en/handbook/hb-install-alpha-medium.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE sections SYSTEM "/dtd/book.dtd">

<!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0 -->

<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/handbook/hb-install-alpha-medium.xml,v 1.22 2004/11/20 22:23:30 neysx Exp $ -->

<sections>

<version>1.19</version>
<date>2004-11-04</date>

<section>
<title>Hardware Requirements</title>
<subsection>
<title>Introduction</title>
<body>

<p>
Before we start, we first list what hardware requirements you need to
successfully install Gentoo on your box. This of course depends on your
architecture.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>The Alpha Architecture</title>
<body>

<p>
Check the following requirements before you
continue with the Gentoo installation:
</p>

<ul>
<li>
  You need at least 1 GB of free disk space
</li>
<li>
  For the <e>Alpha architecture</e>, you should check with the <uri
  link="http://www.alphalinux.org/faq/FAQ-5.html">Alpha/Linux FAQ</uri>
</li>
</ul>

</body>
</subsection>
</section>
<section>
<title>Make your Choice</title>
<subsection>
<title>Introduction</title>
<body>

<p>
Still interested in trying out Gentoo? Well, then it is now time to
choose the installation medium you want to use. Yes, you have the
choice, no, they are not all equal, and yes, the result is always the same: a
Gentoo base system.
</p>

<p>
The installation media we will describe are:
</p>

<ul>
<li>The Gentoo Alpha LiveCD</li>
</ul>

<p>
Before we continue, let's explain our three-stage installation.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>The Three Stages</title>
<body>

<p>
Gentoo Linux can be installed using one of three <e>stage</e> tarball files.
The one you choose depends on how much of the system you want to compile
yourself. The <e>stage1</e> tarball is used when you want to bootstrap and
build the entire system from scratch. The <e>stage2</e> tarball is used for
building the entire system from a bootstrapped &quot;semi-compiled&quot; state.
The <e>stage3</e> tarball already contains a basic Gentoo Linux system that has
been built for you. 
</p>

<p>
Now what stage do you have to choose?
</p>

<p>
Starting from a <e>stage1</e> allows you to have total control over the
optimization settings and optional build-time functionality that is
initially enabled on your system. This makes <e>stage1</e> installs good for
power users who know what they are doing. It is also a great
installation method for those who would like to know more about the
inner workings of Gentoo Linux.
</p>

<p>
A <e>stage1</e> installation can only be performed when you have a working
Internet connection.
</p>

<table>
<tr>
  <th>Stage1</th>
  <th>Pros and Cons</th>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>+</th>
  <ti>
    Allows you to have total control over the optimization settings and optional
    build-time functionality that is initially enabled on your system
  </ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>+</th>
  <ti>Suitable for powerusers that know what they are doing</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>+</th>
  <ti>Allows you to learn more about the inner workings of Gentoo</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>Takes a long time to finish the installation</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>
    If you don't intend to tweak the settings, it is probably a waste of time
  </ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>
    Not suitable for networkless installations
  </ti>
</tr>
</table>

<p>
<e>Stage2</e> installs allow you to skip the bootstrap process and doing this
is fine if you are happy with the optimization settings that we chose
for your particular <e>stage2</e> tarball.
</p>

<p>
A <e>stage2</e> installation can only be performed when you have a working
Internet connection.
</p>

<table>
<tr>
  <th>Stage2</th>
  <th>Pros and Cons</th>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>+</th>
  <ti>You don't need to bootstrap</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>+</th>
  <ti>Faster than starting with stage1</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>+</th>
  <ti>You can still tweak your settings</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>You cannot tweak as much as with a stage1</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>It's not the fastest way to install Gentoo</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>You have to accept the optimizations we chose for the bootstrap</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>
    Not suitable for networkless installations
  </ti>
</tr>
</table>

<p>
Choosing to go with a <e>stage3</e> allows for the fastest install of Gentoo
Linux, but also means that your base system will have the optimization
settings that we chose for you (which to be honest, are good settings
and were carefully chosen to enhance performance while maintaining
stability). <e>stage3</e> is also required if you want to install Gentoo using
prebuilt packages or without a network connection.
</p>

