8.2 2007-05-19
Timezone

You first need to select your timezone so that your system knows where it is located. Look for your timezone in /usr/share/zoneinfo, then copy it to /etc/localtime. Please avoid the /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/GMT* timezones as their names do not indicate the expected zones. For instance, GMT-8 is in fact GMT+8. 

# ls /usr/share/zoneinfo
(Suppose you want to use GMT)
# cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/GMT /etc/localtime

Next, define the timezone you just used in /etc/conf.d/clock so that further upgrades of the sys-libs/timezone-data package can update /etc/localtime automatically. 

# nano -w /etc/conf.d/clock
TIMEZONE="GMT"
Installing the Sources Choosing a Kernel

The core around which all distributions are built is the Linux kernel. It is the layer between the user programs and your system hardware. Gentoo provides its users several possible kernel sources. A full listing with description is available at the Gentoo Kernel Guide.

For ARM systems, we will use gentoo-sources (contains additional patches for performance and stability).

Now install it using emerge. 

# emerge gentoo-sources

When you take a look in /usr/src you should see a symlink called linux pointing to your kernel source. In this case, the installed kernel source points to gentoo-sources-. Your version may be different, so keep this in mind. 

# ls -l /usr/src/linux
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root   root    12 Oct 13 11:04 /usr/src/linux -> linux-
Default: Manual Configuration Introduction

Manually configuring a kernel is often seen as the most difficult procedure a Linux user ever has to perform. Nothing is less true -- after configuring a couple of kernels you don't even remember that it was difficult ;)

However, one thing is true: you must know your system when you start configuring a kernel manually. Most information can be gathered by emerging pciutils (emerge pciutils) which contains lspci. You will now be able to use lspci within the chrooted environment. You may safely ignore any pcilib warnings (like pcilib: cannot open /sys/bus/pci/devices) that lspci throws out. Alternatively, you can run lspci from a non-chrooted environment. The results are the same. You can also run lsmod to see what kernel modules the Installation CD uses (it might provide you with a nice hint on what to enable).

Now go to your kernel source directory and execute make menuconfig. This will fire up an ncurses-based configuration menu. 

# cd /usr/src/linux
# make menuconfig

You will be greeted with several configuration sections. We'll first list some options you must activate (otherwise Gentoo will not function, or not function properly without additional tweaks).

Activating Required Options

Due to the highly specific nature of the embedded, we'll cover known configurations for boards here. If your machine is not listed, then you should visit the respective community website to figure out how to properly configure your kernel.

Regardless of your machine, you should make sure to activate the use of development and experimental code/drivers. You need this, otherwise some very important code/drivers won't show up: 

Code maturity level options --->
  [*] Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers

Please select your machine from the list below to jump to the configuration section.

  • NetWinder
NetWinder configuration options

Remember that EXT2 support is required for the boot partition as that is the only filesystem that the bootloader can read reliably. Otherwise, the only filesystem that has been tested is EXT3 but your welcome to try your luck with the others ;). 

First generate a default config
# make netwinder_defconfig

Required options
System Type --->
  ARM system type (FootBridge) --->
    (X) FootBridge
  Footbridge Implementations --->
    [*] NetWinder

Floating point emulation --->
  [*] NWFPE math emulation

File systems --->
  [*] Second extended fs support
  Pseudo Filesystems --->
    [*] /proc file system support
    [*] Virtual memory file system support (former shm fs)

Device Drivers --->
  ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support --->
    [*] ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support
    [*]   Enhanced IDE/MFM/RLL disk/cdrom/tape/floppy support
    [*]     Include IDE/ATA-2 DISK support
    ---     IDE chipset support/bugfixes
    [*]     PCI IDE chipset support
    [*]       Winbond SL82c105 support
    [*]       Generic PCI bus-master DMA support
    [*]         Use PCI DMA by default when available

  Network device support --->
    [*] Network device support
    Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit) --->
      [*] Ethernet (10 or 100Mbit)
      Tulip family network device support --->
        [*] "Tulip" family network device support
        [*]   DECchip Tulip (dc2114x) PCI support
        [*]     Use PCI shared mem for NIC registers
        [*]     Use NAPI RX polling
      [*] EISA, VLB, PCI and on board controllers
      [*]   PCI NE2000 and clones support

  Character devices --->
    Serial drivers --->
      [*] 8250/16550 and compatible serial support
      [*]   Console on 8250/16550 and compatible serial port
      --- Non-8250 serial port support
      [*] DC21285 serial port support
      [*]   Console on DC21285 serial port
    Watchdog Cards --->
      [*] Watchdog Timer Support
      [*]   NetWinder WB83C977 watchdog
    [*] NetWinder thermometer support
    [*] NetWinder Button
    [*]   Reboot Using Button

Recommended options
Kernel Features --->
  [*] Preemptible Kernel
  [*] Timer and CPU usage LEDs
  [*]   CPU usage LED

File systems --->
  [*] Ext3 journalling file system support

Device Drivers --->
  Input device support --->
    [*] Keyboards --->
      [*] AT keyboard
    [*] Mouse --->
      [*] PS/2 mouse

  Graphics support --->
    [*] Support for frame buffer devices
    [*]   Enable firmware EDID
    [*]   CyberPro 2000/2010/5000 support
    Logo configuration --->
      [*] Bootup logo
      [*]   Standard 224-color Linux logo

  Sound --->
    [*] Sound card support
    Open Sound System --->
      [*] Open Sound System
      [*]   OSS sound modules
      [*]     Yamaha FM synthesizer (YM3812/OPL-3) support
      [*]     Netwinder WaveArtist

You should only enable this to upgrade your flash
Device Drivers --->
  Character devices --->
    [*] NetWinder flash support

When you've finished configuring the kernel, continue with Compiling and Installing.

Compiling and Installing

Now that your kernel is configured, it is time to compile and install it. Exit the configuration and start the compilation process: 

# make && make modules_install

When the kernel has finished compiling, copy the kernel image to /boot. Use whatever name you feel is appropriate for your kernel choice and remember it as you will need it later on when you configure your bootloader. Remember to replace with the name and version of your kernel. 

# cp vmlinux.gz /boot/

Now continue with Kernel Modules.

Kernel Modules Configuring the Modules

You should list the modules you want automatically loaded in /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6. You can add extra options to the modules too if you want.

To view all available modules, run the following find command. Don't forget to substitute with the version of the kernel you just compiled: 

# find /lib/modules// -type f -iname '*.o' -or -iname '*.ko'

For instance, to automatically load the 3c59x.o module, edit the kernel-2.6 file and enter the module name in it. 

# nano -w /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6

3c59x

Continue the installation with Configuring your System.