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Gentoo Linux Reloaded
nitro322 writes "Daniel Robbins, the leading developer for Gentoo Linux, has written an excellent O'Reilly Network article covering many of the various features of Gentoo, what's coming in version 1.4 (due out SOON), and why you should give it a try. If you haven't tried Gentoo yet, what are you waiting for?"
Gentoo needs to make a version that will still compile the software on the system without having to download. Some of us don't have room mates that understand having a dial-up for 5 days straight.
"It has always been this way and it won't change, god bless the fucked up USA" The Briefs
I find it interesting how many people like having to compile everything and use a distro with such a archaic(not bad, just outdated compared to todays distros) install routine.
What's even more interesting is how many people have left Debian for Gentoo. Debian users are some of the most loyal I know, and yet many of them have simply moved on. I'm guessing Debian blew it with the long delay's between releases.
I also have to say after using linux for a while now, I just have no desire or need to get down and dirty with my distro, am I surprised as many people still are. Keep in mind I'm talking about desktop use where I just want to get my work done, not server use, where I do end up compiling some of my apps.
Personally I just don't have any interest in Gentoo or that style of distro, but obviously not everyone feels that way, since it does seem to be one of the up and coming distros.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Word, we talk like everyone has the time and the extra machine and/or is willing to reinstall the one they have, like it aint no thing. I think for the majority of people trying different linux distributions like picking ice cream at 31 flavors aint going to happen.
It'd be cool to try them out without having to do much on our part to see if its worth it. Well, maybe that's what the linux expo's are for.. But I'm to cheap to fly anywhere for an xpo. Maybe LUG's? I have yet to attend one.
Why should I use Gentoo? Really. Is there some huge feature comparison matrix for all the different distros? Is there really any major innovation between distros?
I don't run *nix that much. I have a dual boot at home for Mandrake 8.2 and W2K. Do different distros really only matter to the elite linux hackers?
With my newest box, it came down to either being Debian or Gentoo. Gentoo would only do a CD install (I didn't have a CD-R) so Debian won. Give me a floppy/FTP install and I will give it a go.
Michael Loves Me!
Acutally, I tried Gentoo as a semi-newbie. I've nearly all the major releases working but, it wasn't until I installed Gentoo that I really learned the inner workings of Linux systems. That was a HUGE benifit. If you are an 'experienced newbie' I would suggest if you have the Phat Pipe (TM) and l337 Hardware (TM), then wade into this full blast. Even if you don't keep Gentoo as you distribution of choice--You'll be better for the experience. The task is challenging but the documentation is good. I also personally like the non-bloatware feature and portage system (I admit nothing about being a BSD user!--you have no proof!).
Like I said give it a try. At the very least you can pick up some skills and that is worth the compile times (on a 1.2Ghz w/ 256DDR system takes me about a long evening start to command line--then emerge gnome or kde while you sleep).
Cthulhu for president!
One of the things I do is leave a 2 gig or so partition around to 'fart around with'. That's enough space to do a full install of most distributions. This also lets me:
/mount/hda/home/zapman, I don't really care)
1) leveradge my existing linux swap partition
2) mount my home directory (though it might be in
3) Learn a lot about other distributions without much cost. (2 gigs... come on.)
And with gentoo, you don't even have that cost... they have 'live cd's. Boot of the cd, and you have a working gentoo distribution in RAM. Great to play with. Great to play Unreal Tourny 2003 on linux! (that's the main point of the disk)
Zapman
Anyways, one day drobbins decided to change the name to something less secular, and so we sat around thinking up names ... We started thinking along the lines, what did we want to say about our linux? ... we bandied around lots of names, eventually I found some zoo site that said the Gentoo Penguin was the fastest pengiun there was ... and the name stuck
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Yea it had some biblical conection ... There is the Book of Enoch in the old testament (I believe?) but I dont really understand how that related to linux if it did at all. Probably one of the reasons the name was changed :)
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Word, we talk like everyone has the time and the extra machine and/or is willing to reinstall the one they have, like it aint no thing.
Quite a few Slashdotters are like that. I have 5 or 6 usable PCs and try different things on them for experience and learning and goofing off.
I've used a couple of different versions of RedHat and Debian, Turbolinux (it came on a CD with my NIC), and started off with Slackware in 1994. I've been using Debian lately but have fond memories of Slackware, and from what I've heard Gentoo sounds right up my alley.
Of course this is not in a production environment.
And it does sound to me like Gentoo is for the people like me who goof around. (Bleeding edge source-based distros don't sound like what I'd want to administer at work, though.)
Oh, and by the way: Word!
You wink, but it's true. That's why I left Gentoo. I got sick of the constant compiling, even on my 1GHz P3.
Now I follow Debian sid and I do just fine.