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Gentoo Ricer Comparison

Dozix007 writes "The folks over at Funroll-Loops have created a funny comparison between the Ricer fad gripping the US, and Gentoo Linux. In a quote from the site 'Like the annoying teenager next door with a 90hp import sporting a 6 foot tall bolt-on wing, Gentoo users are proof that society is best served by roving gangs of armed vigilantes, dishing out swift, cold justice with baseball bats...'"

573 comments

  1. Old.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Jesus Christ, is there a /.er who hasn't been here? I've seen it linked dozens of times, just about any time there's a Gentoo story. Old news.

    1. Re:Old.. by Japong · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's sunday, which means slow news and lots of old recycled stuff. Don't get too down, it's still Saturday night, go out and party with you friends and have a good time. Anyway, the "Ricer" comparison is a little off - there really is no vigilante force as far as I can tell, people do what they want, when they want, and no matter how odd or strange they are they still get kudos from someone and shrug off the criticism - if not, we'd have been out of trolling ACs on /. a long time ago. This post written by a drunk university student. Please correct spelling & grammar.

    2. Re:Old.. by CAIMLAS · · Score: 0

      The comparision is a little off because it's a comparison, not a fucking 'diff'. An apple is like an orange, but an apple isn't an orange. Make sense?

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    3. Re:Old.. by CaseBlack · · Score: 3, Funny

      A classic expamle of "Silicon is cheaper than Carbon!"...if you want more speed, buy more Silicon, don't have the Carbon Units spend hundreds of hours tweeking up the software...

    4. Re:Old.. by prell · · Score: 0, Troll

      Are Slashdot stories normally not parsed for racism or what?

    5. Re:Old.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is racist about it? Ricer? Japanese/Korean cars and motorcycles have been called rice-burners for a long time and if you think that's a racist term, you've been in your college's PC brainwashing lab too long.

    6. Re:Old.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I second that. Some ppl are just too goddam fucking sensitive these days. Polical Correctness? Pah! Why don't you PC whining crybabies just grow up and stop trying to play the victim card already.

  2. Older then the oldest? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    WTF? This is so old... is an editor cranky and want them slashdotted? :(

    1. Re:Older then the oldest? by coastwalker · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Slashdotted or not I emailed them

      "I dont agree with your premise that Gentoo users are foolish and to be mocked.

      You have a point that male youngsters tend to perform rutting ceremonys where they wave around the size of their arcane technical knowledge rather than their penis or fists. However this aspect of Gentoo as a phenonemon is applicable to any activity that male youth engages in. So yes, some Gentoo users are embarassingly funny, but only because we adults have to mock this sort of behaviour in order to lead youngsters towards adulthood.

      What is less clear is whether your identification of the similarity of stylistic enhancement of motorised transport with loading and tweaking a computer operating system is a valid comparison. Could it be for example that your field of expertise is in the realm of literature or graphic design? This would perhaps qualify you with total ignorance of motor mechanics and operating system setup rather than a low IQ. Therefore you will be unaware that deploying Gentoo is not dissimilar to reading a book. It wouldnt make much sense unless done against the context of what you already know and the more you know the more you get out of it.

      I therefore propose that your next project should be a website mocking teenagers who aspire to literary expertise, after all they are just as stupid as vehicle modifiers or Gentoo enthusiasts. For good measure why not suggest that all boys that read books are probably gay as young women are generally better at the subject. In particular you should make every effort to prevent young people from reading any books by pointing out how socially embarrasing it is for young people to be heard talking about reading. After all the world would be a better place if nobody read at all.

      The joke is quite funny but you Sir are just as stupid as the people whom you mock, particularly as I note that your entire creative input on your web site consists of cutting and pasting your victims own work.

      Quite possibly therefore you are a fraud as well as your creative skills suggest you are primarily a computer user with no skills from the outside world.

      Consider yourself rumbled stupid person."

      I havent got around to trying Gentoo yet, have never modified a vehicle except to fill the rusty holes in and mostly read non fiction.

      This joke site did not make me laugh, this one did though.
      http://www.chavscum.co.uk/

      --
      Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    2. Re:Older then the oldest? by losinggeneration · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe you've just never talked to a Gentoo user before.....