<table>
<tr>
  <th>Stage3</th>
  <th>Pros and Cons</th>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>+</th>
  <ti>Fastest way to get a Gentoo base system</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>+</th>
  <ti>Suitable for networkless installations</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>You cannot tweak the base system - it's built already</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
  <th>-</th>
  <ti>You cannot brag about having used stage1 or stage2</ti>
</tr>
</table>

<p>
Write down (or remember) what stage you want to use. You need this later when
you decide what LiveCD (or other installation medium) you want to use. You might
be interested to know that, if you decide to use different optimization settings
after having installed Gentoo, you will be able to recompile your entire system
with the new optimization settings.
</p>

<p>
Now take a look at the available installation media.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>The Gentoo Alpha LiveCD</title>
<body>

<p>
The <e>Gentoo Alpha LiveCD</e> is a bootable CD which contain a
self-sustained Gentoo environment. It allows you to boot Linux from the CD.
During the boot process your hardware is detected and the appropriate drivers
are loaded. It is maintained by Gentoo developers.
</p>

<p>
The <e>Gentoo Alpha LiveCD</e> is a small, no-nonsense, bootable CD which sole 
purpose is to boot the system, prepare the networking and continue with the 
Gentoo installation. It does not contain any stages (or, in some cases, a 
single stage1 file), source code or precompiled packages. For example the 
alpha variant of this LiveCD can be found in the 
<path>releases/1.4_rc1/alpha</path> subdirectory and is called
<c>gentoo-alpha-1.4rc1-test3.iso.bz2</c>.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
</section>
<section>
<title>Download, Burn and Boot the Gentoo LiveCD</title>
<subsection>
<title>Downloading and Burning the LiveCDs</title>
<body>

<p>
You have chosen to use a Gentoo LiveCD (if not, then you are reading the
wrong document). We'll first start by downloading and burning the chosen
LiveCD. 
</p>

<p>
Visit one of our <uri
link="/main/en/mirrors.xml">mirrors</uri> and go to
<path>releases/1.4rc1/alpha</path> which is where the LiveCD(s) of your choice 
are located. Inside that directory you'll find so-called ISO-files. Those are 
full CD images which you can write on a CD-R.
</p>

<p>
In case you wonder if your downloaded file is corrupted or not, you can
check its MD5 checksum and compare it with the MD5 checksum we provide (such as
<path>gentoo-alpha-1.4rc1-test3.iso.bz2.md5sum</path>). You can check the MD5 
checksum with the <c>md5sum</c> tool under Linux/Unix or <uri
link="http://www.etree.org/md5com.html">md5sum</uri> for Windows.
</p>

<p>
Once downloaded, decompress the ISO file (as it is stored in a compressed format
using the Burrows-Wheeler text compression algorithm) using <c>bunzip2</c> (on
Unix/Linux systems):
</p>

<pre caption="Decompressing the iso.bz2 file">
# <i>bunzip2 gentoo-alpha-1.4rc1-test3.iso.bz2</i>
</pre>

<p>
Another way to check the validity of the downloaded file is to use GnuPG to
verify the cryptographic signature that we provide (the file ending with
<path>.asc</path>). Download the signature file and obtain the public key:
</p>

<pre caption="Obtaining the public key">
$ <i>gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 17072058</i>
</pre>

<p>
Now verify the signature:
</p>

<pre caption="Verify the cryptographic signature">
$ <i>gpg --verify &lt;signature file&gt; &lt;downloaded iso&gt;</i>
</pre>

<p>
To burn the downloaded ISO(s), you have to select raw-burning. How you
do this is highly program-dependent. We will discuss <c>cdrecord</c> and
<c>K3B</c> here; more information can be found in our <uri
link="/doc/en/faq.xml#isoburning">Gentoo FAQ</uri>.
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    With cdrecord, you simply type <c>cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc</c> (replace
    <path>/dev/hdc</path> with your CD-RW drive's device path) followed
    by the path to the ISO file :)
  </li>
  <li>
    With K3B, select <c>Tools</c> &gt; <c>CD</c> &gt; <c>Burn Image</c>. Then
    you can locate your ISO file within the 'Image to Burn' area. Finally click
    <c>Start</c>.
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>Booting the Alpha LiveCD(s)</title>
<body>

<p>
When your Alpha is powered on, the first thing that gets started is the
firmware. It is loosely synonymous with the BIOS software on PC systems. There
are two types of firmware on Alpha systems: SRM (<e>Systems Reference 
Manual</e>) and ARC (<e>Advanced Risc Console</e>).
</p>

