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Bobbbay
Bobbbay

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Tips and tricks of installing Gentoo - Part 1

Installing Gentoo is seriously, an extremely daunting task. It always helps to have something here or there, so you're more familiar with what you're doing. Thus begins this series of posts containing tips and tricks for installing Gentoo (plus a little something at the end)!

#1 - amd64 DOES NOT mean it can't run on x86

For those of you who know what a CPU Architecture is, there's a common misconception that amd64 is only made for AMD-manufactured CPUs. This is a very common misconception, and tripped me up the first time I tried installing Gentoo! As it turns out, due to history (as always), the amd64 architecture works on both Intel and AMD CPUs. Be careful out there!

#2 - Learn about chroot

chroot is actually a very well used command in the installation process. I would recommend learning about chroot, because there are tons of errors based off of it and without understanding what you're doing you could "brick" your computer!

#3 - Keep the following link in handy when setting up WiFi

WiFi has always been an absolutely horrible subject for any installation method that is manual - be it from Arch to Gentoo herself. Luckily, there is this link that fixed my personal first problem when installing Gentoo (little did I know it would be one of many...). Some things might not make sense there but I would keep it in hand for when the time comes of you getting an error. This won't fix all your problems, though :).

BONUS

If your computer is running EFI or you want to dual boot Gentoo with Windows, I suggest this amazing series by Sakaki that goes through the whole process. It's also filled with great explanations!

Happy installs, Bobbbay

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