My Gentoo Installation (Work in Progress)
I've finally decided to really dedicate myself to learning Linux and using Linux more than I currently do. The first step is taking the main computer (my laptop) that I use all the time and converting it from Windows XP to Gentoo.
Laptop Specs
Dell Inspiron 6400
Intel T7400 - Core 2 Duo 2.16Ghz
1GB of RAM
60GB Hard Drive
ATI X1400 Video Card
Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem
Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Contoller
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Standard SD Host contoller (Secure Digital Card)
SigmaTel High Definition Audio Codec
Intel USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
So, I started doing this research to figure out some common things that I'm going to have to know when I do my gentoo installation based on these specs. So far I've determined, thanks to the help of #gentoo on irc.freenode.net that i'll need to use the following for my processor to take full advantage of it. Special Thanks to FunnyMan3595 for his help!
Code:
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CFLAGS="-march=nocona -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
MAKEOPTS="-j3"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
USE Flags = mmxext sse2It was suggested to use -march=prescott because it 'might' be faster, however Intel recommends -march=nocona. I found that prescott was origionally suggested in a gentoo forums debate for core duo processors. Since then Core 2 Duo has come out and it's recommended nocona. Another note I found was "As of GCC 4.3, you can set -march to "core2". This also enables the SSSE3 instruction set, also new in 4.3. However, gcc 4.3 is only available in the gentoo 'toolchain' overlay and given it's stability level (pre-alpha) you'd be mad to use that right now."
You can continue to watch the Gentoo Safe_Cflags page for updates.
From here I'm going to continue my research on other applications I plan to run and what flags or options I'll need to use to customize my system for the best performance. More to come....