<p>
SRM is based on the Alpha Console Subsystem specification, which provides an
operating environment for OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, and Linux operating systems. ARM
is based on the Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) specification, which provides
an operating environment for Windows NT.  You can find a 
<uri link="http://www.alphalinux.org/faq/SRM-HOWTO/">detailed guide</uri> on 
using SRM over at the Alpha Linux website.
</p>

<p>
If your Alpha system supports both SRC and ARCs (ARC, AlphaBIOS, ARCSBIOS) you
should follow <uri link="http://www.alphalinux.org/faq/x31.html">these
instructions</uri> for switching to SRM. If your system already uses SRM, you
are all set. If your system can only use ARCs (Ruffian, nautilus, xl, etc.) you
will need to choose <c>MILO</c> later on when we are talking about bootloaders.
</p>

<p>
Now to boot an Alpha LiveCD, put the CD-ROM in the tray and reboot the system.
You can use SRM to boot the LiveCD. If you cannot do that, you will have to use
<c>MILO</c>. If you don't have <c>MILO</c> installed already, use one of the
precompiled <c>MILO</c> images available on <uri
link="http://dev.gentoo.org/~taviso/milo/">taviso's homepage</uri>.
</p>

<pre caption="Booting a CD-ROM using SRM">
<comment>(List available hardware drives)</comment>
&gt;&gt;&gt; <i>show device</i>
dkb0.0.1.4.0        DKB0       TOSHIBA CDROM
<comment>(...)</comment>
<comment>(Substitute dkb0 with your CD-ROM drive device)</comment>
&gt;&gt;&gt; <i>boot dkb0 -flags 0</i>
</pre>

<pre caption="Booting a CD-ROM using MILO">
<comment>(Substitute hdb with your CD-ROM drive device)</comment>
MILO&gt; <i>boot hdb:boot/vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc</i>
</pre>

<p>
You should have a root ("#") prompt on the current console and can also switch
to other consoles by pressing Alt-F2, Alt-F3 and Alt-F4. Get back to the one you
started on by pressing Alt-F1.
</p>

<p>
Now continue with <uri link="#hardware">Extra Hardware Configuration</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection id="hardware">
<title>Extra Hardware Configuration</title>
<body>

<p>
When the Live CD boots, it tries to detect all your hardware devices and
loads the appropriate kernel modules to support your hardware. In the
vast majority of cases, it does a very good job. However, in some cases (the
SPARC LiveCDs don't even do autodetection), it may not auto-load the kernel 
modules you need. If the PCI auto-detection missed some of your system's 
hardware, you will have to load the appropriate kernel modules manually. 
</p>

<p>
In the next example we try to load the <c>8139too</c> module (support for 
certain kinds of network interfaces):
</p>

<pre caption="Loading kernel modules">
# <i>modprobe 8139too</i>
</pre>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>Optional: Tweaking Hard Disk Performance</title>
<body>

<p>
If you are an advanced user, you might want to tweak the IDE hard disk
performance using <c>hdparm</c>. With the <c>-tT</c> options you can
test the performance of your disk (execute it several times to get a
more precise impression):
</p>

<pre caption="Testing disk performance">
# <i>hdparm -tT /dev/hda</i>
</pre>

<p>
To tweak, you can use any of the following examples (or experiment
yourself) which use <path>/dev/hda</path> as disk (substitute with your
disk):
</p>

<pre caption="Tweaking hard disk performance">
<comment>Activate DMA:</comment>                                       # <i>hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda</i>
<comment>Activate DMA + Safe Performance-enhancing Options:</comment>  # <i>hdparm -d 1 -A 1 -m 16 -u 1 -a 64 /dev/hda</i>
</pre>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection id="useraccounts">
<title>Optional: User Accounts</title>
<body>

<p>
If you plan on giving other people access to your installation
environment or you want to chat using <c>irssi</c> without root privileges (for
security reasons), you need to create the necessary user accounts and change 
the root password.
</p>

<p>
To change the root password, use the <c>passwd</c> utility:
</p>

<pre caption="Changing the root password">
# <i>passwd</i>
New password: <comment>(Enter your new password)</comment>
Re-enter password: <comment>(Re-enter your password)</comment>
</pre>

