Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Dan Wallis
On 12/11/2008, Volker Armin Hemmann
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 as root: lspci

Why as root? I get exactly the same output when I run it as my own
user as when I run it as root. Or have I got my system set up
different to everyone else?


Dan



Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Alan McKinnon
On Thursday 13 November 2008 23:05:09 Dan Wallis wrote:
 On 12/11/2008, Volker Armin Hemmann

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  as root: lspci

 Why as root? I get exactly the same output when I run it as my own
 user as when I run it as root. Or have I got my system set up
 different to everyone else?

It means you have /usr/sbin/ in your regular user's PATH


-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto
On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 7:05 PM, Dan Wallis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On 12/11/2008, Volker Armin Hemmann
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 as root: lspci

 Why as root? I get exactly the same output when I run it as my own
 user as when I run it as root. Or have I got my system set up
 different to everyone else?
$ lspci
bash: lspci: command not found
echo ${PATH}
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.2:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/bin:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/javaws:/usr/games/bin
At least in my system, the lspci binary resides in /usr/sbin, which is
not in ${PATH}
So you should either call lspci as root or issue the explicit command
/usr/sbin/lspci

That said, if you want to use the -v flag of lspci (for extra
verbosity), you should be root, or you will see some fields filled
with access denied

-- 
Software is like sex: it is better when it is free - Linus Torvalds



Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Volker Armin Hemmann
On Thursday 13 November 2008, Dan Wallis wrote:
 On 12/11/2008, Volker Armin Hemmann

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  as root: lspci

 Why as root? I get exactly the same output when I run it as my own
 user as when I run it as root. Or have I got my system set up
 different to everyone else?

maybe, I don't have /usr/sbin in my PATH. Also as root you get a bit more 
information.



Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Dan Wallis
On 13/11/2008, Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 7:05 PM, Dan Wallis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   On 12/11/2008, Volker Armin Hemmann
   [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   as root: lspci
  
   Why as root? I get exactly the same output when I run it as my own
   user as when I run it as root. Or have I got my system set up
   different to everyone else?

 $ lspci
  bash: lspci: command not found
  echo ${PATH}
  
 /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.2:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/bin:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/javaws:/usr/games/bin
  At least in my system, the lspci binary resides in /usr/sbin, which is
  not in ${PATH}
  So you should either call lspci as root or issue the explicit command
  /usr/sbin/lspci
Yes, I do have that directory in my PATH.

  That said, if you want to use the -v flag of lspci (for extra
  verbosity), you should be root, or you will see some fields filled
  with access denied
Thanks for the tip; I didn't know about the verbose flag. It looks
like that'll come in useful when I do my next build in a few weeks.

Thanks

Dan



Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Volker Armin Hemmann
On Thursday 13 November 2008, Dan Wallis wrote:
 On 13/11/2008, Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 7:05 PM, Dan Wallis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On 12/11/2008, Volker Armin Hemmann
   
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
as root: lspci
   
Why as root? I get exactly the same output when I run it as my own
user as when I run it as root. Or have I got my system set up
different to everyone else?
 
  $ lspci
   bash: lspci: command not found
   echo ${PATH}
  
  /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.
 2:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/bin:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/javaws:/usr/game
 s/bin At least in my system, the lspci binary resides in /usr/sbin, which
  is not in ${PATH}
   So you should either call lspci as root or issue the explicit command
   /usr/sbin/lspci

 Yes, I do have that directory in my PATH.

   That said, if you want to use the -v flag of lspci (for extra
   verbosity), you should be root, or you will see some fields filled
   with access denied

 Thanks for the tip; I didn't know about the verbose flag. It looks
 like that'll come in useful when I do my next build in a few weeks.

not really. For an enduser --verbose isn't very helpfull.




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Dirk Uys
On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 12:38 AM, Volker Armin Hemmann
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On Thursday 13 November 2008, Dan Wallis wrote:
 On 13/11/2008, Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 7:05 PM, Dan Wallis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
On 12/11/2008, Volker Armin Hemmann
   
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
as root: lspci
   
Why as root? I get exactly the same output when I run it as my own
user as when I run it as root. Or have I got my system set up
different to everyone else?
 
