nVidia drivers

Reference http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/nvidia-guide.xml

• Make sure the kernel is configured correctly for the proprietary nVidia driver
• genkernel --menuconfig all
• Confirm: Loadable module support -> [*] Enable loadable module support
• Confirm: Processor type and features -> [*] MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support
• Update: Device Drivers -> Character devices -> <*> /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)
• Confirm: Device Drivers -> Graphics Support -> < > nVidia Framebuffer Support
• Confirm: Device Drivers -> Graphics Support -> < > nVidia Riva support
• Confirm: Device Drivers -> Graphics Support -> <*> VESA VGA graphics support
• Update: Device Drivers -> Graphics Support -> VESA driver type (vesafb-tng)
• Reboot
• Make sure the /usr/src/linux symlink is pointing to the correct sources: ls -l /usr/src/linux
• Install the drivers (nvidia-kernel & nvidia-glx). Since nvidia-glx depends on nvidia-kernel, installing nvidia-glx is sufficient: emerge nvidia-glx

NOTE: Every time you compile a new kernel or recompile the current one, you have to run "emerge nvidia-kernel" to reinstall the nvidia modules. nVidia-glx is unaffected by a kernel change and doesn't even need to be rebuilt when you recompile/upgrade X.

• Load the kernel module into memory
• modprobe nvidia
• FATAL: Error inserting nvidia (/lib/modules/2.6.16-gentoo-r13/video/nvidia.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
• dmesg
• nvidia: Unknown symbol remap_page_range
• nvidia: Unknown symbol pci_find_class
• Supposedly the "stable" nvidia drivers in portage are really old. It's better to use the "testing" drivers. See http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Unmask_Nvidia_Drivers
• Unmask the driver packages
• edit /etc/portage/package.keywords
• media-video/nvidia-kernel
• media-video/nvidia-glx
• Emerge the new version and confirm: emerge -av nvidia-glx
• Unload the old kernel module: rmmod nvidia
• Load the new kernel module: modprobe nvidia
• Success! Reboot to be sure... :)

• Configure X
• edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
• Change the Driver line in the Device section from "nv" to "nvidia"
• Change the Module section and make sure that glx gets loaded and dri does not
• Make sure that in the Screen section, the DefaultDepth directive is set to 24
• Run eselect so that X uses the nvidia glx libraries: eselect opengl set nvidia
• Add user to the video group so he has access to the nvidia device files: gpasswd -a video
• Test the card
• startx
• glxinfo | grep direct
• should say that direct rendering is activated
• test FPS: glxgears
• Enable nvidia support for apps
• edit /etc/make.conf and add "nvidia" to the USE flags
  
• rebuild the apps that benefit from the USE flag change: emerge -uD --newuse world
• Error: device conflicts. Ignore for now. Maybe I'll come back & rebuild apps later
• Install nvidia settings tool:
  
• emerge media-video/nvidia-settings
• 1 config file needs updating, so find it: find /etc -iname '._cfg*'
• /etc/modules.d/._cfg0000_nvidia
• diff /etc/modules.d/nvidia /etc/modules.d/._cfg0000_nvidia
• minor differences, so just replace the original config with the new: mv /etc/modules.d/._cfg0000_nvidia /etc/modules.d/nvidia
• Run nvidia-settings to configure graphics

• Resolution is way too small.
  
• edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
• delete "1280x1024" mode from Screen/Display/Depth=24 section. New default becomes "1024x768".
  
• reboot. Only fixes resolution in X.
  
• edit /boot/grub/grub.conf, change video statement to use 1024x768
  
• reboot
  
• much better!
  

