Ultimate guide to installing Gentoo Linux for new users

[@Trudo-jv2wk]

Chris, so grateful for this video! I've failed previously with just the handbook (and some other guides) but this time it was fun, pain-free and full success 🙂 I admire the fact that you've put so much effort to share your knowledge and help newbies like me. Have you perhaps considered anything like a "buy me a coffee" thing, because honestly - I'd gladly contribute to your invaluable channel. You're a hero! 💥

[@linuxtechgeek]

Well thank you for the kind words. I will eventually setup the free coffee thing, I just haven`t gotten around to it.

[@YourMom-rg5jk]

the handbook is pretty fool proof isn't he just following the handbook im confused is it that you're maintain your attention well enough to do the steps in the correct order?

[@melanie6700]

Successfully installed gentoo as my first Linux distro with this guide. Very helpful!

[@RealMaxton]

bro hopped way further than anyone should dare lol

[@vatsalyavashisth9563]

madman

[@RjKumar111GunnerRj]

lucky... i am on opensuse, but i want to one day try and install this distro as my main go-to...

[@anonymoususerinterface]

tf? your FIRST distro? is bro a kangaroo?

[@RjKumar111GunnerRj]

@@melanie6700 i installed gentoo last night on one of my laptops

[@nicklutz6037]

Rlly great video! Explaining “why” and elaborating on certain parts that the handbook kinda glossed over was super helpful to get a stronger grasp on installing lol. The intentional mistake with the grub use flags is a shining example of what I said above. Really appreciate the effort!

[@linuxtechgeek]

I’m glad you found it educational

[@kaworu444]

Thank you very much for the video. I had been devouring the gentoo handbook for months and your video came at the right time for me to explore the system. Eternally grateful for your excellent work

[@linuxtechgeek]

Awesome, glad it could help

[@nappel807]

Months? TF?

[@linuxtechgeek]

@@nappel807 I’m sure it was a figure of speech

[@hypnoz7871]

@@nappel807 Linux in depth, and particularly Gentoo is huge pile of informations to swallow for many people. So yeah, months or even years is not exageration when it come to memorize all this shit. Personally I gave up on Gentoo. It consumes too much brain cycles for what it provide.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@hypnoz7871 I speak as a Gentoo veteran of some 20 years now and, in my view, the best way to learn Gentoo is to just install it, without "studying the handbook for months". Here's where new people to Gentoo make their biggest mistake - they try to install it on a PC that is already their daily driver machine as some kind of dual boot. When they do that, one of two things happens: 1. They end up getting scared of trashing their PC completely or they do actually trash their PC completely - and they blame Gentoo for it, or 2. They start installing Gentoo, they realise that the compilation process is going to take a lot longer than they realised and they get impatient at not being able to use their daily driver PC - and they blame Gentoo for it. I suspect you fall into one of those categories and therefore you've fallen into the "trap" of not thinking about why you'd want to use Gentoo in the first place and how you are going to build your first platform to run it. In my opinion, Gentoo is the best distro that I have used since I started with Linux back in 1997 (and I distro hopped for 6 years before settling on Gentoo in 2003) but I also accept that it is not for every new Linux user because there is a steep learning curve to overcome before you get confident with it. Where you and many others make their biggest mistakes is that you forget one important fact - Gentoo runs on "any old cr*p". That means you can find a cheap Thinkpad on eBay or an old Pentium 4 PC in the garage or attic of a friend or family member, and just build it on that. That, in turn, means you don't affect your daily driver PC, you can leave your Gentoo PC happily compiling to itself in the background and then just return to it to put in the next command from the manual when you need to do so. You give yourself the time and space to "lower yourself in" as gently as possible with Gentoo. Gentoo is an "engineer's distro". In my home it runs on everything from a Raspberry Pi Zero through Orange Pi and Tinkerboard SBCs, through 32-bit Intel platforms including a few old Pentium III-based Thinkpads from 2002-ish, through more modern AMD and Intel CPUs and right through to a multi-CPU Xeon server that I own. If I also owned RISC, SPARC, S390 or a number of other plaforms that Gentoo supports, I could build it on those also. There is no other single distro that can do this, and let you customise each build fully to suit the architecture you are building it on. That's why I use Gentoo, because I am a control freak and tinkerer that wants to know what every process on his PC is doing, and eliminate any software that is unnecessary in that Gentoo build. Ultimately, Linux is about choice and if you choose not to run Gentoo then more power to you and I hope you do find a distro that works well for you. But please do not blame Gentoo for you not wishing to put in time and effort to learn it properly, or because you haven't prepared your first build such that it doesn't affect your daily driver platforms from being used while you do build it. That's your problem, not a Gentoo one.

