Madhurya Kakati writes:
> Philip, Thanks for the detailed answer.
Yeah, that was a nice one.
> On 5/25/2010 9:09 PM, Philip Webb wrote:
> > 100525 Madhurya Kakati wrote:
> >> I am currently using Archlinux and Windows 7 and want to try out
> >> Gentoo.
> >
> > Welcome aboard ! -- Gentoo requires a bit of work, time & attention,
> > but is not difficult & gives you real control on how you use your
> > machine.
>
> Only reason i will be using gentoo is for this ;)
>
> >> I guess Grub will be overwritten by Gentoo,
> >
> > Not really.
> >
> >> but will it contain the options to boot Arch kernel images
> >> automatically?
Gentoo itself does nothing - there is no automatic installer, YOU do the
whole installation. You do not want to overwrite Grub? Well, then just
skip this section in the Gentoo Handbook. Just add an entry for your
Gentoo to you menu.lst. If you do not know what to add exactly, well, I'd
suggest to read a little more about grub :) Gentoo is special, there are
many things to do by yourself, which users of other distributions often do
not have to do.
> > You can keep your whole Arch & M$ systems in separate partitions,
> > while installing Gentoo on another partition(s) alongside.
> >
> >> I really dont wanna mess up Grub.
Well, just add something like
kernel /vmlinuz-gentoo root=/dev/sda7
to the menu.lst, but the exact parameters depend on your setup. In this
case, Arch Linux and Gentoo would use the same /boot partition, so you
just select another kernel image, and give the root device as kernel
parameter. If it does not work, reboot into Arch Linux, and fix the error.
And ask here if you are having problems.
> > First, read the Gentoo User's Guide carefully,
> > then follow it to the letter when you install Gentoo.
>
> I have read that many times. Just need to get a printout now.
Just in case you print it so have it handy when installing Gentoo...
there's probably no need for that (unless your are changing the
architecture from 32bit to 64bit, then this would not work). You do not
need to boot from a Gentoo CD, as you already have a running Linux, with
everything needed to set up partitions for Gentoo, output some Gentoo
stuff into them, and chroot into the new Gentoo system and do the rest of
the install.
So, boot into Arch Linux, and then do the Gentoo install. And keep using
your Arch system until you think Gentoo is fully operational.
Wonko
