En:Beginners Guide

Revision as of 14:46, 7 February 2013

Through this Wiki, on several places you can find Documentations and visual tours about how to install, and use Sabayon Linux.

To give you a overview, all those articles are merged here, into one synoptic page.

System Requirements

• Live Environment - No 3D Desktop:
  • i686 Processor
  • at least 512 MB of RAM (1 GB suggested)
  • a 2D graphics card
  • a DDC capable Monitor
  • mouse and keyboard

• Live Environment - 3D Desktop:
  • i686 Processor (starting from AMD K6 and Intel Pentium II)
  • at least 512 MB of RAM (1 GB suggested)
  • an OpenGL capable 3D graphics card (mostly NVIDIA, ATI, Intel, VIA)
  • a DDC capable Monitor
  • mouse and keyboard

• Installation:

Please note that the below Requirements can be a bit too low for some Desktop Environments.

A full KDE Desktop for example, CAN run with only 1 GB RAM, but you will most likely run out of memory during a session.

Especially when running programs, such as firefox or thunderbird. Please keep that in mind.

• • i686 Processor
  • at least 512 MB of RAM (1 GB suggested for decent eyecandy effects)
  • an OpenGL capable 3D graphics card (mostly NVIDIA, ATI, Intel, VIA)
  • 20 GB of free space, that is bare minimum DVD Install. 30+ GB is highly recommended.
  • 8 GB of free space for miniCD. 10+ GB is recommended
  • Internet connection (not mandatory but highly suggested)
  • a DDC capable Monitor
  • mouse and keyboard

The live CD/DVD

What Editions are available in Sabayon Linux?

Sabayon is all about choice. You have many flavors to choose from.

You can download them from the mirrors, here:

• Sabayon Mirrors Page

The following choices are the main releases available in 32Bit (x86) or 64Bit (amd64):

"amd64" is also suitable for Intel based 64bit Processors

1. KDE
2. Gnome
3. LXDE
4. MATE
5. XFCE 
6. Enlightenment

All of the above mentioned Desktop Environments are fully featured.

7. CoreCDX
CoreCDX is a minimal install for those wishing to configure the system more to their liking,
(for more advanced users) in 32bit or 64bit., and uses the Fluxbox Window Manager.

burning / checking the .iso image

One of the most common problems with burning a Linux install CD/DVD is that people sometimes don't understand that an iso image file is not a normal file. You cannot just burn the iso to disc to and expect it to work. I repeat: you cannot simply put the iso file on a blank disk and expect it to work. In order to properly make a CD or DVD out of an iso image, you need special software. Instructions for Nero and Isorecorder are included; for other programs, see the manual for the software, or just give one of these a shot.

With Nero you just select file and burn image, then select the .iso file you want to burn. The software handles the rest.

If you're looking for a good, alternative freeware solution, you can download a free image burner.

isorecorder [1] Simply download and install the correct version for your version of windows, then right click on the .iso and tell it to burn.

checking the integrity of the burned disc

Many people know they can check if a downloaded ISO file is OK by comparing the md5sum of the ISO file against the md5sum posted on the SL mirrors. For example:

# md5sum -c SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso.md5
SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso: OK

cf. the contents of ftp://bo.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/sabayonlinux/SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso.md5 which are: 645600788920443b372baae3544acffa SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso

so the ISO I downloaded was good.

Remember - verify the MD5 sum for the version of Sabayon that you downloaded - they are all different. The MD5s can be found on the mirrors listed at: http://www.sabayonlinux.org/mirrors

But a different method is needed to verify the integrity of the LiveDVD/CD itself. You should select the verify written data checkbox in K3b before burning the DVD/CD, but if you forgot or still have doubts then the following methods can be used to check the integrity of the burnt LiveDVD/CD:

EDIT (May 24, 2012): Method 1 and Method 2 below for Linux no longer work, so jump to the end of this article for the latest method to use if you are not using Windows. If you are using Windows, see Method 3.