[@atharvasurwase6772]

Great vid installed it on my own it took me 3-4 days but guys go through his tut if it shows no operating system present plz tweak ur bios in my case i have to change the secure boot option from uefi windows to other os which worked for me took me like 5 tries, watched this tut for 3 times learned a lot works in 2024 too!! kudos chris for indept guides im subscribed ,wish to see more!!!

[@LeninuvPrezidentcik]

I completely installed gentoo on HP Compaq 8200 Elite CMT PC on openrc with printer, graphics even Lutris support. I am amazed how fast the system is. Thank you for your guide.

[@laugenbrezel6300]

Thank you so much for this guide. I have had a lot of problems to follow the handbook on my own. But you explained it so well. Thank you :) Greetings from Germany

[@linuxtechgeek]

Thank you, glad it helped

[@СергейСергей-д1г9э]

О-о, VJLink стал записывать видео про линукс, круто. Кстати, благодарю за подробный гайд.

[@Maxdog920]

I am very new to Linux (I’ve been watching videos on it for ~4 days and have only installed Kali, Ubuntu, and wanjaro on a VM to try out some distros) Just wanted to thank you for the explanations, I learned a lot!

[@linuxtechgeek]

Awesome

[@Jacoby64z]

Thank you for doing this for free. I couldn't have done it without you.

[@linuxtechgeek]

Sure you could, but thanks

[@albiemer]

kudos... this video is much better than others i search before...

[@linuxtechgeek]

Awesome, glad you enjoyed it

[@l3373]

Hey man. Awesome video. Just finished watching the whole video. I have expected a login manager at the end, but thanx to you, I'll figure out myself. Will try this on a vm asap. 🙌❤️

[@linuxtechgeek]

Well Thank you and yeah I could have done a login manager at the end but its really not that hard, wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Display_manager use that guide right there to get a display manager working, the top part of the guide shows what display managers are supported and then you just have to install that display-manager-init program and change a line in a config to the display-manager that you actually want to use and it works, i`ve used that with SDDM,GDM,LightDM. I hope it helps

[@AdrianoWotan]

Great vídeo, Chris! It would be nice a specific video explaining how to upgrade the kernel-bin on Gentoo.

[@melancholy-engineering]

Thanks for your video! It is really well covered! I tried to install with OpenRC as you did and it was succesfull :) Now I want do it again but with systemd and gnome desktop. I hope I will not fail XD

[@linuxtechgeek]

Good luck. Everything is about the same as the OpenRC install except some of the starting services with SystemD

[@memzowicz]

I only ran into issue that I was getting read only filesystem, just had to remount into root partition and it fixed. Amazing tutorial 👍

[@Algum.Leitor]

Excellent video! Congratulations and thank you for making your installation available. I managed to do the procedures correctly. When possible, make a video explaining the use of a separate Home on another HD.

[@okarinbe]

First Gentoo install video which i watched fully But i need more time to have the guts(courage) to install gentoo on my bare metal.

[@linuxtechgeek]

I would install it in a virtual machine first

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Or I would find some "piece of cr*p" PC from somewhere and install it on that - Gentoo runs on pretty much anything. If you're trying to build it on your daily driver PC as, say, a dual boot or on a separate disk, you're going to get frustrated at the build times and not being able to use your main PC while it is building. When you are starting out, always build it on a separate PC - then you can't blame Gentoo if something goes wrong that also wrecks your main PC.

[@linuxtechgeek]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 yeah pretty good advice as well, but if you don’t have another pc then virtual machine is a solid option

[@RjKumar111GunnerRj]

@@linuxtechgeek good thing i got multiple pcs, i installed it on one of my laptops a week ago

[@fabriziot1467]

Great work. Bravo!

[@linuxtechgeek]

Thank you

[@srupidcat4525]

Thank you so much for the video dude helped me out a lot. I've got to check out your other videos.

[@linuxtechgeek]

Awesome, I’m glad it helped

[@darren537]

Thanks for the revision. Subbed

[@Nikolai508]

One not often mentioned methods of making a bootable USB from an ISO is to just use the `cp` command and that's something that comes with any GNU system. It's simpler than using dd as well, its a case of running cp and passing through the file followed by the destination which is /dev/disk/by-id/insert-device-id-here and then run the `sync` command once it has done. Also the device should not be mounted and you run those commands as root / sudo.

[@CodeTillCollapse]

Thanks Sir ♥️

[@isaaccantanimate7802]

gotta love that "balanca etcher"

[@linuxtechgeek]

yeah etcher is really good

[@sizzlecatdaddy]

At 23:53 I’m getting value out of range when making swap partition, please help. My ssd is 238.47GiB. I’m on thinkpad x260

[@paz5694]

elaborate

[@sizzlecatdaddy]

@@paz5694disregard my post. I’m on FreeBSD with ZFS

[@chako751]

really good guide! tysm

[@linuxtechgeek]

Glad it helped

[@beholdthegoober]

Currently at the time section towards the beginning, and it said on the handbook that the time/date should be relevant to the UTC Timezone, and that youd use a timezone later to show your local time. Just a note out there.

