Handbook:Main Page/en

Introduction
The Gentoo Handbook is an effort to centralize documentation into a coherent handbook. This handbook contains the installation instructions for Internet-based installation approaches and parts about working with Gentoo and Portage.

Architectures
Gentoo Linux is available for many architectures. But what exactly is an architecture?

An architecture is a family of CPUs (processors) who support the same instructions. The two most prominent architectures in the desktop world are the architecture and the x86_64 architecture (for which Gentoo uses the  notation). But many other architectures exist, such as, (the PowerPC family), , , etc...

A distribution as versatile as Gentoo supports many architectures. For that reason, you'll find that our Gentoo Handbooks are offered for many of the supported architectures. However, that might lead to some confusion as not all users are aware of the differences. Some are only aware of the CPU type or name that their system is a part of (like i686 or Intel Core i7). Below you will find a quick summary of the supported architectures and the abbreviation used in Gentoo. However, most people that do not know the architecture of their system are mostly interested in or.

Viewing the Handbook
The list below gives a high-level overview architectures supported by various Gentoo Linux projects. It is important to choose the correct architecture before proceeding with the associated Installation section of a Handbook. Be sure to verify the CPU's architecture before moving onward.

A note for new users: if the CPU is less than five years old and the manufacturer is Intel or AMD, choosing the AMD64 Handbook is probably the correct route.

Can't you magically have the handbook dynamically created for each choice?
Everything is possible, but we have opted to only do this on a per-architecture level. Other choices, like partitioning, kernel selection, tool installation and more are easy enough to explain in a single document.

I cannot find stage1 information in the Handbook. Where do I look?
Instructions on using a stage1 or stage2 tarball are now available in the Gentoo FAQ. A stage3 installation is the only supported method of installation.

I disagree with ...
Please report your idea through the Discussion pages of the respective handbook page. Documentation is made for the community, so community feedback is well appreciated.

However, you must know that most decisions made while developing documentation are based on a consensus-model. It is impossible to write/structure documentation in such a way that everybody is happy with it. You must be able to accept a "No" with the reason that we believe the current implementation benefits most people.

Those who open discussions with the goal of improving the Handbook must be able to accept a "No" as an answer. Typically "No" is used when we believe the current implementation is beneficial for the majority of readers.

In order to properly track open issues we ask you to add the Talk template to each discussion you open, as seen in this example:

Please also remember to sign your discussion using the Signature and timestamp button in the text formatting toolbox.