MySQL

• Set up mysql (http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_MySQL)
  
• Set up use flags for mysql
• edit /etc/portage/package.use
• add line: dev-db/mysql innodb berkdb
• Install MySQL and its dependencies: emerge mysql
• Create the initial mysql databases
• get the mysql version: emerge -pv mysql => dev-db/mysql-4.1.20
  
• emerge --config =dev-db/mysql-4.1.20
• when prompted, enter a password for the root user
• Start MySQL: /etc/init.d/mysql start
• Add MySQL to load at boot: rc-update add mysql default
• Set security
• log into mysql: mysql -u root -p, enter password set above, not the linux root password
• encrypt mysql root password: set password for 'root'@'localhost'=PASSWORD('');
• Secure the installation
• mysql_secure_installation
• don't change the root password
• remove anonymous users
• disallow root login remotely
• remove test database and access to it
• reload privilege tables
• Test databases:
• log into mysql: mysql -u root -p
• show databases

IVTV / Hauppauge

• Install ivtv:
  
• emerge ivtv
• CONFIG_I2C_AGOBIT: is not set when it should be.
• CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV: is not set when it should be.
• CONFIG_I2C_CHARDEV: is not set when it should be.
• CONFIG_I2C: is not set when it should be.
• Update the kernel
• genkernel --menuconfig all
• Device drivers -> generic driver options
• [ ] Prevent firmware from being built
• Unchaged: Userspace firmawre loading support
• <*> I2C support
• I2C device interface
• I2C algorithms -> I2C bit banging interfaces
• Multimedia devices
• <*> Video For Linux
• <*> BT848 Video For Linux
• <*> Add support for additional audio chipsets
• <*> Add support for additional video chipsets
• Try ivtv again
• reboot
• emerge ivtv
• Load the module: modprobe ivtv
• Test ivtv driver: ivtv-detect
• Try a recording test
• ivtvctl -u 0x3000
• ivtvctl -p 4
• ivtvctl -f width=720,height=480
• ivtvctl -v input=3,output=1
• cat /dev/video0 > test.mpg
• Install mplayer: emerge mplayer
• Try another recording test
• ivtv-tune
• List video inputs: ivtvctl -n
• Get the current video input: ivtvctl -P
• Set the current video input: ivtvctl -p
• Get the current frequency: ivtvctl -R

It's not working exactly the way I want, but I think I remember this happening before, and it still worked ok with mythtv. So I'm going to go on for now.

ALSA

• Figure out what drivers the sound card uses
• lspci -v | grep -i audio
• 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
• Check http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/ for the module
• Manufacturer: Intel
• Driver: hda-intel
• Update kernel for alsa: genkernel --menuconfig all
• Device Drivers -> Sound
  
• Unchanged: <*> Sound card support
• Unchanged: < > Open Sound System
• Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
• <*> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
• Sequencer support
• OSS Mixer API
• OSS PCM (digital audio) API
• PCI devices
• Intel HD Audio
• Wait for genkernel to recompile everything
  
• Install the ALSA Utilities: emerge alsa-utils
• Configure the sound card
• alsaconf
• select the hda-intel soundcard
• say yes to modify /etc/modules.d/alsa
• Add the alsa initscript to the boot runlevel: rc-update add alsasound boot
• Make sure that SAVE_ON_STOP is set to yes in /etc/conf.d/alsasound
• Add users to the audio group: gpasswd -a audio
• Test ALSA
• alsamixer
• no such device; reload /dev entries: killall udevd; udevdstart
• alsamixer
• no such device
• reboot 2x
  
• alsamixer
• Install links: emerge links
• Install xmms: emerge xmms

It works. It actually works! Karin sounds great in Linux... :)

X Server

• Configure /etc/make.conf. Using "nv" for VIDEO_CARDS uses the open source versions of the video drivers for my nvidia card. I'll come back and update things to use the proprietary drivers from nVidia later. Otherwise, use "nvidia" for VIDEO_CARDS.
  

• INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse"
• VIDEO_CARDS="nv"
• Install Xorg-X11: emerge xorg-x11
• Reinitialize environment variables
• env-update
• source /etc/profile
• Configure X
• Generate an Xorg configuration file: Xorg -configure
• X was unable to detect the mouse, so edit the file it generated (/root/xorg.conf.new) and correct the device. Everything looks ok. Maybe the defaults will work.
• Test the configuration: X -config /root/xorg.conf.new
• Had problems w/ the mouse. Guess the defaults don't work.
  