<p>
To create a user account, we first enter their credentials, followed by
its password. We use <c>useradd</c> and <c>passwd</c> for these tasks.
In the next example, we create a user called &quot;john&quot;.
</p>

<pre caption="Creating a user account">
# <i>useradd -m -G users john</i>
# <i>passwd john</i>
New password: <comment>(Enter john's password)</comment>
Re-enter password: <comment>(Re-enter john's password)</comment>
</pre>

<p>
You can change your user id from root to the newly created user by using
<c>su</c>:
</p>

<pre caption="Changing user id">
# <i>su - john</i>
</pre>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>Optional: Viewing Documentation while Installing</title>
<body>

<p>
If you want to view the Gentoo Handbook (either from-CD or online) during the
installation, make sure you have created a user account (see <uri
link="#useraccounts">Optional: User Accounts</uri>). Then press <c>Alt-F2</c> to
go to a new terminal and log in.
</p>

<p>
If you want to view the documentation on the CD you can immediately run
<c>lynx</c> to read it:
</p>

<pre caption="Viewing the on-CD documentation">
# <i>lynx /mnt/cdrom/docs/html/index.html</i>
</pre>

<p>
However, it is preferred that you use the online Gentoo Handbook as it will be
more recent than the one provided on the CD. You can view it using <c>lynx</c>
as well, but only after having completed the <e>Configuring your Network</e>
chapter (otherwise you won't be able to go on the Internet to view the
document):
</p>

<pre caption="Viewing the Online Documentation">
# <i>lynx http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-alpha.xml</i>
</pre>

<p>
You can go back to your original terminal by pressing <c>Alt-F1</c>.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>Optional: Starting the SSH Daemon</title>
<body>

<p>
If you want to allow other users to access your computer during the
Gentoo installation (perhaps because those users are going to help you
install Gentoo, or even do it for you), you need to create a user
account for them and perhaps even provide them with your root password 
(<e>only</e> do that <e>if</e> you <b>fully trust</b> that user).
</p>