  $ lspci
   bash: lspci: command not found
   echo ${PATH}
 
  /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.
 2:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/bin:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/javaws:/usr/game
 s/bin At least in my system, the lspci binary resides in /usr/sbin, which
  is not in ${PATH}
   So you should either call lspci as root or issue the explicit command
   /usr/sbin/lspci

 Yes, I do have that directory in my PATH.

   That said, if you want to use the -v flag of lspci (for extra
   verbosity), you should be root, or you will see some fields filled
   with access denied

 Thanks for the tip; I didn't know about the verbose flag. It looks
 like that'll come in useful when I do my next build in a few weeks.

 not really. For an enduser --verbose isn't very helpfull.


Don't know if I qualify as an end-user, but I find:
Kernel driver in use:
very usefull.



Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Dale
Dirk Uys wrote:
 On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 12:38 AM, Volker Armin Hemmann
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   
 
 not really. For an enduser --verbose isn't very helpfull.

 

 Don't know if I qualify as an end-user, but I find:
 Kernel driver in use:
 very usefull.


   

I noticed that too.  That is VERY cool.  Would be really cool when
booting from the CD during a install.  Really easy to figure out what
drivers to put in the kernel for unknown hardware.

Dale

:-)  :-) 



Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-13 Thread Volker Armin Hemmann
On Freitag 14 November 2008, Dirk Uys wrote:
 On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 12:38 AM, Volker Armin Hemmann

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  On Thursday 13 November 2008, Dan Wallis wrote:
  On 13/11/2008, Jorge Peixoto de Morais Neto
 
  [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   On Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 7:05 PM, Dan Wallis [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
wrote:
 On 12/11/2008, Volker Armin Hemmann

 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 as root: lspci

 Why as root? I get exactly the same output when I run it as my own
 user as when I run it as root. Or have I got my system set up
 different to everyone else?
  
   $ lspci
bash: lspci: command not found
echo ${PATH}
  
   /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4
  .1.
   2:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/bin:/opt/sun-jre-bin-1.5.0.06/javaws:/usr/
  game s/bin At least in my system, the lspci binary resides in
   /usr/sbin, which is not in ${PATH}
So you should either call lspci as root or issue the explicit command
/usr/sbin/lspci
 
  Yes, I do have that directory in my PATH.
 
That said, if you want to use the -v flag of lspci (for extra
verbosity), you should be root, or you will see some fields filled
with access denied
 
  Thanks for the tip; I didn't know about the verbose flag. It looks
  like that'll come in useful when I do my next build in a few weeks.
 
  not really. For an enduser --verbose isn't very helpfull.

 Don't know if I qualify as an end-user, but I find:
 Kernel driver in use:
 very usefull.

ok, I know my hardware well enough for that ;)




[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Dan Wallis [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 The blocks regarding sys-fs/e2fsprogs, sys-libs/e2fsprogs-libs,
 sys-libs/ss and sys-libs/com_err were discussed recently on this list.
 Basically you need to:

 emerge -f e2fsprogs e2fsprogs-libs
 emerge -C com_err ss e2fsprogs
 emerge -1 e2fsprogs


 I'm not sure about the others, but fixing these should get you closer
 to an up-to-date system. :)

That did clean those up... thanks




[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Volker Armin Hemmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

[...] Many thanks for the other useful info I've snipped

 [blocks b ]  x11-drivers/xf86-video-nsc (x11-drivers/xf86-video-nsc
 is blocking x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2) [blocks b ] 
 x11-drivers/xf86-video-vga (x11-drivers/xf86-video-vga is blocking
 x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2) [blocks b ]  x11-drivers/xf86-video-imstt
 (x11-drivers/xf86-video-imstt is blocking x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2)
 [blocks b ]  x11-drivers/xf86-video-cyrix

 and you need all the videodrivers? I am sure not. So remove them and set 
 VIDEO_CARDS in makec.conf.

