Download a CD from one of our mirrors. You can find the minimal CD ISO in releases/x86/current-iso/. The minimal installation CD is only useful for Internet-based installations. This guide will use the minimal CD.

Burn the CD and boot it.

Press F2 at the boot screen to find out what boot options exist. You can either start gentoo or gentoo-nofb, the latter disables the framebuffer. If you booted the LiveCD, don't forget to add the nox option to prevent the X graphical environment from starting. Several options allow to enable or disable some features. If all goes well, your hardware will be detected and all modules will be loaded. If the kernel fails to boot properly or if your computer hangs during the boot procedure, you may have to experiment with different configurations. The safest way is probably to use the nodetect option and then load required modules explicitly.

Gentoo Linux Installation LiveCD                     http://www.gentoo.org
Enter to Boot; F1 for kernels  F2 for options.
boot: gentoo-nofb
  (or in case of problems)
boot: gentoo-nofb nodetect

If you used the nodetect option, once booted, load the required modules. You need to enable networking and have access to your disks. The lspci command can help you identify your hardware.

livecd root # lspci
(Use lspci's output to identify required modules)

(The following is an example, adapt it to your hardware)
livecd root # modprobe 3w-9xxx
livecd root # modprobe r8169

If your network does not work already, you can use net-setup to configure your network. You might need to load support for your network card using modprobe prior to the configuration. If you have ADSL, use pppoe-setup and pppoe-start. For PPTP support, first edit /etc/ppp/chap-secrets and /etc/ppp/options.pptp and then use pptp <server ip>.

For wireless access, use iwconfig to set the wireless parameters and then use either net-setup again or run ifconfig, dhcpcd and/or route manually.

If you are behind a proxy, do not forget to initialize your system using export http_proxy, ftp_proxy and RSYNC_PROXY.

livecd root # net-setup eth0

Alternatively, you can start networking manually. The following example assigns the IP address 192.168.1.10 to your PC and defines 192.168.1.1 as your router and name server.

livecd root # ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.10/24
livecd root # route add default gw 192.168.1.1
livecd root # echo nameserver 192.168.1.1 > /etc/resolv.conf

The installation CD allows you to start an sshd server, add additional users, run irssi (a command-line chat client) and surf the web using links.

The most interesting feature is of course sshd. You can start it and then connect from another machine and cut and paste commands from this guide.

livecd root # time /etc/init.d/sshd start
 * Generating hostkey ...
(sshd generates the key and displays more output)
 * starting sshd ...                            [ok]

real   0m13.688s
user   0m9.420s
sys    0m0.090s

Now, set the root password on the liveCD so that you can connect to it from another PC. Please note that allowing root to connect over ssh is not recommended under normal circumstances. If you can't trust your local network, use a long and complex password, you should use it only once as it will disappear after your first reboot.

livecd root # passwd
New UNIX password: type_a_password
Retype new UNIX password: type_a_password
passwd: password updated successfully

Now, you can start a terminal on another PC and connect to your new box, follow the rest of this guide in another window, and cut and paste commands.

(Use the IP address of your new box)
$ ssh root@192.168.1.10
The authenticity of host '192.168.1.10 (192.168.1.10)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 96:e7:2d:12:ac:9c:b0:94:90:9f:40:89:b0:45:26:8f.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.1.10' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Password: type_the_password