OK, drug my old Dell XPS out of retirement and compiled Gentoo!! Since this laptop has both Intel and Nvidia graphics, I had to set VIDEO_CARDS=“intel i965” so it does not pull in Nvida!! Am also using wpa_gui for wifi login, NetworkManager just had to many issues for this Mate de, while wpa_qui is not auto wifi sign-in, the end results are the same!! Yes Debian would probably worked, but I would then have to blacklist everything “Nvidia”. so I chose Gentoo and built Linux, the way I wanted!! I still have not enabled binary packages, but I did build “gentoo-kernel-bin” and “firefox-bin”!!
3 Likes
Did you build gentoo with or without systemd?
These days it’s entirely understandable to use gentoo-kernel-bin, since untangling the endless hardware options has become just impossible – e.g. it would take forever to get the kernel and firmware configured correctly.
Speaking about firmware, how have you configured the licenses variable? I remembered, when I was still running gentoo, I had just set it to accept everything and be done with it.
3 Likes
Is it unusual for a laptop to have an addon graphics card?
Have you tried Connman. It is used in Devuan and Antix and it works OK for me after some issues with 2 ethernet NIC’s. It is supposed to be good with Wifi, especially if you use hotspots.
I am thinking of running a binary Gentoo as one of my main work distros. That is the only way I am ever going to use it for something substantial.
1 Like
OpenRC!!
Takes a little longer but it can be accomplished and the source kernel gives one more options to build the way one wishes, in other it is still more flexible than the gentoo-kernel or the gentoo-kernel-bin!!
You can still use ACCEPT_LICENSE=“*” !!
1 Like
Yes I have used Connman but wpa_gui and Mate are just fine for wifi!!
If the machine is capable, I see very little benefit with binary packages!! And building the source kernel is still the best choice. especially for old hardware!!
1 Like
The machine is more than capable. I guess i could compile a kernel. I just dont want my main work machine tied up compiling updates.
1 Like
Most Gentoo builders will compile the gentoo-kernel-bin to get the machine up and running and then compile a source kernel!! You then have a fallback kernel you can boot!!
3 Likes
You won’t even notice the process. You can use your computer when updating the system. There’s many ways to configure Portage to work in the background so it will not affect your workflow.
2 Likes
Yes, I forgot about that. In my main machine there would be enough cpu’s to do both.
I am used to gentoo on my spare machine … it is limited.
1 Like
Which only proves on how flexible Gentoo can be!!
1 Like
My machine has this:
System uname: Linux-6.18.43-gentoo-dist-bin-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-i5-8265U_CPU@_1.60GHz-with-glibc2.43
KiB Mem: 7958456 total, 883528 free
KiB Swap: 8388604 total, 8388604 free
COMMON_FLAGS=“-O2 -pipe -march=x86-64-v3 -flto -Werror=odr -Werror=lto-type-mismatch -Werror=strict-aliasing”
EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS=“-avg --keep-going --jobs 7”
MAKEOPTS=“-j7 -l6”
at the moment its running quite heavily, I have 10 tabs open on my Firefox:
edit: update took 13 minutes this time.
1 Like
What is your “nproc” and ram? This XPS can barely muster 4core but it updates well even without binary packages!! uname -a
Linux gentbox 6.18.43-gentoo-dist-bin #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Aug 6 19:07:48 -00 2026 x86_64 Intel(R) Core™ i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 15Gi 1.6Gi 12Gi 252Mi 1.6Gi 13Gi
Swap: 9.8Gi
1 Like
It’s 8core with 8GB RAM so a potato too
1 Like
Not bad for a laptop!!
1 Like
8GB of RAM. I got off of gentoo when the gcc compile started swapping with that amount of memory.
My current system is a Tuxedo computer, so I have my reservations – because of drivers.
Other than that, there’s nothing stopping me from installing gentoo – well, perhaps Tintero, which I have installed using flatpak.
Tell me, how well does xfce on gentoo cooperate with flatpak?
1 Like
I have been compiling with -j10 this week. I can do other things while it compiles. Mine is a corei7 6x. It should work for me.
2 Likes
I must admit I was looking at it wrongly. Gentoo is on my list. … along with debugging lumina, understanding transformer models, getting data out of distrowatch, and shearing our sheep.
1 Like
Not unusual on gaming laptops…
I had an Asus ROG gaming laptop (it was thin and lightweight - looked a bit like a Mac) - it had Intel onboard GPU and NVidia 1000 series mobile GTX discrete GPU..
I generally hate gaming laptops - they’re so ugly and garish and oversized… and I hate seeing the touchpad “off centre”… but the UX501 was nice…
On this one, on Windows you could swap from either GPU on the fly - i.e. if you’re mobile - doing laptop things - the intel GPU will eat less battery… When you’re gaming on mains power - you’ll want to use the discrete GPU. I never got “on the fly” switching to work (in elementary) - but I got NVidia Prime working - i.e. select the other GPU - logout of the DE - then back in and you’re using the other GPU…
Anyway - I had to reluctantly sell that laptop when I was out of work for a few months…
Actually it wasn’t a ROG it was a Zenbook Pro UX series like this :
I eventually wiped Win8/10 off it - and booted only elementary… Boy was it an ordeal to put Windows 10 back on there when I was selling it!
3 Likes
This XPS started life with W7HP and ended with W11P and has been reborn with Gentoo!! Not really sure as to where this is going, although it is nice to have my big screen laptop to access the internet!!
2 Likes