##UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!

First Impressions and Installation

• The Installation Method
• The Stage 3

The Installation Method

Gentoo has a unique installation method. When you download the live cd you will boot up into a blank screen with a flashing cursor... that's it! For years people were asking why Gentoo didn't have an installer so after a while Gentoo wrote one and everyone hated it so the command line is all you get. Also, once you have installed the Gentoo base system the command line is all you get also.

There are good reasons for installing Gentoo from the command line: it teaches you about your system, it allows you to choose every option for your system from (almost) the very beginning and if you can't install Gentoo then you're not going to be able to maintain it.

If you want to know about installing from the very beginning and bootstrapping (building your toolchain and compiler) your system you have to read about doing a Stage 1 install. The Stage 1 install is no longer supported by Gentoo but the Gentoo handbook still gives instructions on it and stage 1 tarballs are still avaliable from the mirrors

The Stage 3

The stage 3 method is the most used and the only officially supported method for installing Gentoo. It basically involves booting up, extracting a stage 3 tarball, extracting a portage snapshot, setting the compile option and USE flags and setting up the boot loader. It sounds harder than it actually is.

Gentoo offers 2 types of install media, a minimal ~60mb installcd or a 600mb livecd. The 60mb cd means you have to download all the stages and snapshots from the internet meaning it isn't suitable for offline installs but the livecd contains all the stages and tarballs you should need although there is a good chance that thse may be out of date so an update straight after would be a good idea.

The first place anyone should look when they want to install Gentoo is the Installation Handbook

• Where to get help