Dual booting Gentoo on a Lubuntu Livecd on ppc g4 1.5ghz machine -help plz-

[Redzky]

Been trying to figure this out for 3 days. I am dual booting Gentoo on a Powerbook g5 1.5 ghz Machine and I already have Lubuntu 12.04 installed. I'm booting through Lubuntu Livecd because it's the only way I can access the internet.

I have been referring to the Gentoo handbook but it doesn't really get into much detail about dual-booting with a PPC. Nor does it say much about installing via Lubuntu Livecd.

I know I need to partition my disk first however I'm not quite sure how to add the correct files in Gparted and I don't understand partitioning well enough to be comfortable in fdisk.

If you have done a similar install please help. I just want to get Gentoo on my PPC, once I do that then I can easily install Lubuntu after. I'm thinking I might just have to erase my hard drive, deleting the already installed Lubuntu. Then install Gentoo first but I want to get the steps down right so I can get this over with asap. If you know an extra simple method to do this please fill me in, thanx

[Dreamer Fithp Apprentice]

Your situation and intent are somewhat unclear to me. It sounds to me like you have a machine with Lubuntu on it and want to add Gentoo and for reasons you don't specify the Lubuntu installation is somehow messed up so you can't reach the internet. And you want instructions on partitioning so you can put the Gentoo on. If that is correct:

1. Almost any installer disk has a partitioning tool on it that pops up as part of the installation process. You can boot the Gentoo disk and use that. Or you can partition from a live disk, such as the Lubuntu or maybe the Gentoo (I don't know if Gentoo's disk has a live disk option). Or you can boot the Lubuntu installation you already have and run a partitioner from there. Most likely using the one built into the Gentoo installer disk will be the most convenient. If you don't already have an empty partition you want to put it on, or empty disk space you can put a partition in, you'll need to shrink one or more of the partitions you have. Just read the prompts in the Gentoo installation process carefully and you shouldn't have any problem. In most distros (I've never installed Gentoo) you'll come to a point where it offers you several partitioning options like "guided", "automatic", and "manual". Choose manual. They may call it something else. Pick a partition with enough empty space that you can shrink it enough to leave you enough space for the Gentoo in the unpartitioned space you will create by shrinking the partition. 10 GiB is probably enough, 15 might be better if you have the space. Maybe more if you need a swap partition. As to what kind of partitions and how big to put in the space you made, you can spend days reading different suggestions on that. I could argue that if you want to do that I'd spend them reading on a Gentoo forum, but personally, I wouldn't bother. If you plan to hibernate or suspend the computer at times, one or the other of those (honestly, I forget which since I never use either - if it is relevant just google it) you will want to create a swap partition. The commonly stated rule of thumb is twice as much swap as you have RAM in the system. If you don't use these features, and if you have 2 GiB of RAM or more I wouldn't create a swap partition at all unless you just have scads of disk space and plan on running some RAM intensive stuff. If you do want a swap partition I suggest you look into using the same swap partition for both the Gentoo and the Lubuntu installations. Otherwise I'd just create one partition on what space you created, format it ext3 or ext4, and have the Gentoo mount it as /. Now if you haven't actually done this before it may sound intimidating. But just study the messages from whatever partitioner you use before you click anything and you shouldn't have any problem. The main way to screw up is to lose track of which partition is which and accidentally format one with something you want to keep, like the one Lubuntu is on, or a data partition. Just be careful, use pencil and paper if you need to, and don't do that. If you do, reinstalling the Lubuntu isn't so hard. If you backed it up with Clonezilla or Remastersys or something similar, even a heavily tweaked system is easily restored. As to accidentally formatting a data partition, well OF COURSE you have everything backed up, right? You need to do that anyway. If you do, there really isn't any way to screw too badly. Just jump in, boot the Gentoo disk and do it. If you don't like the result, just start over. You can't really hurt anything that can't be corrected in a couple of hours at most, unless maybe you have a really slow internet connection, in which case updating could take a while. Good luck.

[Redzky]

Your situation and intent are somewhat unclear to me. It sounds to me like you have a machine with Lubuntu on it and want to add Gentoo and for reasons you don't specify the Lubuntu installation is somehow messed up so you can't reach the internet. And you want instructions on partitioning so you can put the Gentoo on. If that is correct:

1. Almost any installer disk has a partitioning tool on it that pops up as part of the installation process. You can boot the Gentoo disk and use that. Or you can partition from a live disk, such as the Lubuntu or maybe the Gentoo (I don't know if Gentoo's disk has a live disk option). Or you can boot the Lubuntu installation you already have and run a partitioner from there. Most likely using the one built into the Gentoo installer disk will be the most convenient. If you don't already have an empty partition you want to put it on, or empty disk space you can put a partition in, you'll need to shrink one or more of the partitions you have. Just read the prompts in the Gentoo installation process carefully and you shouldn't have any problem. In most distros (I've never installed Gentoo) you'll come to a point where it offers you several partitioning options like "guided", "automatic", and "manual". Choose manual. They may call it something else. Pick a partition with enough empty space that you can shrink it enough to leave you enough space for the Gentoo in the unpartitioned space you will create by shrinking the partition. 10 GiB is probably enough, 15 might be better if you have the space. Maybe more if you need a swap partition. As to what kind of partitions and how big to put in the space you made, you can spend days reading different suggestions on that. I could argue that if you want to do that I'd spend them reading on a Gentoo forum, but personally, I wouldn't bother. If you plan to hibernate or suspend the computer at times, one or the other of those (honestly, I forget which since I never use either - if it is relevant just google it) you will want to create a swap partition. The commonly stated rule of thumb is twice as much swap as you have RAM in the system. If you don't use these features, and if you have 2 GiB of RAM or more I wouldn't create a swap partition at all unless you just have scads of disk space and plan on running some RAM intensive stuff. If you do want a swap partition I suggest you look into using the same swap partition for both the Gentoo and the Lubuntu installations. Otherwise I'd just create one partition on what space you created, format it ext3 or ext4, and have the Gentoo mount it as /. Now if you haven't actually done this before it may sound intimidating. But just study the messages from whatever partitioner you use before you click anything and you shouldn't have any problem. The main way to screw up is to lose track of which partition is which and accidentally format one with something you want to keep, like the one Lubuntu is on, or a data partition. Just be careful, use pencil and paper if you need to, and don't do that. If you do, reinstalling the Lubuntu isn't so hard. If you backed it up with Clonezilla or Remastersys or something similar, even a heavily tweaked system is easily restored. As to accidentally formatting a data partition, well OF COURSE you have everything backed up, right? You need to do that anyway. If you do, there really isn't any way to screw too badly. Just jump in, boot the Gentoo disk and do it. If you don't like the result, just start over. You can't really hurt anything that can't be corrected in a couple of hours at most, unless maybe you have a really slow internet connection, in which case updating could take a while. Good luck.

Hey thanx. I managed to partition correctly. I've been using the gentoo handbook with the help of their irc channel. I appreciate your input. I'll let you know how the install goes when it's all done. Thanx again