A light just went off over my head.  For mnths, maybe yrs... I've
wondered why so many x11 drivers would get installed.

OK, but a quick google on `site:gentoo.org VIDEO_CARDS' didn't turn up
a way to determine what card is on the machine.  At least not a
recognizable hit I can see is about that.

I'm pretty sure I can get that info without opening the cover but I'm
drawing blanks about how.




[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Dirk Heinrichs [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

[...] thanks for the other useful info I've snipped

 4) update world with the ignore blocks option turned on (don't know which 
 that is, since I use paludis).

a quick grep of man emerge and man portage on `ignore' and on `block'
didn't turn up such an option.

I am updated to latest portage (sys-apps/portage-2.2_rc14)




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Dirk Heinrichs
Am Mittwoch, 12. November 2008 20:11:33 schrieb Harry Putnam:

 a quick grep of man emerge and man portage on `ignore' and on `block'
 didn't turn up such an option.

As I said, I use paludis. I was only told that emerge also has this option, 
just last week (or was it the week before?) on this list.

Bye...

Dirk



[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Dirk Heinrichs [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 Am Mittwoch, 12. November 2008 20:11:33 schrieb Harry Putnam:

 a quick grep of man emerge and man portage on `ignore' and on `block'
 didn't turn up such an option.

 As I said, I use paludis. I was only told that emerge also has this option, 
 just last week (or was it the week before?) on this list.

Sorry, didn't mean to jam you about it... I posted the grep info
hoping someone else would insert some info about it... thanks again.




[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Harry Putnam [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 and you need all the videodrivers? I am sure not. So remove them and set 
 VIDEO_CARDS in makec.conf.

 A light just went off over my head.  For mnths, maybe yrs... I've
 wondered why so many x11 drivers would get installed.

 OK, but a quick google on `site:gentoo.org VIDEO_CARDS' didn't turn up
 a way to determine what card is on the machine.  At least not a
 recognizable hit I can see is about that.

 I'm pretty sure I can get that info without opening the cover but I'm
 drawing blanks about how.

Never mind.  lspci is my friend




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Volker Armin Hemmann
On Mittwoch 12 November 2008, Harry Putnam wrote:
 Dirk Heinrichs [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 [...] thanks for the other useful info I've snipped

  4) update world with the ignore blocks option turned on (don't know
  which that is, since I use paludis).

 a quick grep of man emerge and man portage on `ignore' and on `block'
 didn't turn up such an option.

 I am updated to latest portage (sys-apps/portage-2.2_rc14)

you don't need that option. There is no option. It just works.




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Volker Armin Hemmann
On Mittwoch 12 November 2008, Harry Putnam wrote:
 Volker Armin Hemmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 [...] Many thanks for the other useful info I've snipped

  [blocks b ]  x11-drivers/xf86-video-nsc
  (x11-drivers/xf86-video-nsc is blocking x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2)
  [blocks b ]
  x11-drivers/xf86-video-vga (x11-drivers/xf86-video-vga is blocking
  x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2) [blocks b ] 
  x11-drivers/xf86-video-imstt (x11-drivers/xf86-video-imstt is blocking
  x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2) [blocks b ] 
  x11-drivers/xf86-video-cyrix
 
  and you need all the videodrivers? I am sure not. So remove them and set
  VIDEO_CARDS in makec.conf.

 A light just went off over my head.  For mnths, maybe yrs... I've
 wondered why so many x11 drivers would get installed.

 OK, but a quick google on `site:gentoo.org VIDEO_CARDS' didn't turn up
 a way to determine what card is on the machine.  At least not a
 recognizable hit I can see is about that.

 I'm pretty sure I can get that info without opening the cover but I'm
 drawing blanks about how.

as root: lspci




[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Andrey Falko [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 lspci should show you what video card you have. Look for VGA or something
 like that. For example on my system:

Thanks... I didn't see your post in time and posted a never mind after
banging away with google and unearthing that info.




[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Dirk Heinrichs [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 From the output you gave, I would suggest that you

 1) update portage to the latest (evantually keyword masked) version. This 
 should be able to ignore blocks.