    3. Re:Older then the oldest? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      What is less clear is whether your identification of the similarity of stylistic enhancement of motorised transport with loading and tweaking a computer operating system is a valid comparison. Could it be for example that your field of expertise is in the realm of literature or graphic design? This would perhaps qualify you with total ignorance of motor mechanics and operating system setup rather than a low IQ. Therefore you will be unaware that deploying Gentoo is not dissimilar to reading a book. It wouldnt make much sense unless done against the context of what you already know and the more you know the more you get out of it.

      And what is even less clear than that is your muddled writing.

    4. Re:Older then the oldest? by coastwalker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I contend that it is worth criticising the site by making the distinction that the real enemy is not the aspiring ignorant but ignorance itself. A culture sophisticated enough to invent the term "Newby", "FAQ" and "HowTo" realy should have more tolerance towards aspiring newcommers. You can argue for intolerance but only if you have a concrete reason that improves upon "They annoy me becase they are not as well informed as me". So yes, babys first words are funny, but we dont laugh at baby for trying - or as I should point out in fairness - we dont laugh at them in public, and this web site is as public as it gets.

      I'm also mindfull of an idea I once heard that software should be freely available to anybody who finds a use for it as expressed by some of the more political philosophies of the open software movement. It strikes me that giving a potential "ricer" the ability to do very clever things with software despite very little knowledge is a pretty powerfull expression of the idea "freely available". So I have no problem with the idea of Gentoo itself, particularly as its widespread use probably expands the pool of beta testers for new software considerably.

      Being L33t with Gentoo is considerably more useful to society than being a gang member despite the similarity of speech and behaviour of the two groups. So I for one wish the very best of luck to all these people we are currently laughing at.

      I say let them in and the more the merrier.

      --
      Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    5. Re:Older then the oldest? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Actually, no. The guy who designed that site was just looking for a bunch more quotes, so he thought he'd send it here. I'm sure the quotes of quite a few /.ers will make for a nice new addition to that site.

    6. Re:Older then the oldest? by coastwalker · · Score: 1

      Probably true :-). But its always easier to be a critic than to have something to say dont you think?

      --
      Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    7. Re:Older then the oldest? by Afrosheen · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Being L33t with Gentoo is considerably more useful to society than being a gang member despite the similarity of speech and behaviour of the two groups."

      Gang members: beat the shit out of the new guy to have him join the gang. Afterwards there are hugs and lemonade.

      Gentoo users: beat the shit out of their dad's Packard Bell trying to get Gentoo installed. Afterwards there is a 72 hour wait before they can do anything useful with their pc.

      Gang members: enjoy carrying various forms of weaponry such as knives and fully automatic assault rifles.

      Gentoo users: enjoy carrying Gentoo Unreal Tournament live cds.

      Gang members: rate each other on the amount of money they have, the number of rival members they've killed, and how many bitches they've got up in the guts with.

      Gentoo users: rate each other on breadth and depth of Linux knowledge, ebuild scripting, and how many machines Gentoo is currently running on.

      Yeah I can really see the correlation there. NEXT!

    8. Re:Older then the oldest? by TWX · · Score: 1

      So what you're saying is that after the initial induction, the gang members have a lot more fun?

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    9. Re:Older then the oldest? by innosent · · Score: 0, Troll

      Ok, I'll bite. I used gentoo because it has a FreeBSD-style ports system. Then I realized that FreeBSD also has a (better) FreeBSD-style ports system, and installs in less than a week.

      --
      --That's the point of being root, you can do anything you want, even if it's stupid.
    10. Re:Older then the oldest? by exeel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Most Linux users probably havent, Im generally snobbed for using gentoo, even though im not a dickhead who thinks that obscure (and seemingly obscene) gcc compile flags are the way to be a '1337 h4>3n f00'. In fact, I use gentoo out of familiarity, and stubborness. Im also somewhat devoted to my current install which has been going for 2 years now, despite my mistakes and failings - such as `rm -rf * /home/public` whilst `pwd` == /etc.

      But I digress, my point is that I cop alot of flak from people because I use gentoo (they are mostly debian users, who consider gentoo to be something of a joke - almost akin to mandrake in the puppy-like "im want to help, i want to help - here, let me hide everything from you, and make it difficult to fix the mistakes I make" factor).

      So Gentoo users seem to be treated like an underclass in the Linux using world, mostly because 'portage' is an "easy" and "stupid" package system. Or becuase its users are "easy" and "stupid". Thanks guys who have never bothered to respond to my attempts at conversation. Even though its the best way of managing a source based distro (yes, I've used slackware, and Im sorry but `make && make test && make install;` is just pedantic when compared to `emerge $PKG_NAME`). Portage is based on *BSD ports, and, although its not a true implementation, I am convinced that the people who display such hostility to gentoo and its users, certainly respect FreeBSD - although thats probably because they've never used it (No offence to people that have, I seem to be becoming the thing I am arguing against, and that is prejudice because of the actions of some users).