• Monitor info from dell (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/e770s/en/spec.htm)
• horizontal frequency range: 31.5 - 68.7 kHz
• vertical frequency range: 70.1 - 84.9 Hz
• horizontal scan range: 30 - 70 kHz (automatic)
  
• vertical scan range: 50 - 160 Hz (automatic)
• Try xorgconfig, which prompts for system information: xorgconfig
• Autodetect mouse
• Don't Emulate3Buttons
• Use /dev/input/mouse0
• keyboard: Generic 104-key PC
• U.S. English
• [enter] for default us variant
• don't select additional XKB options
• horizontal sync range: 7
• vertical sync range: 3
• monitor identifier: Dell e770s
• look at the video card database
• video card definition: 18 (NVIDIA (generic)
• video card memory (128MB): 10 (131072K)
• video card identifier: Geforce 6200 LE
• accept predefined modes: 4
  
• use 24 bit color depth by default: 5
• write file to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
• Test: X -config /etc/X11/xorg.conf
• Get rid of /root/xorg.conf.new: rm /root/xorg.conf.new
• Start an x session: startx
• Defaults to twm ("an ugly, loathsome, repulsive, deformed window manager"). Exit with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
  

Continuing...

• Get the ethernet card working again
• ifconfig eth0 up
• dhcpcd
• ping -c 3 www.google.com
• Framebuffer
• vesafb-tng is default for the gentoo kernel sources
• vesafb-tng does not need a vga statement
• important video control options
• ywrap: assume the graphical card can wrap around its memory; this may be the cause of some funny text problems I've had, so I'll leave this option off for now.
• redraw: safer scrolling default. Let's go with this one
• nomtrr: do not use memory type range registers
• mode:1280x1024-32@85 produces a resolution of 1280x1024, 32 bit color depth, and a refresh rate of 85 Hz
• video=vesafb:redraw,nomtrr,1280x1024-32@85
• Install GRUB
  
• emerge sync
  
• emerge grub
• Configure GRUB: create /boot/grub/grub.conf
  

# Which listing to boot as default. 0 is the first, 1 the second etc.
default 0

# How many seconds to wait before the default listing is booted
timeout 15

title=Gentoo Linux 2.6.16-r13
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.16-gentoo-r13 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 real_root=/dev/sda3 udev video=vesafb:redraw,nomtrr,1280x1024-32@85
initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.16-gentoo-r13

• Install GRUB in the MBR
• grep -v rootfs /proc/mounts > /etc/mtab
• grub-install /dev/sda
• Reboot the system
• exit
• cd
• umount /mnt/gentoo/boot
• umount /mnt/gentoo/dev failed - busy
  
• umount /mnt/gentoo/proc failed - not found
  
• umount /mnt/gentoo/var
• umount /mnt/gentoo/video
• umount /mnt/gentoo failed - busy
• list running processes: ps aux
• kill dhcpcd: kill [PID]
• umount /mnt/gentoo/dev
• umount /mnt/gentoo
  
• reboot
• Remove the CD!!!
  

And some more... Genkernel!

• Install the kernel source: USE="-doc symlink" emerge gentoo-sources
• USE="-doc" allows avoiding xorg-x11 or other dependencies
• USE="symlink" is not necessary for a new install, but ensures proper creation of the /usr/src/linux symlink
• Check the symlink and take note of where it points (linux-2.6.16-gentoo-r13): ls -l /usr/src/linux

At this point, I could either compile the kernel manually, or use genkernel to help me do it. I've tried this both ways already, mostly recently compiling manually. This time I'm going to try genkernel again, being careful to disable most of the stuff that I don't need. Genkernel is supposed to produce an environment similar to that of the installation cd. I like that, because the installation cd works. Specifically, it's good at detecting my hardware.

• Emerge the genkernel ebuild: emerge genkernel
• Copy over the kernel configuration used by the installation cd to the location where genkernel looks for the default configuration: zcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/share/genkernel/x86/kernel-config-2.6
• Compile kernel sources, using menuconfig: genkernel --menuconfig all
• The menuconfig option causes an interactive, menu-based kernel configuration utility to be invoked before building the kernel
• The all option causes the initrd, kernel image, and modules to be built
• Disable & Enable configuration options in menuconfig
• Bus options ->PCCARD (PCMCIA/CardBus) support -> < > PCCard (PCMCIA/CardBus) support
• Networking -> < > Bluetooth subsystem support
• Multi-device support (RAID and LVM) -> [ ] Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM)
• IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support -> [ ] IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support
• Network device support -> Wireless LAN (non-hamradio) -> [ ] Wireless LAN drivers (non-hamradio) & Wireless Extensions
• Network device support -> Token Ring devices -> [ ] Token Ring driver support
• File systems -> < > Reiserfs support
• File systems -> < > JFS filesystem support
• File systems -> < > XFS filesystem support
• Exit & save new kernel configuration
• Save the names of the kernel & initrd that werer created: ls /boot/kernel* /boot/initramfs*
  