[@linuxtechgeek]

I duelboot with window and if timezone is set to UTC then i`ll have clock skew

[@beholdthegoober]

@@linuxtechgeek ah

[@rezkyekaputra1844]

2:12:06 i like what you say in that minutes. thank you help fully newb like me.

[@linuxtechgeek]

Awesome, I’m glad it helped

[@rezkyekaputra1844]

@@linuxtechgeek now, i try to install in my bare metallllllll... wish me luck.

[@mercuriete]

From another Gentoo user: Try to do the chroot part using a ubuntu live cd and the partition part with gparted. Trust me, it will be easier. Basically you don't need the Gentoo live cd to install Gentoo. Having a full desktop with internet and browser will speed up the installation process.

[@linuxtechgeek]

Yeah I know, but using the livegui install is basically the same thing

[@mercuriete]

@@linuxtechgeek Yes, but if you want to target persons that are new to Gentoo... Why doing partion layout difficult? Why connecting to internet and configuring dhcp difficult? Why reading to online doc difficult? I did only my first Gentoo installation with Gentoo live cd. The remaining ones always with gparted and with Google Chrome and wifi. Anyways, your video is amazing, thanks for your content.

[@linuxtechgeek]

bro the point of the video was to show people how to use the handbook.. not to show them a cheap way of doing things. I wanted to show them the way the Gentoo devs intended not show them that you can use any distro in the world to install it on.. I mean I could have done that sure but THAT DOESN`T TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO READ A HANDBOOK. @@mercuriete

[@mrkatfeels]

Hey Chris, what's "nano -w" for? I haven't seen other people or handbook including -w option

[@linuxtechgeek]

It used to be in the handbook or nano changed there flags but I looked and I guess you don’t need to do that anymore. Nice catch

[@joydeepmondal9168]

Great video appericiate it and love it

[@miavelvet]

watched first 10 minutes looks promising. Are you planning to update the guide soon or i should just use this one its fine?

[@benjamindepaz8429]

9:37 why isn’t the Firefox pip going away?

[@linuxtechgeek]

Because I had Firefox on my actual desktop.. and I used a “windows” setting in OBS to just film the Firefox window

[@ifxtars]

Thank you so much for the video🤩

[@alalalala-o5y]

PLEASE HELP! how do i replace windows 11 with this?!

[@linuxtechgeek]

Watch the video and follow directions

[@samaneh1273]

Great video and very helpful! Thanks! 👌

[@pandasoli6581]

I've discovered I use DOS after trying to install Arch for the 4th time hahahaha Now, comming back to this video (again)

[@linuxtechgeek]

Yeah, if you use UEFI then you have to use GPT for your partition table.

[@pandasoli6581]

​@@linuxtechgeekI lated to discover that DOS needs MBR. Nowhere was said it. I forgot how I discovered it, maybe it was a try.

[@RoughGanome]

I feel like the old handbook used to have a chart of what partitions were allowed on MBR/ UEFI. Guiding new users to not break their boot. But that section of the handbook is very wordy, and apparently got scrubbed.

[@pandasoli6581]

I don't know how it could be done, but it would be very nice if there's a way to figure out if our computer supports UEFI

[@linuxtechgeek]

@@RoughGanome yeah a couple things changed in the handbook

[@pyrokamileon]

never apologize about the length 😉

[@linuxtechgeek]

ROFL.. good call

[@namhuynh3090]

Hi whats about with the intel arc a770 graficcard. The driver for this graficcard is inside the 6.2 kernel but not inside the 6.1. I was test it is dont work for me the binäry kernel the 6.1 . Because my graficcard . Is had a graficcard error. The onboard intel grafic work

[@linuxtechgeek]

I have no idea, never used those video cards. I would just install the kernel with those video card drivers

[@namhuynh3090]

@@linuxtechgeeki have done it it Work now unmask the last gentoo kernel 6.6.11 with your kernel update video and now my graficcard work thanks

[@amandadanielle2190]

Please start adding to any newcomer tutorial that by the time you get to this point, you may have just bricked your computer because the original manufacturer made it impossible to switch away from Windows by locking your drive into a RAID state that isn’t accessible to turn off in BIOS 👍

[@amandadanielle2190]

I can’t even fix the drive because I have no OS left. I have nothing

[@HackyPotter]

Thank you so much!

[@linuxtechgeek]

Your welcome

[@joaquimmenezes7396]

great video mate!!