      So what is it about Gentoo users that most of the other Linux users despise so much? Is it because most people install via source files as opposed to binary packages (which portage is more than capable of `man portage`). And before any AC's tell me that other Linux users dont talk to me because Im a jerk, and it's more than likely my fault - consider this, I get on fine with people I meet, and talk about computers and the like, and as soon as I mention that I use gentoo, they generally excuse themselves or just plain turn their backs.

      So is there any real reason? Honestly? I dont see as much hostility to FreeBSD users or Slackware users.

      --
      ___
      Exeel -

      whisper 'mov cat,rooster' > public.bar.stool->girl.ear 2> hell.nofury >

    11. Re:Older then the oldest? by losinggeneration · · Score: 1

      People rip on Gentoo because there is a large portion of the users who use Gentoo who don't want to read anything before they ask the same question that's been answered twenty times before or is even in the documentation. (When I say large, I'd guess almost a fourth, which is still a large portion of the user base.) I just have to say I have Gentoo on my computer as well as Slackware. It's been over a month since I booted to Gentoo just because I use Slackware most of the time. I just use Gentoo to play with.

      I don't feel like making this extremely lengthy and giving lots of examples and the full works. I could make fun of just about every distribution by using stereo types about each. Gentoo just happens to have the stereotype that there are some not so desirable users that are very vocal.

  3. I've seen this before... by KrispyKringle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...and it's stupid. It's insulting to the hard work by the Gentoo folks, and ignorant to imply that a) Gentoo is the only distribution that has a few vocal-but-clueless users mixed in with the friendly, intelligent, and helpful ones, and that b) just because these vocal-but-cluesless users don't have a good reason for using Gentoo means that there is none.

    This is just great evidence for how far downhill Slashdot's gone.

    1. Re:I've seen this before... by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The website is a joke, don't take it so seriously.

    2. Re:I've seen this before... by KrispyKringle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sorry. It's late and I was out drinking.

      To clarify, I don't find it offensive. I just think it's silly, not the least bit funny, and I think distrowars are stupid as fuck.

      Flame on. I'm going to bed.

    3. Re:I've seen this before... by physicsphairy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Every distro has its fanatics. People like me, we get our jollies out of poking fun at them. It's nothing personal. Besides, there's good reason to move on to making fun of Gentoo users, what with BSD dying and all. . . . ;)

    4. Re:I've seen this before... by metlin · · Score: 4, Funny


      Well, I'm a Ricer and a Gentoo fan, you insensitive clod.

      x-(

      Okay, am kidding. I just drive a rickety old Toyota and use Windows ME. :-(

    5. Re:I've seen this before... by 0racle · · Score: 0
      Its a joke, but since you feel like taking it seriously...
      ...and it's stupid. It's insulting to the hard work by the <insert car manufacturer> to imply that a) <insert car manufacturer> is the only car manufacturer that has a few vocal-but-clueless users mixed in with the friendly, intelligent, and helpful ones, and that b) just because these vocal-but-cluesless(sic) users don't have a good reason for using <insert car manufacturer> means that there is none.
      See I can make the same argument for ricers. Except ricers are idiots because its all for show and they think that it makes them something special. In the same vein, your 'vocal-but-cluesless users'(sic) are also idiots because not only are they simply doing this for show because they thing it makes them 31337, but they have somehow convinced themselves that they are the only people who have the right to use Linux, and they are very loud about spreading that. So yes, the very vocal gentoo users are not just clueless, they're also complete idiots, and have a great deal in common with ricers. Did you actually read some of those comments?
      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    6. Re:I've seen this before... by flatface · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's just a collection of people saying stupid things on the the Gentoo forums. And for the record, I run Gentoo, but NOT for most of the reasons the people quoted say they do.

      For some reason I've liked Portage much more than Debian's apt-get, whatever Red Hat uses (the name escapes me now) is just broken, and as for the others, just about none of their package management systems are nearly as good as Debian/Gentoo's, so I won't be touching them for a while. For instance, I'd like to see a list of packages that need updating without going through all of them.

