Re: [sheflug] Choice of Gentoo kernel version?

["Wonkey Donkey" <wonkey_donkey [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James Rogers" <phb01jdr [at] shef.ac.uk>
To: "sheflug" <sheflug [at] sheflug.co.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 3:53 PM
Subject: Re: [sheflug] Choice of Gentoo kernel version?


> Peter Humphrey wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I've been given a Packard-Bell laptop which has a 1.5GHz Mobile Celeron, 
>> and
>> I'm trying to install Gentoo Linux on it. When choosing an installation
>> package to boot and install with, I have to choose from i386, i686,
>> Pentium, x86 and a few others. Then, when compiling my kernel I have to
>> choose from many more possibilities.
>>
>> Once, I found a guide to CPU chip numbers and names, but now I can't find 
>> it
>> again. Can anyone here tell me what model I have? I've tried the i686
>> version, but it may be wrong because I'm getting some otherwise
>> inexplicable effects, such as not being able to compile Xfce4 because a
>> test fails that looks as though it should pass.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>
> Pentium, i386, i686 are a subset of x86
> i686 would be best for celeron
> If your talking about the boot/install CD take the x86 one
> for your kernel your probably just want the gentoo-sources one.
> your make.conf should be fairly simple and explained in the install guide.
> This is all fairly well covered in the gentoo online handbook
> What does the test fail on for Xfce4?
>
> James

Would agree whole-heartedly with James on the choice of kernel.

There are a lot of custom patch sets and the like available from the gentoo 
forums, but these don't attract the same level of support if something goes 
wrong, and if the developer isn't able to continue the effort in the longer 
term, you could end up being stuck and having to revert back anyway.

With a little thought going into the kernel config, I've always found the 
performance of the gentoo-sources more than satisfactory.

On a slightly separate note, for anyone who is interested, the gentoo guys 
seem to have done quite a fair job with modular X too. I've set that up 
right from a stage 1 install in the last few days, and the only thing I had 
to do was a couple of minor tweaks to the xorg.conf. I thought it was a very 
good effort overall and the new X is running very smoothly indeed :)

Steve. 



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