Gentoo Minimal Installation CD

The Gentoo Minimal Installation CD is a bootable CD/USB image that can be used to install Funtoo Linux. It can be downloaded from https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/

Advantages and Disadvantages

The advantages of the Gentoo Minimal Installation CD are:

1. It's small, so it can quickly be downloaded.
2. It uses GRUB 2.04 to boot UEFI (and isolinux for BIOS) which supports the most modern UEFI systems well.
3. It's based on Gentoo -- always good :)
4. It uses a modern kernel so should support recent hardware.

Some possible downsides for this image are:

1. Since it's small, not much is included.
2. You are left with wpa-supplicant for configuring WiFi (This is not difficult if you know how and we'll cover the steps, but is more complicated than using NetworkManager.)

Downloading the Funtoo Stage

Use the the following command to start a text-based browser once you are online:

root # cd /mnt/funtoo
root # links https://build.funtoo.org

Getting Online

If you are using a wired connection, simply plug in and run dhcpcd <iface_name> to grab an IP address. You should then be ready to go.

Using WiFi is a bit trickier and is covered next.

   Note

The Gentoo Live CD has a utility named net-setup that makes WiFi setup a breeze. It can also aid in setting up wired devices as well. :)

Once you have booted the LiveCD, you should be able to use WiFI as follows. First, type ifconfig -a and ensure that your wireless interface is visible. Your wireless interface should begin with a "w".

Next, you will want to configure wpa_supplicant configuration so it has the credentials to log in to your local WiFi access point. To do this, use the following command:

root # wpa_passphrase my_wifi_network my_wifi_passphrase > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

   Note

If you are connecting to an unsecured wireless access point, then please follow the wpa_cli instructions on Arch Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/wpa_supplicant#Connecting_with_wpa_cli

Replace my_wifi_network with the actual name of your WiFi network, using double-quotes if the network name includes spaces, and replace my_wifi_passphrase with your literal passphrase (again using necessary quoting for spaces or special characters.)

Next, you will want to start wpa_supplicant:

root # /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant start

Once this completes, wpa_supplicant should begin connecting to your WiFi network automatically. You will be able to then see this by typing ifconfig.

Finally, you will want to run the following command, specifying the name of your wireless interface. This will start a DHCP client which will grab an IP address and configure your network so that you can use it:

root # dhcpcd wasdflk

Replace wasdflk with the name of your wireless interface as it appears in ifconfig. You should now be able to ping, etc.