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  • [gentoo-user] update catch-22 with Wifi

    From Philip Webb@21:1/5 to All on Tue Dec 24 00:50:01 2024
    I no longer have a landline available (even via friends)
    & rely on Wifi for I/net service, incl software downloads.

    I've been a happy Gentoo user since 2003,
    but want to be able to use Wifi with my 15 yr-old netbook (32-bit),
    which has always had Gentoo installed & whose hardware incl's Wifi.
    This presents a Catch-22 : how can I install Wifi software ?
    -- I need the I/net to download the files,
    but can't access the I/net without that software installed.

    Is there any way around it ? -- eg could I download files on my desktop,
    then transfer them to the netbook & get that system to use them ?

    Can anyone offer suggestions ?

    --
    ========================,,============================================
    SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb
    ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto
    TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatcadotinterdotnet

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  • From Jack Ostroff@21:1/5 to Philip Webb on Tue Dec 24 01:00:02 2024
    This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
    resending to the list, instead of directly (fat fingered the first time)

    On 12/23/24 6:45 PM, Philip Webb wrote:
    I no longer have a landline available (even via friends)
    & rely on Wifi for I/net service, incl software downloads.

    I've been a happy Gentoo user since 2003,
    but want to be able to use Wifi with my 15 yr-old netbook (32-bit),
    which has always had Gentoo installed & whose hardware incl's Wifi.
    This presents a Catch-22 : how can I install Wifi software ?
    -- I need the I/net to download the files,
    but can't access the I/net without that software installed.

    Is there any way around it ? -- eg could I download files on my desktop,
    then transfer them to the netbook & get that system to use them ?

    Can anyone offer suggestions ?

    What you suggested sounds fine.  You need to download the necessary
    ebuld(s) if not already present, and then source files - both things
    that go in the distfiles folder, plus those (if any) that go in the
    files folder in the ebuild folder.  Download on the desktop and transfer
    by USB stick?

    An alternative would be to boot with a live USB, then chroot into Gentoo
    and emerge away.

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    <p>resending to the list, instead of directly (fat fingered the
    first time)</p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/23/24 6:45 PM, Philip Webb wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:Z2n2J91jj-YYNKTy@ca.inter.net">
    <pre wrap="" class="moz-quote-pre">I no longer have a landline available (even via friends)
    &amp; rely on Wifi for I/net service, incl software downloads.

    I've been a happy Gentoo user since 2003,
    but want to be able to use Wifi with my 15 yr-old netbook (32-bit),
    which has always had Gentoo installed &amp; whose hardware incl's Wifi.
    This presents a Catch-22 : how can I install Wifi software ?
    -- I need the I/net to download the files,
    but can't access the I/net without that software installed.

    Is there any way around it ? -- eg could I download files on my desktop,
    then transfer them to the netbook &amp; get that system to use them ?

    Can anyone offer suggestions ?
    </pre>
    </blockquote>
    <p>What you suggested sounds fine.  You need to download the
    necessary ebuld(s) if not already present, and then source files -
    both things that go in the distfiles folder, plus those (if any)
    that go in the files folder in the ebuild folder.  Download on the
    desktop and transfer by USB stick?<span
    style="white-space: pre-wrap"> </span></p>
    <p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap">An alternative would be to boot with a live USB, then chroot into Gentoo and emerge away.</span></p>
    </body>
    </html>

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  • From Michael@21:1/5 to All on Wed Dec 25 11:58:25 2024
    On Monday 23 December 2024 23:53:38 GMT Jack Ostroff wrote:
    resending to the list, instead of directly (fat fingered the first time)

    On 12/23/24 6:45 PM, Philip Webb wrote:
    I no longer have a landline available (even via friends)
    & rely on Wifi for I/net service, incl software downloads.

    I've been a happy Gentoo user since 2003,
    but want to be able to use Wifi with my 15 yr-old netbook (32-bit),
    which has always had Gentoo installed & whose hardware incl's Wifi.
    This presents a Catch-22 : how can I install Wifi software ?
    -- I need the I/net to download the files,
    but can't access the I/net without that software installed.

    Is there any way around it ? -- eg could I download files on my desktop, then transfer them to the netbook & get that system to use them ?

    Can anyone offer suggestions ?

    What you suggested sounds fine. You need to download the necessary
    ebuld(s) if not already present, and then source files - both things
    that go in the distfiles folder, plus those (if any) that go in the
    files folder in the ebuild folder. Download on the desktop and transfer
    by USB stick?

    An alternative would be to boot with a live USB, then chroot into Gentoo
    and emerge away.

    If the OS is also 15 year old, you may well find ebuilds will not compile on your netbook, because their build-time dependencies will be much more recent than what your netbook has. Upgrading it will be a never ending back and
    forth from the desktop to the netbook and the significant architectural
    changes over the last 15 years have been too many to overcome via a straight forward upgrade.

    I think you have 3 options to upgrade your netbook.

    1. Patch & Mend:

    Find all suitably old ebuilds matching the age of the netbook OS and required to install your wireless software, from the portage attic archive:

    https://gitweb.gentoo.org/

    Download each one, transfer to netbook with a USB, then try to emerge them and see if you succeed. I expect success will be measured, if any at all.

    2. A new OS installation using source files and compiling locally:

    Download an 'Admin CD' to boot your netbook from here:

    https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/#x86

    Check if the wireless interface works when you boot with it. If yes, carry on using the Gentoo Handbook to install a fresh x86 OS on your netbook, including all necessary wireless drivers, firmware, et al.

    If not, download a Stage 3 i686 archive and transfer this to your netbook over USB to complete the installation as per the Gentoo Handbook.

    3. Build your own binhost server for the netbook, on your faster desktop:

    Create a new partition or directory on your desktop and chroot into it.
    Install a full x86 OS for your netbook in there, copying over from your
    netbook /etc and /var/lib/portage/world to save you manually editing these on the binhost. You could also copy over the netbook's kernel .config file, although I expect this would be quite ancient. There's probably a wiki page highlighting the kernel modules needed for your netbook's hardware.

    Once the installation of the new x86 OS is complete, use 'tar -czpv --xattrs - f' to compress your newly installed x86 OS filesystem and transfer it to the netbook with a USB to untar it on the netbook's reformatted OS partition.

    Thereafter, you can keep your netbook up to date by emerging all software updates with '--buildpkg y' on your faster desktop within the chroot, then transfer the binaries to your netbook (or export the "/var/cache/binpkgs" directory on the desktop over NFS) for the netbook to fetch and emerge locally as binaries.

    This method will bring your netbook up to date and will keep it up updated without spending weeks at a time to emerge software from source.
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