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Gentoo Linux Announces Gentoo Linux 2004.1
Keppy writes "The departure of Daniel Robbins hasn't dented the progress of Gentoo Linux with version 2004.1 being released. ... please support Gentoo by purchasing something from the online store. The Gentoo homepage also has a short message about the future of Gentoo Linux now that Daniel has left. ' Robbat2 writes with an excerpt from the linked announcement:
"Please consult our
mirror index for download
locations and the
Gentoo Linux Installation Handbook
for detailed installation
instructions. Support for Gentoo Linux 2004.1 can be found through our
user community by way of the Gentoo Forums,
IRC, and various
community mailing-lists.
Release notes for each architecture
can be found linked from the
Gentoo Linux Release Engineering project page."
I am already ugrading, this is by far the best distro I have used :) together with debian :-D
As relfected in previous posts, it looks like slashdot is becoming more Freshmeat.net with each passing day. Then again, it is news for nerds.
Just my two cents
Wait!
root@gentoo ~# emerge newlines
Calculating dependencies
emerge: there are no masked or unmasked ebuilds to satisfy "newlines".
!!! Error calculating dependencies. Please correct.
It's very new, not popular like Gentoo, and it's based around binary packages, not source, but it has many strengths:
-everything comes i686 compiled for speed
-pacman package manager makes installs quick and auto-resolves deps, like Debian apt-get except using a different repository(admittedly a much smaller one, but it stays near the cutting edge, unlike Debian).
-Initial install is very light and gives you the opportunity to learn how to build up your system "from scratch," so you'll never be wholly dependent on any distro-specific tools.
The main disadvantage, that scared me away for a few days, is that you'll have to be willing to edit a lot of configuration files, which is tricky for a beginner; but I managed and I only have a few weeks experience with Linux. There is a port of the Knoppix autoconfigure, but it will only tell you what your hardware is, and it's up to you to use the information. But the documentation, while sparse, hits on most of the necessary points, and the forums were extremely helpful to me.
I have not tried Gentoo, but neither do I see a compelling reason to switch. I don't want to bother with compiling everything(compiling is a "dirty" process in my opinion; too much can go wrong), and I'm comfortable with what's offered using pacman.