Talk:Install Gentoo on a bootable USB stick

Kernel
If you compile the kernel the way it's written, i.e.:

You got side effects: Moreover: 100 megabytes for the boot partition is a bit too small to contain the kernel and the initramfs Zello (talk) 06:14, 11 October 2021 (UTC)
 * a minor side effect: you overwrite your own .config
 * worst: you overwrite the kernel modules in /lib/modules, which may render the system unbootable

Bootloader
Instead of lilo, I would recommend using Syslinux. — yngwin (wiki admin) (talk) 14:07, 26 August 2012 (UTC)

Configuration of syslinux added to the page DrCrane (talk) 17:40, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

For pete's sake it is 2013, can Lilo be removed and grub2 be added? (talk)--Ruminate (talk) 04:36, 2 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Just add a subsection for GRUB2 if you have experience with using GRUB2 with USB sticks. --SwifT (talk) 10:42, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

About grub-install: shouldn't it be

instead of --efi-directory=/boot/efi? Zello (talk) 06:14, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

Ubuntu
I have Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and want to install Gentoo on a USB stick. Could the same method be used in Ubuntu instead of having to install Gentoo first?


 * Somewhat. The initial kernel build will need to be performed from within the chroot environment instead of up-front though. The original author moved that outside the chroot instructions probably for performance reasons (as the chroot is on the USB stick itself). However, you can also create a chroot elsewhere (not on the USB stick), do the kernel build there and then move to the USB. --SwifT (talk) 10:42, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Possible Corrections
When installing syslinux I used bs=440 (instead of bs=404 mentioned in the article) and it worked for me. Other sources use 440 as the size so perhaps this is a typo? I don't understand syslinux enough to be confident to make the edit in the article.

I also found that I had to do a "make INSTALL_MOD_PATH=/mnt/gentoo modules_install" on the kernel sources to get modules to work properly on the stick.

Installing from a USB drive?
Does this work when running from a USB drive?

Edit undone, am interested to hear why
On March 6, User:Westbugs undid the editing that was done on the article.

I'd like to know what you think is wrong with the edit so I can learn from it.

Basically, what I did in the edit was to
 * use third-party writing (as recommended for wiki's in general and also on this wiki)
 * use a hierarchical structure so that specific content is easier to find
 * remove duplicate information that is handled elsewhere (such as the handbook) so that duplicate documentation development effort is not needed
 * a number of changes needed to support translating the article correctly

In the mean time, I have reintroduced the edits.

--SwifT (talk) 18:34, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

After receiving an email from Gentoo Support Team, I have no choice but to leave a short comment. The reason is my crews cannot follow your EDITED tutorial. They simply tell me the new one doesn't work. They prefer the previous version so I switch it back. In other words, some users have difficulty using your EDITED version. If you insist to apply your version, feel free to ignore me as I'll just backup the previous version.


 * Is it because the information, which is also part of the Gentoo handbooks, are now no longer duplicated? From the looks of the previous version, that is mostly what has been removed from the guide. The specifics for installing on a bootable USB stick are still there, and the code information shows when a command is part of the chroot and when not.


 * --SwifT (talk) 18:53, 9 March 2015 (UTC)