Home

Gentoo Stuff

Random Stuff

emerge -pv -uND world ( view what packages need to be (u)pdated, have (N)ew useflags, and include (D)ependencies for all packages (wo)
   --tree - produces a dependency tree output
add info about eselect (what probably needs setting, like opengl)

Package Information (packages I typicall install)

mozilla-firefox: Firefox obviously
  Looks like myspell-en is needed for spellchecking in the browser (need to verify this)
  The name should be changed to Firefox from Gran Paradiso (see the "Other Information" section below)
netscape-flash: Adobie flash for browsers
alsa-utils: for audio (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml)
dosfstools: mkfs tools for fat/fat32 devices
kmixer: volume control if your using kde (no plasmoid yet)
kdeplasma-addons: more plasma apps for kde 4.2
k3b: really nice cdburning app (no kde 4 port yet) (requires uninstall of mdnsresponder and test package of kdnssd-avahi)
openoffice: Openoffice, the nice crossplatform office suite (that reads MS word docs)
  to get spellchecking, you will need myspell-en (AND POSSIBLY eselect-oodict, need to try this and update)
  Hyphenation - ? not sure... doesn't seem to be enabled
slocate: tool for finding files (need slocate -u ran to update database), might need to add update database to cron
synergy: awesome package to allow remote keyboard and mouse control (KVM without the Video) over the network
?vim-spell-en: Spell checking for VI/VIM, ? might need to do :setlocal spell spelllang=en, or :help spell
win32codecs - YOU SHOULDN'T NEED THIS... ffmpeg includes libavcodec, which should decode practically everything win32codecs is used for (http://wonkabar.org/2009/05/29/binary-codecs/)

kde 4
  Dolphin is the standard file browser
    ark is needed to browse compressed files
  kmenuedit is the start menu editor still (~ for kde4 version)


KDE 4.2 Information

Issues
  krunner doesn't work if you type the entire name of an application
  There is no official kde network manager yet (should be available in 4.3)
    There is a command-line network manager (cnetworkmanager), old kde networkmanager, and the gnome networkmanager
  KMixer does not have a plasmoid yet
    You can't change the percent jumps when scroll wheeling over the mixer icon
Desktop Effects (XGL/compiz)
  xorg.conf must have
    Section "Extensions"
    Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Missing applications in the startmenu (Kickoff) and the "Open With" dialog
  delete /var/tmp/kdecache-username

USE Flag information (colors are backwards from emerge to make more sense)

abiword: Not needed, I use openoffice because it is more compatible with MS Office
acl: Access Control Lists - I don't need anything more than the standard owner/group/other permission set
ads: Active Directory Support - Not needed... I don't connect to an Active Directory Server...
akonadi: Its a PIM, personal info manager and NOT required anymore!!! yay!
berkdb: Oracle Berkeley DB - from gentoo-portage, "old berk db kept around for really old packages"... so i shouldn't need it
cairo: Library for vector graphics
captury: plugin for kde that allows desktop video capturing
clucene: some type of c++ libs, leave default
consolekit: A way of tracking users and sessions ... sure, why not :P ...
djvu: File format for scanned images like magazines ( improved alternative to pdf). I don't have any files in this format...
fam: File Alteration Monitor, shouldn't be needed since inotify exist in the kernel .. unless something uses it, leave it alone
gmp: Adds GNU MP library support, something about fast arithmatic library... leave alone until something uses it by default...
iconv: Adds support for converting between character encodings... nothing to worry about.. like nls..
ignore-glep31: ? - No idea, so I leave it default
ipv6: support for ipv6 - Doesn't really effect anything, so leave default
kerberos: Type of security, shouldn't need and unless I find a package that uses it by default (most don't?), just leave alone
loop-aes: AES encryption for loop devices, not needed
lcms: Color correction / management... shouldn't really need this but its required by xulrunner which is required by firefox.. so go ahead and enable
pam: Pluggable Authentication Module? - No idea, but "dangerous to flip", leave as default
motif / motif: Motif widget/GUI support, its pretty ugly so unless its needs say no
nls: Native Language Support - gettext?, doesn't seem to affect much, leave as default
nptl: Support for threading
openexr: Not needed, highend image format (HDR dynamic range/lighting)
 openmp: enabled parallel computing (multithreads?)... sounds good... just leave as default
policykit: Gains permission to do certain tasks (without requiring root), probably useful
readline: gnu application for line editing... should be installed, but can just take default
semantic-desktop: Not sure...
slang: Like ncurses (console colors), so enable for packages that could use it
srp: Not sure, so leave default
ldap: I don't need ldap support.
urandom: not sure if needed, so leave default (techincally less secure than random, but random blocks)
vim-pager: Vim-pager - replaces the man pager with VIM so you get coloring and mouse useage http://jk3.us/2007/02/01/vim-as-pager/
vim-with-x: ? - ? UPDATE!
xcb: Improved C bindings for X, compared to Xlib
*xcomposite: enables Xorg compositing extensions (for xgl stuff?), not sure if its needed or not
async: ? -? samba update...
automount ? - ? samba update
caps ?- ?
winbind ? -?

Other  Information

network interface name - modprobing ndiswrapper with the option if_name=wlan0 should make the wireless interface wlan0.  However, this does not seem to work with ndiswrapper 1.53-r1.  Even editing modprobe.conf, modules.autoload.d, and/or modprobe.d/ndiswrapper , adding the following does not work. 
options ndiswrapper if_name=wlanX
alias wlan0 ndiswrapper
To change the interface name, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules must be editied.

Gentoo USB boot disk
  See the Gentoo LiveUSB HOWTO
    At the end with the `syslinux /dev/sda1` command, if you get a Syntax error, edit the /etc/mtools/mtools.conf file and comment the said line, "SAMPLE FILE"
   
Firefox reporting incorrect name (Gran Paradiso)
  Open firefox, type the address "about:config"

Pipe text with colors to less
 
  search for general.useragent.extra.firefox
  change the value to "Firefox/3.0.x" , or the needed value

Man page with colors (vim-pager)
  Add to your .bashrc
    export MANPAGER=/usr/bin/vimmanpager
  http://jk3.us/2007/02/01/vim-as-pager/
  http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/VimTip167 (using man inside of vim)

vi / vim rc file (defaults)
  add file here

TrueCrypt
  Configure kernel
    Device drivers
      Multiple devices drivers support (RAID and LVM)
        + Device mapper support
        + Crypto target support
      Block device
        + Loopback device
    Cryptographic API
      + GF(2^128)
      + XTS
  emerge sys-fs/fuse
  run truecrypt as root

Move portage temp files ( /var/tmp/portage and /usr/portage)
  To move the temp gentoo files to another directory, such as onto an external SD Card, you can do a standard sym link for /usr/portage.
  However, for /var/tmp/portage, you must edit /etc/make.conf and add the PORTAGE_TMPDIR = [path] option

Gentoo Emerge bugs

e2fsprogs
  http://bugs.gentoo.org/261411 - Use version 1.41.4 or later (might require a testing "~" package)
fpc
  If problems, try:
    1) updating sandbox
    2) emerge -l sandbox
    3) update all system packages
xf86-video-virtualbox
  No solution found - problems with /dev/dri/cardX