 2) Adjust your VIDEO_CARDS, I don't think you have that many cards plugged 
 into your machine.

 3) There seem to be blocks between monolithic and splitted kde/qt (kde*-meta) 
 ebuilds. Decide which ones to use and remove the others. qt you need to 
 eventually update separatedly, i.e. emerge qt.

 4) update world with the ignore blocks option turned on (don't know which 
 that is, since I use paludis).

 5) emerge --depclean (-p) to remove the cruft.

What if I ran the --depclean before updating world.  Would that help
me get rid of some junk before updating it with `world'?




[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Volker Armin Hemmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 Just install the latest portage. It has a block breaking function. Then 
 upgrade e2fsprogs like described a few douzend times on this ml and in the 
 forums. Remove all the acient video drivers you don't need anyway. After 
 that, 
 most blocks should be gone.

Got that part fixed what about this:
From emerge -vuDNpt system

[...]

[nomerge  ]  x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2 [1.4.2] 
[nomerge  ]   x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5  USE=-debug -minimal  [0]
[blocks b ]x11-base/xorg-server-1.5 (x11-base/xorg-server-1.5 
is blocking x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5)
[ebuild U ] x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2 [1.4.2]
[ebuild  N]  x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5  USE=-debug

[...]

I may have trimmed that down too much .. there was a very long line of
stuff after the xorg-server entries.

I tried installed emerge -v x11-base/xorg-server and
x11-libs/libpciaccess separately by themselves without the -uDN part
but that fails too.

Not too easy to see how to get around this.





Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Volker Armin Hemmann
On Mittwoch 12 November 2008, Harry Putnam wrote:
 Dirk Heinrichs [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
  From the output you gave, I would suggest that you
 
  1) update portage to the latest (evantually keyword masked) version. This
  should be able to ignore blocks.
 
  2) Adjust your VIDEO_CARDS, I don't think you have that many cards
  plugged into your machine.
 
  3) There seem to be blocks between monolithic and splitted kde/qt
  (kde*-meta) ebuilds. Decide which ones to use and remove the others. qt
  you need to eventually update separatedly, i.e. emerge qt.
 
  4) update world with the ignore blocks option turned on (don't know
  which that is, since I use paludis).
 
  5) emerge --depclean (-p) to remove the cruft.

 What if I ran the --depclean before updating world.  Would that help
 me get rid of some junk before updating it with `world'?

no, it would completly fuck up your system.




[gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Harry Putnam
Volker Armin Hemmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 Just install the latest portage. It has a block breaking
 function. Then upgrade e2fsprogs like described a few douzend times
 on this ml and in the forums. Remove all the acient video drivers
 you don't need anyway. After that, most blocks should be gone.

Thanks again, and it appears to be working with at least `system' at
this moment.  After cleaning up the x11 drivers, and emerge -C 7-8
things I really don't need anymore.  Even with a blocker in there, the
emerge is running along just like you said it would nice.

Hopefully the world part may be as easy too.  I was really reluctant
to take too this mess but with yours, Andreys', Dirks', Marks' and
Dans' input it appears I may get this done by tomorrow.

All and all, much easier than my first thought of building up a fresh
gentoo install somewhere else and using that to overwrite my current
install.




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Dirk Heinrichs
Am Mittwoch, 12. November 2008 21:36:24 schrieb Volker Armin Hemmann:
 On Mittwoch 12 November 2008, Harry Putnam wrote:

  What if I ran the --depclean before updating world.  Would that help
  me get rid of some junk before updating it with `world'?

 no, it would completly fuck up your system.

???

Bye...

Dirk



Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Dirk Heinrichs
Am Mittwoch, 12. November 2008 20:20:40 schrieb Harry Putnam:
  As I said, I use paludis. I was only told that emerge also has this
  option, just last week (or was it the week before?) on this list.

 Sorry, didn't mean to jam you about it...

Oh, I didn't understand it as such, just wanted to clarify.

Bye...

