issues with Signatures not matching.  That has me quit 
>>perturbed.
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>Like any system with mirrors, occasionally the mirrors get out of sync, or a corrupt package appears on oe of the mirrors. Usually wait a day and 'emerge sync' will fix the problem. You've managed to win the "unlucky" lotto <g>.
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This one's been going on for days.  I'm wondering if they have had to 
change win32codecs to avoid lawsuits and simply forgot to update the hash?

>  
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>>I know I am not a guru and that I've not done things correctly, but I'm 
>>afraid I'm a bit lost as to the correction.  Reinstalling can't be the 
>>way to go... that's just so.... Microsoft.  So what do I do?
>>My USE variable is set in make.conf as "X gtk2 kde gnome imap alsa ldap 
>>java"
>>Is this a problem?
>>
>>    
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>The USE variables look pretty normal.
>
>Yes, reinstalling is a bummer; it just depends on what you've gimped. In either case, you're possibly looking at a long recovery. On my laptop an 'emerge -e world' with your numberof packages (I have a lot more) would take about 30 hours. If you have a slower laptop, it could take several days, longer than a reinstall.
>
>I've helped a Gentoo newbie with my local LUG, and he liked the reinstall process when he got totally hung up. He did learn a great deal from the process.
>
>Whatever you decide, you need to make a habit of keeping a detailed log of everything you do. Then I or others can help you.
>
>When I do a Gentoo install (or most others as well), I always start with a simple WM like XFCE and leave the big ones like KDE or GNOME for later. Also, unless you have a very fast machine with beaucoup gigs work space, don't try to emerge openoffice; get the binary package. I also use the binaries for Mozilla or Firefox.
>
>You might try putting up a 2.6 kernel first to see if that solves your acpi problem. Maybe that would give you a more stable base.
>
>Sorry I can't solve your problem from afar, but there are just too many variables. Gentoo becomes problematic if you aren't anal about following the recommended procedures and documenting what you have done.
>
>HTH,
>
>  
>
thanks for the honesty, Collins.  It's helpful.  Since I've been 
"playing" I've definitely not been keeping as good a track of what has 
gone on.  Is there a log kept of emerge "stuff"?  Is there a way to list 
installed packages?  You've already helped me a little on what the other 
commands do and mean, although I should have got that the FIRST time I 
RTFM'ed :)

Thanks again for your help.  I'll probably plug along for a while, then 
I'll D/l the latest LiveCD's and start over.  I'm just learning this 
time anyway :)
As I said before, I'm still somewhat a believe in Gentoo, just having to 
cut some teeth with too little time to really do a good job of it.  I'm 
still seeing this as a possible use as a server, although time will 
tell.  I like the fact that it would be really easy to write a script to 
emerge the appropriate packages.  Emerge is still quite powerful, even 
if I haven't mastered it yet.  I like the auto-dependency-handling 
either way.

Thanks again.  IDH :)