• /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86-2.6.16-gentoo-r13
• /boot/kernel-genkernel-x86-2.6.16-gentoo-r13
• Emerge & enable coldplug to detect non-boot-necessary hardware
  
• emerge coldplug
• rc-update add coldplug boot
• Configure the modules that should be autoloaded
• View all available modules: find /lib/modules// -type f -iname '*.o' -or -iname '*.ko'
• Edit /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 and add the names of any modules that should be loaded
• Not sure what to put here, so I didn't add anything for now.
• Create fstab
• Edit /etc/fstab
• Update to include the following settings
  
• /boot: /dev/sda1 /boot ext3 defaults,noatime 1 2
• swap: /dev/sda2 none swap sw 0 0
• /: /dev/sda3 / ext3 noatime 0 1
• /var: /dev/sda5 /var ext3 noatime 0 0
• /video: /dev/sda6 /video ext3 noatime 0 0
• /proc: proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
• tmpfs: shm /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,nosuid,noexec 0 0
• cdrom: /dev/cdroms/cdrom0 /mnt/cdrom auto noauto,user 0 0
• floppy: /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto 0 0
• Set the hostname
• Edit /etc/conf.d/hostname
• HOSTNAME="hostname"
• Set the domainname
• Edit /etc/conf.d/domainname
• DNSDOMAIN="homenetwork"
• Configure networking to use dhcp
  
• Edit /etc/conf.d/net
• config_eth0=( "dhcp" )
• dhcp_eth0="nodns nontp nonis"
  
• Configure networking to start at boot: rc-update add net.eth0 default
• Configure hostname resolution for local network:
• Edit /etc/hosts
• 127.0.0.1 localhost hostname
• Set the root password: passwd
• Update system configuration
• Edit /etc/rc.conf
• DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm"
• EDITOR="/bin/nano"
• Configure keyboard
• Edit /etc/conf.d/keymaps
• KEYMAP="us"
• SET_WINDOWKEYS="yes"
• //!!! come back here as a possible cause of weird buffer problems //!!!
  
• Configure clock
• Edit /etc/conf.d/clock
• Set CLOCK="UTC" because system clock is set to UTC
• Install system logger
• emerge syslog-ng
• rc-update add syslog-ng default
• Install cron
• emerge vixie-cron
• rc-update add vixie-cron default
• Install logrotate: emerge logrotate
• Configure logrotate: Edit /etc/logrotate.conf

  # see "man logrotate" for details
  # rotate log files weekly
  weekly
  
  # keep 4 weeks worth of backlogs
  rotate 4
  
  # create new (empty) log files after rotating old ones
  create
  
  # uncomment this if you want your log files compressed
  #compress
  
  # RPM packages drop log rotation information into this directory
  include /etc/logrotate.d
  
  notifempty
  nomail
  noolddir
  
  # no packages own lastlog or wtmp -- we'll rotate them here
  /var/log/wtmp {
  monthly
  create 0664 root utmp
  rotate 1
  }
  
  /var/log/lastlog {
  monthly
  rotate 1
  }
  
  # system-specific logs may be configured here

• Install file indexing: emerge sys-apps/slocate
• Install DHCP client: emerge dhcpcd
  

So here goes...

Time for another try.

Here are some docs I've been referencing:

• Gentoo Linux Handbook (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml)
  

Here are the steps I'm following:

• Insert 2006.0 Gentoo Minimal Install CD and power on.
• Type gentoo at the prompt and hit [enter]

  Things don't work correctly if I skip typing gentoo, even if gentoo is supposed to be the default kernel. No "gentoo", no networking.