Method 1

If you know the md5sum from the mirrors, you can find the md5sum of the LiveDVD/CD you burnt and compare the two.

a) Boot up SL as usual from the HDD, then put the LiveDVD/CD in the optical drive.

b) Do the following (two commands) in a Terminal window:

localhost fitzcarraldo # isoinfo -d -i /dev/cdrom
CD-ROM is in ISO 9660 format
System id: LINUX
Volume id: Sabayon Linux - x86-64
Volume set id:
Publisher id:
Data preparer id:
Application id: MKISOFS ISO 9660/HFS FILESYSTEM BUILDER & CDRECORD CD-R/DVD CREATOR (C) 1993 E.YOUNGDALE (C) 1997 J.PEARSON/J.SCHILLING
Copyright File id:
Abstract File id:
Bibliographic File id:
Volume set size is: 1
Volume set sequence number is: 1
Logical block size is: 2048
Volume size is: 2282392
El Torito VD version 1 found, boot catalog is in sector 751
Joliet with UCS level 3 found
Rock Ridge signatures version 1 found
Eltorito validation header:
    Hid 1
    Arch 0 (x86)
    ID ''
    Key 55 AA
    Eltorito defaultboot header:
        Bootid 88 (bootable)
        Boot media 0 (No Emulation Boot)
        Load segment 0
        Sys type 0
        Nsect 4
        Bootoff 2F0 752
localhost fitzcarraldo # dd if=/dev/cdrom bs=2048 count=2282392 conv=notrunc,noerror | md5sum
2282392+0 records in
2282392+0 records out
645600788920443b372baae3544acffa  -
4674338816 bytes (4.7 GB) copied, 594.962 s, 7.9 MB/s
localhost fitzcarraldo # 

Notice that the value I have used for bs= in the second command is the "Logical block size" displayed from the first command, and the value I have used for count= in the second command is the "Volume size" displayed from the first command. Make sure you use the values returned when you run the first command.

The long alphanumeric string displayed should equal the m5dsum published on the SL mirrors provided that you recorded the LiveDVD/CD using 'session at once' mode (single session, disk-at-once), not 'track at once' mode (multi-session, track-at-once).

In this example (SL x86-64 3.4f), the md5sum published on the mirrors for the ISO file is: 645600788920443b372baae3544acffa SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso

Notice that this matches the md5sum of /dev/cdrom as displayed by the second command above, so the burn was good. If it does not match the md5sum published on the mirrors then the LiveDVD/CD is useless and you need to burn another one.

Method 2

If you know the ISO you downloaded from the mirrors is good (because you checked the md5sum), you can create an ISO from the LiveDVD/CD and compare it with the good ISO.

(In the example below I assume the original ISO you downloaded is on your desktop, so alter the path accordingly if it is somewhere else on your PC.)

a) Boot up SL as usual from the HDD, then put the LiveDVD/CD in the optical drive.

b) Do the following (three commands) in a Terminal window:

localhost fitzcarraldo # isoinfo -d -i /dev/cdrom
CD-ROM is in ISO 9660 format
System id: LINUX
Volume id: Sabayon Linux - x86-64
Volume set id:
Publisher id:
Data preparer id:
Application id: MKISOFS ISO 9660/HFS FILESYSTEM BUILDER & CDRECORD CD-R/DVD CREATOR (C) 1993 E.YOUNGDALE (C) 1997 J.PEARSON/J.SCHILLING
Copyright File id:
Abstract File id:
Bibliographic File id:
Volume set size is: 1
Volume set sequence number is: 1
Logical block size is: 2048
Volume size is: 2282392
El Torito VD version 1 found, boot catalog is in sector 751
Joliet with UCS level 3 found
Rock Ridge signatures version 1 found
Eltorito validation header:
    Hid 1
    Arch 0 (x86)
    ID ''
    Key 55 AA
    Eltorito defaultboot header:
        Bootid 88 (bootable)
        Boot media 0 (No Emulation Boot)
        Load segment 0
        Sys type 0
        Nsect 4
        Bootoff 2F0 752
localhost fitzcarraldo # cd /
localhost / # dd if=/dev/cdrom bs=2048 count=2282392 conv=notrunc,noerror > SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso
2282392+0 records in
2282392+0 records out
4674338816 bytes (4.7 GB) copied, 612.163 s, 7.6 MB/s
localhost / # diff SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso /home/fitzcarraldo/Desktop/SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso
localhost / # 

Notice that the value I have used for bs= in the third command is the "Logical block size" displayed from the first command, and the value I have used for count= in the third command is the "Volume size" displayed from the first command. Make sure you use the values returned when you run the first command.