<p>
To fire up the SSH daemon, execute the following command:
</p>

<pre caption="Starting the SSH daemon">
# <i>/etc/init.d/sshd start</i>
</pre>

<p>
To be able to use sshd, you first need to set up your networking. Continue with
the chapter on <uri link="?part=1&amp;chap=3">Configuring your Network</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
</section>
</sections>
1	<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
2	<!DOCTYPE sections SYSTEM "/dtd/book.dtd">
3
4	<!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
5	<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0 -->
6
7	<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/handbook/hb-install-alpha-medium.xml,v 1.22 2004/11/20 22:23:30 neysx Exp $ -->
8
9	<sections>
10
11	<version>1.19</version>
12	<date>2004-11-04</date>
13
14	<section>
15	<title>Hardware Requirements</title>
16	<subsection>
17	<title>Introduction</title>
18	<body>
19
20	<p>
21	Before we start, we first list what hardware requirements you need to
22	successfully install Gentoo on your box. This of course depends on your
23	architecture.
24	</p>
25
26	</body>
27	</subsection>
28	<subsection>
29	<title>The Alpha Architecture</title>
30	<body>
31
32	<p>
33	Check the following requirements before you
34	continue with the Gentoo installation:
35	</p>
36
37	<ul>
38	<li>
39	You need at least 1 GB of free disk space
40	</li>
41	<li>
42	For the <e>Alpha architecture</e>, you should check with the <uri
43	link="http://www.alphalinux.org/faq/FAQ-5.html">Alpha/Linux FAQ</uri>
44	</li>
45	</ul>
46
47	</body>
48	</subsection>
49	</section>
50	<section>
51	<title>Make your Choice</title>
52	<subsection>
53	<title>Introduction</title>
54	<body>
55
56	<p>
57	Still interested in trying out Gentoo? Well, then it is now time to
58	choose the installation medium you want to use. Yes, you have the
59	choice, no, they are not all equal, and yes, the result is always the same: a
60	Gentoo base system.
61	</p>
62
63	<p>
64	The installation media we will describe are:
65	</p>
66
67	<ul>
68	<li>The Gentoo Alpha LiveCD</li>
69	</ul>
70
71	<p>
72	Before we continue, let's explain our three-stage installation.
73	</p>
74
75	</body>
76	</subsection>
77	<subsection>
78	<title>The Three Stages</title>
79	<body>
80
81	<p>
82	Gentoo Linux can be installed using one of three <e>stage</e> tarball files.
83	The one you choose depends on how much of the system you want to compile
84	yourself. The <e>stage1</e> tarball is used when you want to bootstrap and
85	build the entire system from scratch. The <e>stage2</e> tarball is used for
86	building the entire system from a bootstrapped "semi-compiled" state.
87	The <e>stage3</e> tarball already contains a basic Gentoo Linux system that has
88	been built for you.
89	</p>
90
91	<p>
92	Now what stage do you have to choose?
93	</p>
94
95	<p>
96	Starting from a <e>stage1</e> allows you to have total control over the
97	optimization settings and optional build-time functionality that is
98	initially enabled on your system. This makes <e>stage1</e> installs good for
99	power users who know what they are doing. It is also a great
100	installation method for those who would like to know more about the
101	inner workings of Gentoo Linux.
102	</p>
103
104	<p>
105	A <e>stage1</e> installation can only be performed when you have a working
106	Internet connection.
107	</p>
108
109	<table>
110	<tr>
111	<th>Stage1</th>
112	<th>Pros and Cons</th>
113	</tr>
114	<tr>
115	<th>+</th>
116	<ti>
117	Allows you to have total control over the optimization settings and optional
118	build-time functionality that is initially enabled on your system
119	</ti>
120	</tr>
121	<tr>
122	<th>+</th>
123	<ti>Suitable for powerusers that know what they are doing</ti>
124	</tr>
125	<tr>
126	<th>+</th>
127	<ti>Allows you to learn more about the inner workings of Gentoo</ti>
128	</tr>
129	<tr>
130	<th>-</th>
131	<ti>Takes a long time to finish the installation</ti>
132	</tr>
133	<tr>
134	<th>-</th>
135	<ti>
136	If you don't intend to tweak the settings, it is probably a waste of time
137	</ti>
138	</tr>
139	<tr>
140	<th>-</th>
141	<ti>
142	Not suitable for networkless installations
143	</ti>
144	</tr>
145	</table>
146
147	<p>
148	<e>Stage2</e> installs allow you to skip the bootstrap process and doing this
149	is fine if you are happy with the optimization settings that we chose
150	for your particular <e>stage2</e> tarball.
151	</p>
152
153	<p>
154	A <e>stage2</e> installation can only be performed when you have a working
155	Internet connection.
156	</p>
157
158	<table>
159	<tr>