• Hit [enter] or stop paying attention long enough to accept the default keymap.
• Hit [F2] to switch to verbose mode & make sure that it's detecting the onboard neworking.
• Make sure networking was configured correctly: ifconfig eth0
• Test networking some more: ping -c 3 www.google.com
• Figure out a partitioning scheme
• /dev/sda1: ext3, 32M, /boot
• /dev/sda2: swap, 1024M, swap
• /dev/sda3: ext3, 10240M, /
• /dev/sda4: extended
• /dev/sda5: ext3, 2048M, /var
• /dev/sda6: ext3, remainder, /video
• Partition the hard drive
• Start fdisk: fdisk /dev/sda
• Display current partition configuration: p
• Remove all current partitions: d,
• Verify all partitions are deleted: p
• Create /boot partition
• create new partition: n
• primary partition: p
• select first partition: 1
• accept default first cylinder: [enter]
• size: +32M
• Make boot partition bootable
• toggle a bootable flag: a
• select the partition to toggle: 1
• Verify boot partition: p
• Create swap partition
• create new partition: n
• primary partition: p
• select second partition: 2
• accept default first cylinder: [enter]
• size: +1024M
• Set the swap partition's type
  
• change partition type: t
• select second partition: 2
• select linux swap type: 82
• Verify the swap partition: p
• Create / partition
• create new partition: n
• select primary partition: p
• select third partition: 3
• accept default first cylinder: [enter]
• size: +10240M
• Create extended partition
• create new partition: n
• selected extended partition: e
• selects partition 4 by default
• accept default first cylinder: [enter]
• accept default last cylinder: [enter]
• Create /var partion
• create new partition: n
• accept default first cylinder: [enter]
• size: +2048M
• Create /video partition
• create new partition: n
• accept default first cylinder: [enter]
• accept default last cylinder: [enter]
• Save the filesystem layout: w
• Create the filesystems
• Make /boot ext3: mke2fs -j /dev/sda1
• Make / ext3: mke2fs -j /dev/sda3
• Make swap swap
  
• mkswap /dev/sda2
• swapon /dev/sda2
• Make /var ext3: mke2fs -j /dev/sda5
• Make /video ext3: mke2fs -j /dev/sda6
• Mount the partitions
• Mount / partition: mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/gentoo
• Make mount directories for all the other partitions
• mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
• mkdir /mnt/gentoo/var
• mkdir /mnt/gentoo/video
• Mount /boot partition: mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot
• Mount /var partition: mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/gentoo/var
• mount /video partition: mount /dev/sda6 /mnt/gentoo/video
• Verify filesystems & mounts: df -h
• Set system time
• See www.timeanddate.com/worldclock to get UTC local time
• date [month,2][day,2][hour, UTC,2][minute,2][year,4]
• Get the stage tarball
• Change to the gentoo mountpoint: cd /mnt/gentoo
• Use links to open mirror listing for tarballs: links http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/mirrors.xml
• Select mirror from list
• Browse to /releases/x86/2006.0/stages/
• Select a stage3 tarball (stage3-x86-2006.0.tar.bz) and press d to download
  
• select the digests file and press d to download
• Verify the integrity of the tarball: md5sum -c stage3-x86-2006.0.tar.bz2.DIGESTS
• Unpack the tarball: tar xvjpf stage3-x86-2006.0.tar.bz2
• Install a Portage snapshot:
• Change directory: cd /mnt/gentoo
• Open mirror listing: links http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/mirrors.xml
• Select mirror from list
• Browse to /snapshots
• Download the latest portage snapshot and md5sum (portage-20060722.tar.bz2, portage-20060722.tar.bz2.md5sum)
• Verify the integrity of the snapshot: md5sum -c portage-20060722.tar.bz2.md5sum
• Extract the snapshot (case is important here): tar xvjf /mnt/gentoo/portage-.tar.bz2 -C /mnt/gentoo/usr
• Configure compile options
• Edit /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf
• CFLAGS="-O2 -mtune=i686 -pipe"
• CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
• MAKEOPTS="-j2"
• Select mirrors
• mirrorselect -i -o >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf
• select one or more mirrors by pressing [space] and press [enter]
• Set the SYNC setting
• mirrorselect -i -r -o >> /mnt/gentoo/etc/make.conf
• select a mirror by pressing [space] and press [enter]
• Copy the DNS info into the new environment: cp -L /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/gentoo/etc/resolv.conf
• Mount the /proc fileystem to allow the install to use the kernel-provided information within the chrooted environment: mount -t proc none /mnt/gentoo/proc
  