      Gentoo's Bugzilla (mainly for ebuilds) is awesome. Just about every time I've had a problem, I can find a solution there. Yes, I'm saying that Gentoo's not perfect. It isn't. But at least I know it's getting better. Not sure if Debian has one, but the mailing lists sure are a pain to sift through...

      Speed? I don't care. I've got a working system (AXP 2100+/512mb DDR333) right now. Sure, I have to wait for the new things I get, but I'd rather "emerge mplayer" instead of hunting for the binaries.

      Sure, you might say "Go back to Debian". I'm used to Gentoo now, though. I might give it a try again if I'm given a good enough reason, though. I sure as hell hope the installer isn't as bad now as it used to be, though.

    7. Re:I've seen this before... by batkiwi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Have you been to a generic techie forum where gentoo zealots (different from regular gentoo users) abound?

      It's hilarious. People will discuss opt flags like it's gospel when they don't even know what they mean or do.

    8. Re:I've seen this before... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 5, Funny

      Drive a rickety old toyota and use winme, eh?

      So do most ricers. *badda bing!*

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    9. Re:I've seen this before... by justMichael · · Score: 2, Insightful
      ...and it's stupid. It's insulting to the hard work by the Gentoo folks, and ignorant to imply that
      From a gentoo user... Gentoo in theory is very nice, Gentoo in practice is a cluster fuck. I can't tell you how many times a package upgrade has broken something like a mail server. Fuck, seriously, get the permissions worked out before you let a package loose. Or not just dropping a kernel package because nobody knew how to maintain the previous gs-sources package when the original maintainer went "on leave".

      Nevermind that fact that qmail-scanner and Spamassassin are out of date... (actually qmail-scanner may be up to date)

      Time to look at FreeBSD again.
    10. Re:I've seen this before... by j-pimp · · Score: 2, Funny

      Thats right we should all be using FreeBSD, with the vim port installed of course.

      --
      --- Justin Dearing http://www.justaprogrammer.net/ We're just programmers.
    11. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see any facts in your post. It's pretty annoying when people proclaim that their anecdotal experiences constitute facts, regardless of the subject matter at hand.

      I would be willing to conjecture that you have some sort of deep-seated emotional problems which you so handedly displayed within this emotional diatribe of yours. Excellent work.

    12. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Being of the 5%...

      I've been using Linux since the pre-1.0 days. My first distro was SLS. Of the modern distros I've used (Debian, RedHat, Slackware, SuSE, Mandrake) Gentoo is the only one which has _never_ given me a dependency fight... and I've been using it as the ONLY OS on my entire home network for over a year. It _does_ have real-world advantages. :)

    13. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      To clarify, I don't find it offensive. I just think it's silly, not the least bit funny, and I think distrowars are stupid as fuck.

      Why do you think it was posted on slashdot?

    14. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well said.

    15. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      yep. it annoys me that people think gentoo is somehow superior because everything is compiled. Funny how they think gcc is optimized for their precise machine and haven't the slightest clue about compiler optimizations, but have no qualms about the speed of the Python-based portage system (my gentoo install has passed the 2 year mark and "emerge" is incredibly slow now).

      There will always be clueless people using Linux. Slashdot is proof of that.

    16. Re:I've seen this before... by Phalnix · · Score: 1

      I just find it sad that this made it on slashdot. I really dont have more to say, pretty much speaks for itself. Michael,, pathetic.

    17. Re:I've seen this before... by polecat_redux · · Score: 1

      I think distrowars are stupid as fuck.

      Yes they are. That's why I use Linux From Scratch

    18. Re:I've seen this before... by sp0rk173 · · Score: 1

      No, fuck that. Straight up vi, it's part of the base system. It pwns vim.

    19. Re:I've seen this before... by Ziviyr · · Score: 2, Funny

      And BSD is going to take Apple along for the ride to deathsville too.

      Shame, total shame.

      --

      Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
    20. Re:I've seen this before... by Beek · · Score: 1

      5/5

      super lolerz 4 real

    21. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the point of the site was to get back at all the geeks that make fun of ricers, by showing us that everyone is a ricer at heart.

      honda owner + stickers = ricer
      gentoo user + speed = ricer
      red neck + drunkeness = ricer
      slashdot user + karma = ricer
      japanese + used school girl's under garments = ricer

    22. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bet it was an alcopop.

    23. Re:I've seen this before... by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      You can't roll downhill if you already reached rock bottom.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    24. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      whatever Red Hat uses (the name escapes me now) is just broken

      If you're gonna bash something, I assume you've used it extensively yourself, and not just parroting what you read somewhere. Obviously you haven't used rpm, or the name would not escape you.