160	<th>Stage2</th>
161	<th>Pros and Cons</th>
162	</tr>
163	<tr>
164	<th>+</th>
165	<ti>You don't need to bootstrap</ti>
166	</tr>
167	<tr>
168	<th>+</th>
169	<ti>Faster than starting with stage1</ti>
170	</tr>
171	<tr>
172	<th>+</th>
173	<ti>You can still tweak your settings</ti>
174	</tr>
175	<tr>
176	<th>-</th>
177	<ti>You cannot tweak as much as with a stage1</ti>
178	</tr>
179	<tr>
180	<th>-</th>
181	<ti>It's not the fastest way to install Gentoo</ti>
182	</tr>
183	<tr>
184	<th>-</th>
185	<ti>You have to accept the optimizations we chose for the bootstrap</ti>
186	</tr>
187	<tr>
188	<th>-</th>
189	<ti>
190	Not suitable for networkless installations
191	</ti>
192	</tr>
193	</table>
194
195	<p>
196	Choosing to go with a <e>stage3</e> allows for the fastest install of Gentoo
197	Linux, but also means that your base system will have the optimization
198	settings that we chose for you (which to be honest, are good settings
199	and were carefully chosen to enhance performance while maintaining
200	stability). <e>stage3</e> is also required if you want to install Gentoo using
201	prebuilt packages or without a network connection.
202	</p>
203
204	<table>
205	<tr>
206	<th>Stage3</th>
207	<th>Pros and Cons</th>
208	</tr>
209	<tr>
210	<th>+</th>
211	<ti>Fastest way to get a Gentoo base system</ti>
212	</tr>
213	<tr>
214	<th>+</th>
215	<ti>Suitable for networkless installations</ti>
216	</tr>
217	<tr>
218	<th>-</th>
219	<ti>You cannot tweak the base system - it's built already</ti>
220	</tr>
221	<tr>
222	<th>-</th>
223	<ti>You cannot brag about having used stage1 or stage2</ti>
224	</tr>
225	</table>
226
227	<p>
228	Write down (or remember) what stage you want to use. You need this later when
229	you decide what LiveCD (or other installation medium) you want to use. You might
230	be interested to know that, if you decide to use different optimization settings
231	after having installed Gentoo, you will be able to recompile your entire system
232	with the new optimization settings.
233	</p>
234
235	<p>
236	Now take a look at the available installation media.
237	</p>
238
239	</body>
240	</subsection>
241	<subsection>
242	<title>The Gentoo Alpha LiveCD</title>
243	<body>
244
245	<p>
246	The <e>Gentoo Alpha LiveCD</e> is a bootable CD which contain a
247	self-sustained Gentoo environment. It allows you to boot Linux from the CD.
248	During the boot process your hardware is detected and the appropriate drivers
249	are loaded. It is maintained by Gentoo developers.
250	</p>
251
252	<p>
253	The <e>Gentoo Alpha LiveCD</e> is a small, no-nonsense, bootable CD which sole
254	purpose is to boot the system, prepare the networking and continue with the
255	Gentoo installation. It does not contain any stages (or, in some cases, a
256	single stage1 file), source code or precompiled packages. For example the
257	alpha variant of this LiveCD can be found in the
258	<path>releases/1.4_rc1/alpha</path> subdirectory and is called
259	<c>gentoo-alpha-1.4rc1-test3.iso.bz2</c>.
260	</p>
261
262	</body>
263	</subsection>
264	</section>
265	<section>
266	<title>Download, Burn and Boot the Gentoo LiveCD</title>
267	<subsection>
268	<title>Downloading and Burning the LiveCDs</title>
269	<body>
270
271	<p>
272	You have chosen to use a Gentoo LiveCD (if not, then you are reading the
273	wrong document). We'll first start by downloading and burning the chosen
274	LiveCD.
275	</p>
276
277	<p>
278	Visit one of our <uri
279	link="/main/en/mirrors.xml">mirrors</uri> and go to
280	<path>releases/1.4rc1/alpha</path> which is where the LiveCD(s) of your choice
281	are located. Inside that directory you'll find so-called ISO-files. Those are
282	full CD images which you can write on a CD-R.
283	</p>
284
285	<p>
286	In case you wonder if your downloaded file is corrupted or not, you can
287	check its MD5 checksum and compare it with the MD5 checksum we provide (such as
288	<path>gentoo-alpha-1.4rc1-test3.iso.bz2.md5sum</path>). You can check the MD5
289	checksum with the <c>md5sum</c> tool under Linux/Unix or <uri
290	link="http://www.etree.org/md5com.html">md5sum</uri> for Windows.
291	</p>
292
293	<p>
294	Once downloaded, decompress the ISO file (as it is stored in a compressed format
295	using the Burrows-Wheeler text compression algorithm) using <c>bunzip2</c> (on
296	Unix/Linux systems):
297	</p>
298
299	<pre caption="Decompressing the iso.bz2 file">
300	# <i>bunzip2 gentoo-alpha-1.4rc1-test3.iso.bz2</i>
301	</pre>
302
303	<p>
304	Another way to check the validity of the downloaded file is to use GnuPG to
305	verify the cryptographic signature that we provide (the file ending with