Dirk



Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Alan McKinnon
On Wednesday 12 November 2008 22:23:33 Harry Putnam wrote:
 Volker Armin Hemmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
  Just install the latest portage. It has a block breaking function. Then
  upgrade e2fsprogs like described a few douzend times on this ml and in
  the forums. Remove all the acient video drivers you don't need anyway.
  After that, most blocks should be gone.

 Got that part fixed what about this:
 From emerge -vuDNpt system

 [...]

 [nomerge  ]  x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2 [1.4.2]
 [nomerge  ]   x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5  USE=-debug -minimal 
 [0] [blocks b ]x11-base/xorg-server-1.5
 (x11-base/xorg-server-1.5 is blocking x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5)
 [ebuild U ] x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2 [1.4.2]
 [ebuild  N]  x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5  USE=-debug

 [...]

 I may have trimmed that down too much .. there was a very long line of
 stuff after the xorg-server entries.

 I tried installed emerge -v x11-base/xorg-server and
 x11-libs/libpciaccess separately by themselves without the -uDN part
 but that fails too.

 Not too easy to see how to get around this.

I think this is what you want:

quickpkg xorg-server
emerge -C xorg-server  emerge xorg-server

-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Neil Bothwick
On Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:15:33 +0100, Dirk Heinrichs wrote:

  a quick grep of man emerge and man portage on `ignore' and on `block'
  didn't turn up such an option.  
 
 As I said, I use paludis. I was only told that emerge also has this
 option, just last week (or was it the week before?) on this list.

I don't think it has such an option, but it does handle blocks much
better, automatically resolving many of them, including the recent
e2fsprogs one. That's not ignoring blocks but dealing with them.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Intel Inside Is a Government Warning Required by Law.


signature.asc
Description: PGP signature


Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Neil Bothwick
On Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:23:33 -0600, Harry Putnam wrote:

 Got that part fixed what about this:
 From emerge -vuDNpt system
 
 [...]
 
 [nomerge  ]  x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2 [1.4.2] 
 [nomerge  ]   x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5  USE=-debug
 -minimal  [0] [blocks b ]x11-base/xorg-server-1.5
 (x11-base/xorg-server-1.5 is blocking x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5)
 [ebuild U ] x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2 [1.4.2] [ebuild
 N]  x11-libs/libpciaccess-0.10.5  USE=-debug
 

There's nothing to fix, just let the emerge proceed. The docs aren't
clear on this, but my experience with the newer portage is that a block
marked with a b will be resolved by portage, a B block is a more serious
problem.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

If you hear an Onion ring, please answer it!


signature.asc
Description: PGP signature


Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to fix a hefty (emerge) blocking problem

2008-11-12 Thread Andrey Falko
On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Harry Putnam [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Volker Armin Hemmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

 [...] Many thanks for the other useful info I've snipped

  [blocks b ]  x11-drivers/xf86-video-nsc
 (x11-drivers/xf86-video-nsc
  is blocking x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2) [blocks b ]
  x11-drivers/xf86-video-vga (x11-drivers/xf86-video-vga is blocking
  x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2) [blocks b ]
  x11-drivers/xf86-video-imstt
  (x11-drivers/xf86-video-imstt is blocking x11-base/xorg-server-1.5.2)
  [blocks b ]  x11-drivers/xf86-video-cyrix

  and you need all the videodrivers? I am sure not. So remove them and set
  VIDEO_CARDS in makec.conf.

 A light just went off over my head.  For mnths, maybe yrs... I've
 wondered why so many x11 drivers would get installed.

 OK, but a quick google on `site:gentoo.org VIDEO_CARDS' didn't turn up
 a way to determine what card is on the machine.  At least not a
 recognizable hit I can see is about that.

 I'm pretty sure I can get that info without opening the cover but I'm
 drawing blanks about how.



lspci should show you what video card you have. Look for VGA or something
like that. For example on my system:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV44 [Quadro NVS 285]
(rev a1)

So for me, I'd use either the nv or nvidia driver. Also, don't you have a
video card section in xorg.conf? If you are using vesa or something then put
that into your VIDEO_CARDS var.