If the result of the diff (compare file) command is just the usual prompt then the files are identical and the burn was good. In the example above it was. But if the result is:

Files SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso and /home/fitzcarraldo/Desktop/SabayonLinux-x86_64-3.4f.iso differ

then the LiveDVD/CD is useless and you must burn another.

Method 3

If you only have Windows installed on your HDD, apparently you can use a Windows shareware application to perform something similar to the above method -- see the following Web page for details: http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=Checking_the_integrity_of_a_Live_CD

TWO WARNINGS:

1. I have not checked if the method for Windows on the above-mentioned Web page actually works, so use it at your own risk.

2. The method for checking the integrity of a LiveCD under Linux, given on the Web page mentioned under Method 3, does not work for me. If I use the command md5sum /dev/cdrom it does not return the same md5sum as published on the mirrors even though the LiveCD is good. So do not use that method under Linux, use either Method 1 or Method 2 given in this Wiki article.

EDIT (May 24, 2012): Method 1 and Method 2 no longer work, and the method for checking the integrity of a LiveCD under Linux, given on the Web page mentioned under Method 3, does now work. This is how to do it:

Insert the LiveDVD into the optical drive, let the disc spin up and then enter the following three commands:

md5sum /dev/cdrom | awk '{print $1}' > md5a.txt
md5sum ~/Sabayon_Linux_8_amd64_K.iso | awk '{print $1}' > md5b.txt
diff -qs md5a.txt md5b.txt

(Obviously change the path and/or the ISO file name to match your circumstances.)

If you get an error message while the md5sum is reading the disc, there must be something wrong either with the burn or with the optical drive itself.

If you get the message "Files md5a.txt and md5b.txt differ" then the burn was bad.

If you get the message "Files md5a.txt and md5b.txt are identical" then the burn was good.

Passwords on live CD/DVD

• The root password:

no password is required: just press the Enter key.

• The sabayonuser password:

no password is required: just press the Enter key.

• For older releases (version 6 and earlier) the password for Root is "root" (without the quotes) and the password for Sabayonuser is "sabayonuser" (without the quotes).

Visual walkthrough Booting process

Please see: Visual_Tour:_Boot-menu_Sabayon_LiveCD/DVD

When having a old NVidia card, and downloaded latest ISOs, chances are that they will not start the Window Manager/Desktop Environment (see the flavors above), but rather present you with a black screen.

There is nothing wrong with the ISOs, it is because "nvidia-drivers-304.64" or higher is installed by default.

You can bypass that by hitting ctrl-alt-f1, remove the nvidia-drivers, (nouveau is installed too) and restart xdm:

/etc/init.d/xdm restart

For a overall view of which cards support what driver., please see: http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_32667.html

The following visual tour will show you how to edit Xorg.conf: Visual_Tour:_Part_2_Editing_the_xorg.conf

Installing Sabayon

For a installation guide, step-by-step, please see: En:Introduction#Installation_Guide:_Step_by_Step

We also offer a visual walkthrough about installing Sabayon, please see: Visual_Tour:_Installing_Sabayon

Partitioning

When installing, Sabayon offers a standard partitioning scheme using LVM, and leaves Windows partitions untouched.

If you wish to manually partition, or add mountpoints, please see: HOWTO:_Manual_Partitioning_with_Sabayon_Linux

For GPT partitioning: HOWTO:_Install_Sabayon_with_GRUB2_and_GPT_on_a_New_System

Advice on the hostname:

HOWTO:_Advice_on_the_hostname_to_specify_when_installing_Sabayon_Linux

Dual boot with Windows

If you want to Dual boot with Windows, or first need to reduce the size of the existing partitions, please see: HOWTO:_Dual_boot_Sabayon_Linux_and_Windows

Install the Gentoo way

HOWTO:_Install_from_an_existing_Linux_system

FAQ

FAQ

Troubleshooting

boot parameters

En:Sabayon_Linux#Boot_parameters_and_workarounds_for_problematic_Hardware