306	<path>.asc</path>). Download the signature file and obtain the public key:
307	</p>
308
309	<pre caption="Obtaining the public key">
310	$ <i>gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 17072058</i>
311	</pre>
312
313	<p>
314	Now verify the signature:
315	</p>
316
317	<pre caption="Verify the cryptographic signature">
318	$ <i>gpg --verify <signature file> <downloaded iso></i>
319	</pre>
320
321	<p>
322	To burn the downloaded ISO(s), you have to select raw-burning. How you
323	do this is highly program-dependent. We will discuss <c>cdrecord</c> and
324	<c>K3B</c> here; more information can be found in our <uri
325	link="/doc/en/faq.xml#isoburning">Gentoo FAQ</uri>.
326	</p>
327
328	<ul>
329	<li>
330	With cdrecord, you simply type <c>cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc</c> (replace
331	<path>/dev/hdc</path> with your CD-RW drive's device path) followed
332	by the path to the ISO file :)
333	</li>
334	<li>
335	With K3B, select <c>Tools</c> > <c>CD</c> > <c>Burn Image</c>. Then
336	you can locate your ISO file within the 'Image to Burn' area. Finally click
337	<c>Start</c>.
338	</li>
339	</ul>
340
341	</body>
342	</subsection>
343	<subsection>
344	<title>Booting the Alpha LiveCD(s)</title>
345	<body>
346
347	<p>
348	When your Alpha is powered on, the first thing that gets started is the
349	firmware. It is loosely synonymous with the BIOS software on PC systems. There
350	are two types of firmware on Alpha systems: SRM (<e>Systems Reference
351	Manual</e>) and ARC (<e>Advanced Risc Console</e>).
352	</p>
353
354	<p>
355	SRM is based on the Alpha Console Subsystem specification, which provides an
356	operating environment for OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, and Linux operating systems. ARM
357	is based on the Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) specification, which provides
358	an operating environment for Windows NT. You can find a
359	<uri link="http://www.alphalinux.org/faq/SRM-HOWTO/">detailed guide</uri> on
360	using SRM over at the Alpha Linux website.
361	</p>
362
363	<p>
364	If your Alpha system supports both SRC and ARCs (ARC, AlphaBIOS, ARCSBIOS) you
365	should follow <uri link="http://www.alphalinux.org/faq/x31.html">these
366	instructions</uri> for switching to SRM. If your system already uses SRM, you
367	are all set. If your system can only use ARCs (Ruffian, nautilus, xl, etc.) you
368	will need to choose <c>MILO</c> later on when we are talking about bootloaders.
369	</p>
370
371	<p>
372	Now to boot an Alpha LiveCD, put the CD-ROM in the tray and reboot the system.
373	You can use SRM to boot the LiveCD. If you cannot do that, you will have to use
374	<c>MILO</c>. If you don't have <c>MILO</c> installed already, use one of the
375	precompiled <c>MILO</c> images available on <uri
376	link="http://dev.gentoo.org/~taviso/milo/">taviso's homepage</uri>.
377	</p>
378
379	<pre caption="Booting a CD-ROM using SRM">
380	<comment>(List available hardware drives)</comment>
381	>>> <i>show device</i>
382	dkb0.0.1.4.0 DKB0 TOSHIBA CDROM
383	<comment>(...)</comment>
384	<comment>(Substitute dkb0 with your CD-ROM drive device)</comment>
385	>>> <i>boot dkb0 -flags 0</i>
386	</pre>
387
388	<pre caption="Booting a CD-ROM using MILO">
389	<comment>(Substitute hdb with your CD-ROM drive device)</comment>
390	MILO> <i>boot hdb:boot/vmlinuz initrd=initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc</i>
391	</pre>
392
393	<p>
394	You should have a root ("#") prompt on the current console and can also switch
395	to other consoles by pressing Alt-F2, Alt-F3 and Alt-F4. Get back to the one you
396	started on by pressing Alt-F1.
397	</p>
398
399	<p>
400	Now continue with <uri link="#hardware">Extra Hardware Configuration</uri>.
401	</p>
402
403	</body>
404	</subsection>
405	<subsection id="hardware">
406	<title>Extra Hardware Configuration</title>
407	<body>
408
409	<p>
410	When the Live CD boots, it tries to detect all your hardware devices and
411	loads the appropriate kernel modules to support your hardware. In the
412	vast majority of cases, it does a very good job. However, in some cases (the
413	SPARC LiveCDs don't even do autodetection), it may not auto-load the kernel
414	modules you need. If the PCI auto-detection missed some of your system's
415	hardware, you will have to load the appropriate kernel modules manually.
416	</p>
417
418	<p>
419	In the next example we try to load the <c>8139too</c> module (support for
420	certain kinds of network interfaces):
421	</p>
422