[@darren537]

Im going to try it on VM first once I get it working then my backup SSD.

[@linuxtechgeek]

yeah that would be the safest option if you don`t know how to properly install it

[@unLinuxeroMas]

hello mate is a really great video , can you make an tutorial to optimize your gentoo linux to the fullest , i want to consume the less ram posible.

[@linuxtechgeek]

I would recommend you just running a windows manager and running less intensive ram programs. Gentoo by itself doesn’t do anything. You the user should know the most ram intensive programs, but thanks for the comment. You should check out DWM. That’s probably the most ram friendly window manager I know

[@balogh87]

Thanks for this useful tutorial!

[@ajitgaikwad1703]

Hello sir can you help me for install and setup gentoo on server as like automate… can you please help me 🙏 please reply me

[@linuxtechgeek]

There is not a automated install, just install it like you would on a desktop

[@ajitgaikwad1703]

@@linuxtechgeek sir please suggest me how can setup multiple server without user interaction with script or iso burn

[@linuxtechgeek]

@@ajitgaikwad1703 burn the iso like you would any other iso and as far as installing install it like would on a desktop, use the handbook or follow my video

[@linuxtechgeek]

@@ajitgaikwad1703 you can’t

[@hesamtohid4587]

Hello, I have reached the installation stage of Grub, but the following error message is displayed. Please guide me how to fix it #grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot Installing for x86_64-efi platform. grub-install: error: /boot doesn't look like an EFI partition.

[@KODEROR]

how to install in live gui

[@linuxtechgeek]

Same way you do with the minimal iso

[@ghostfury8090]

THX

[@MasterCorneilous]

/usr/src/linux isn't a directory

[@linuxtechgeek]

it is if you eselect kernel set ... you forgot that step

[@linuxtechgeek]

do eselect kernel list and there should be some versions after you download a kernel

[@MasterCorneilous]

@@linuxtechgeek when rebooting the only option is to enter uefi bios settings

[@paz5694]

@@MasterCorneilousdid you mount the right partitions in the right spots?

[@KODEROR]

❤

[@BilalHeuser1]

First I want to thanks for making this tutorial and I'm aware there much smarter people than me that have managed get through this chapter, but I need help. I've been trying to follow along with your directions and the Gentoo handbook, most of it when pretty smoothly up until the kernel installation. The handbook is confusing because its not easy to know whats required and whats optional, where one part starts and other ends. In addition, the contents are labeled with numbers, but the number don't appear in the body text. I've got up to 2.1.2 ("Upgrading and Cleaning Up") but not of commands work as shown in the handbook, but my progress has stopped there. This chapter should really be split into two. One part for a quick and easy no-nonsense quick install, which most people will want. The other part for should be for more complex custom installs that may require compiling the kernel. Honestly, I just wished there was a quick and easy way to wall install the binary kernel with no fuss. I've been following your steps, but that doesn't seem to help either because I'm not getting the results as you show. I'm really annoyed and frustrated here. Any help would be appreciated.

[@linuxtechgeek]

theres 3 kernels... 1 is just the src that you can make a custom kernel.. one is gen-kernel which is just a script that helps configure the src kernel.. then there is a binary kernel.. which works w/ everything... emerge --ask sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin

[@linuxtechgeek]

emerge --ask sys-kernel/linux-firmware install this pkg as well

[@RafaelMolinaDvořákMC]

Yeah yeah.

[@Spongeson69]

1:19:39

[@holyhelga]

cfdisk has better interface and works for both mbr and gpt

[@linuxtechgeek]

Yeah but I think it has less features then fdisk and I was trying to stay to the handbook as much as possible

[@holyhelga]

fyi 24 hour system is the normal time system its only americans that use the backwards 12 hour time systrm

[@nicklutz6037]

Yea I assumed he missed the “UTC”

[@linuxtechgeek]

Yeah "military time" or the "normal" time system is pretty easy to understand for 30-40 percent of Americans.. but the other 60% or the majority that I assume watch my content.. use the 12-hour format

[@linuxtechgeek]

@@nicklutz6037 I don`t think I missed it, but if I did its probably because i`m used to installing this on bare-metal and I duel-boot so normally I use local time because of clock-skew

[@unda25]

genius!

[@drane4563]

Спасибо вжлинк

[@geo123bas]

Update they have updated the live gui usb image

[@linuxtechgeek]

Good to hear

[@c00ful26]

hey there again im having an issue using portage it says failed to emerge unable to find keenal sources ar usr/src/linux

[@Tampsey]

All ebuilds that could satisfy "sys-kernel/linux-firmware" have been masked I seem to be stuck

[@linuxtechgeek]

Unmask that ebuild

[@linuxtechgeek]

I have a video on how to unmask packages