• Mount-bind the /dev filesystem: mount -o bind /dev /mnt/gentoo/dev
• Chroot into the new environment
• Change the root from / on the cd to /mnt/gentoo: chroot /mnt/gentoo /bin/bash
• Create a new environment (create new environment variables): env-update
• Load the environment variables into memory: source /etc/profile
• export PS1="(chroot) $PS1"
• Update the portage tree to the latest version
• emerge --sync
• If a new version is available, update portage: emerge portage
• If config files need to be updated: find /etc -iname '._cfg*'
• For help on updating config files: emerge --help --config
• Merge the file differences if necessary, or just move the new files over the old ones
• Verify the system profile
• ls -FGg /etc/make.profile
• Profile points to ../usr/portage/profiles/default-linux/x86/no-nptl, which isn't the preferred default
• Check if the preferred default exists: ls -d /usr/portage/profiles/default-linux/x86/2006.0
• Link to the preferred profile: ln -snf /usr/portage/profiles/default-linux/x86/2006.0 /etc/make.profile
• Verify the profile was updated: ls -FGg /etc/make.profile
• Set USE Flags
• emerge ufed
• back up /etc/make.conf: cp /etc/make.conf /etc/make.conf.good
• run ufed & make selections: ufed
• Ufed edits /etc/make.conf. My resulting flags are as follows: "audiofile bittorrent c++ cdr dvd dvdr dvdread emacs ethereal ftp gimp lirc mozilla mule mysql pdf php"
• Activate the userlocales flag
• mkdir -p /etc/portage
• echo "sys-libs/glibc userlocales" >> /etc/portage/package.use
• Specify the locales that should be supported
• edit /etc/locales.build
• comment out everything except for en_US/ISO-8859-1 and en_us.UTF-8/UTF-8
• Specify the timezone
• less /usr/share/zoneinfo
• less /usr/share/zoneinfo/US
• choose /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Eastern: cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Eastern /etc/localtime

Things I've learned so far...

1. Not very many distributions like my combination of hardware. Some of them don't have the right networking drivers. Some of them kernel panic if you don't type meaningless characters at the first install prompt. So far, only Gentoo has had much success, and I haven't even had complete success there.
2. My processor didn't much like my motherboard at first, either. Or maybe the other way around. I couldn't even get to POST until I updated the BIOS chip on the motherboard.
   

My Hardware

• CPU: Intel Pentium 4 506 Prescott 533MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 EM64T

• Motherboard: ASUS P5LD2 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard

• Power Supply: SeaSonic S12-430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply

• Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 675 (PC2 5400)

• Case: Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower

• DVD: LG 16x DVD+-R DVD Burner (GSA-4167B)

• Floppy: SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model MPF920 Black

• Video Card: eVGA 128-TC-2N27-SX Geforce 6200 LE TC Supporting 512MB (On board 128MB) 64-bit DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card

• Hard Drive: Seagate 300GB Serial ATA

A few notes.

• I tried using a borrowed, older video card. It didn't work so well with the motherboard.
• The heatsink was quite difficult to attach to the motherboard. Stupid little black twisty thingies.
• The case is pretty big for what I have in there, but since this is my first time building a machine from parts, it's nice to have the extra space. Plus, it leaves me plenty of room for adding additional drives, if I ever get Myth working well enough to need that.
• The case came with a broken clip on the front. Antec was really good about sending a replacement. In fact, they sent me two.
  

What's with the name?

Over the Rhine did a Christmas tour by that name a few years back. I have the poster. I like the poster. And I like snow. Plus, Faith once gave me a birthday card that was an edited version of the poster with different variations on "Jen's birthday" replacing every tour date. I think that's enough, really.

So, I'm starting this blog mostly to have a place to record my struggles with MythTV, Gentoo, and my stupid motherboard. I'm sure I'll add some other things down the line. Or maybe not.