423	<pre caption="Loading kernel modules">
424	# <i>modprobe 8139too</i>
425	</pre>
426
427	</body>
428	</subsection>
429	<subsection>
430	<title>Optional: Tweaking Hard Disk Performance</title>
431	<body>
432
433	<p>
434	If you are an advanced user, you might want to tweak the IDE hard disk
435	performance using <c>hdparm</c>. With the <c>-tT</c> options you can
436	test the performance of your disk (execute it several times to get a
437	more precise impression):
438	</p>
439
440	<pre caption="Testing disk performance">
441	# <i>hdparm -tT /dev/hda</i>
442	</pre>
443
444	<p>
445	To tweak, you can use any of the following examples (or experiment
446	yourself) which use <path>/dev/hda</path> as disk (substitute with your
447	disk):
448	</p>
449
450	<pre caption="Tweaking hard disk performance">
451	<comment>Activate DMA:</comment> # <i>hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda</i>
452	<comment>Activate DMA + Safe Performance-enhancing Options:</comment> # <i>hdparm -d 1 -A 1 -m 16 -u 1 -a 64 /dev/hda</i>
453	</pre>
454
455	</body>
456	</subsection>
457	<subsection id="useraccounts">
458	<title>Optional: User Accounts</title>
459	<body>
460
461	<p>
462	If you plan on giving other people access to your installation
463	environment or you want to chat using <c>irssi</c> without root privileges (for
464	security reasons), you need to create the necessary user accounts and change
465	the root password.
466	</p>
467
468	<p>
469	To change the root password, use the <c>passwd</c> utility:
470	</p>
471
472	<pre caption="Changing the root password">
473	# <i>passwd</i>
474	New password: <comment>(Enter your new password)</comment>
475	Re-enter password: <comment>(Re-enter your password)</comment>
476	</pre>
477
478	<p>
479	To create a user account, we first enter their credentials, followed by
480	its password. We use <c>useradd</c> and <c>passwd</c> for these tasks.
481	In the next example, we create a user called "john".
482	</p>
483
484	<pre caption="Creating a user account">
485	# <i>useradd -m -G users john</i>
486	# <i>passwd john</i>
487	New password: <comment>(Enter john's password)</comment>
488	Re-enter password: <comment>(Re-enter john's password)</comment>
489	</pre>
490
491	<p>
492	You can change your user id from root to the newly created user by using
493	<c>su</c>:
494	</p>
495
496	<pre caption="Changing user id">
497	# <i>su - john</i>
498	</pre>
499
500	</body>
501	</subsection>
502	<subsection>
503	<title>Optional: Viewing Documentation while Installing</title>
504	<body>
505
506	<p>
507	If you want to view the Gentoo Handbook (either from-CD or online) during the
508	installation, make sure you have created a user account (see <uri
509	link="#useraccounts">Optional: User Accounts</uri>). Then press <c>Alt-F2</c> to
510	go to a new terminal and log in.
511	</p>
512
513	<p>
514	If you want to view the documentation on the CD you can immediately run
515	<c>lynx</c> to read it:
516	</p>
517
518	<pre caption="Viewing the on-CD documentation">
519	# <i>lynx /mnt/cdrom/docs/html/index.html</i>
520	</pre>
521
522	<p>
523	However, it is preferred that you use the online Gentoo Handbook as it will be
524	more recent than the one provided on the CD. You can view it using <c>lynx</c>
525	as well, but only after having completed the <e>Configuring your Network</e>
526	chapter (otherwise you won't be able to go on the Internet to view the
527	document):
528	</p>
529
530	<pre caption="Viewing the Online Documentation">
531	# <i>lynx http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-alpha.xml</i>
532	</pre>
533
534	<p>
535	You can go back to your original terminal by pressing <c>Alt-F1</c>.
536	</p>
537
538	</body>
539	</subsection>
540	<subsection>
541	<title>Optional: Starting the SSH Daemon</title>
542	<body>
543
544	<p>
545	If you want to allow other users to access your computer during the
546	Gentoo installation (perhaps because those users are going to help you
547	install Gentoo, or even do it for you), you need to create a user
548	account for them and perhaps even provide them with your root password
549	(<e>only</e> do that <e>if</e> you <b>fully trust</b> that user).
550	</p>
551
552	<p>
553	To fire up the SSH daemon, execute the following command:
554	</p>
555
556	<pre caption="Starting the SSH daemon">
557	# <i>/etc/init.d/sshd start</i>
558	</pre>
559
560	<p>
561	To be able to use sshd, you first need to set up your networking. Continue with
562	the chapter on <uri link="?part=1&chap=3">Configuring your Network</uri>.
563	</p>
564
565	</body>
566	</subsection>
567	</section>
568	</sections>