      I've had a grand total of 0 (zero) problems with RPM, and I've been using Red Hat all over the place since the 4.0 days, or thereabouts.

    25. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That reminds of a song from a musical I saw, "RICE: The Musical"

      Everyone has rice!
      Rice! Rice! Rice!
      Rice! Rice! Rice! Rice! Rice! Rice!
      Everyone has rice!

      So this is the end of our story,
      and everyone is dead from rice.
      It took from me my best friend.
      My only true pal.
      My only bright star.

      Well im going to march to Washington,
      lead the fight and charge the brigades.
      There is a hero inside all of us.
      I'll make them see everyone has rice.

      My father!
      Rice!
      My sister!
      Rice!
      My uncle and my cousin and her best friend!
      Rice! Rice! Rice!
      The gays and the straights and the whites and the spades!!!
      Everyone has rice!
      My grandmother and my dog ol' blue.
      Rice! Rice! Rice!
      The pope has got it and so do you.
      Rice! Rice! Rice!
      Come on everybody we've got quilting to do.
      We're gonna break down these barricades,
      everyone has rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice, rice.
      Rice.
      RICE!

    26. Re:I've seen this before... by flatface · · Score: 1

      I'm not talking about rpm, I've used it a lot. I'm talking about the program that searches RH's online server for packages to install. Someone help me out here...

    27. Re:I've seen this before... by 808140 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      ... Except on Debian.

    28. Re:I've seen this before... by rsidd · · Score: 1

      What's in the FreeBSD base system isn't "straight up vi" (which is proprietary if I recall right), it's nvi.

    29. Re:I've seen this before... by arkanes · · Score: 1

      up2date, but apt4rpm is the bomb.

    30. Re:I've seen this before... by Reez · · Score: 1

      Sure, I have to wait for the new things I get, but I'd rather "emerge mplayer" instead of hunting for the binaries.

      You can use a packaged distro and compile/install some packages from source in /usr/local. In fact I just do this for mplayer.
    31. Re:I've seen this before... by flyneye · · Score: 1

      Insulting indeed.I have no ideology in common with ricers.I prefer American pre-70s vehicles with V8s of large cid.I prefer supercharging to mere turbocharging.I prefer drag racing that doesnt last as long as ricers take to get down the strip.I prefer hot racing fuel(let the ricers melt their aluminum/plastic mills,ha)
      yet I use debian and gentoo.I've no problem with debian,I love demudi.Quake 3 runs much better on my Gentoo box.Both identical hardware.Both have their merits and drawbacks.I don't care,6 of one,half a dozen of the other.But I could use 2 ricers,one to sh*t on and one to cover it up with.

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
    32. Re:I've seen this before... by ulib · · Score: 1

      BSD what?
      FreeBSD, Stealth-Growth Open Source Project
      Nearly 2.5 Million Active Sites running FreeBSD (growing at the rate of half a million a year)
      ...you seem to have a problem telling trolltalk from facts. ;-)

    33. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you seem to have problems spotting humor, n00b!

    34. Re:I've seen this before... by j-pimp · · Score: 2, Informative

      NVI is a good minimialistic vi. Vim supports many more features and in most applications the resource usage is small enough. If your looking to run a hundred VT420 terminals off an i486 then perhaps nvi or elvis would be better choices. However, vim has many advantages over "traditional" versions of vi and are well worth the install, unless your a dirty dirty emacs hippy.

      --
      --- Justin Dearing http://www.justaprogrammer.net/ We're just programmers.
    35. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gentoo IS better because it's compiled. Other distros only give you binary packages, whereas with Gentoo you actually get to make a compiled executable, so it's a hella faster.

    36. Re:I've seen this before... by ptlis · · Score: 1

      And you seem to have trouble distinguishing between a joke and a serious comment.

      --
      There's mischief and malarkies but no queers or yids or darkies within this bastard's carnival, this vicious cabaret.
    37. Re:I've seen this before... by setagllib · · Score: 4, Informative

      If so... time it.

      I've gone to great lengths and benchmarks to establish whether or not gcc per-processor optimizations are actually as good as ricers (you) say they are, and concluded that the difference is so small only a select few synthetic benches will really benefit. The biggest and only consistent improvement to performance is use of -O1 instead of -O0. Everything else is such a small difference that it's hardly worth reading the manpage for, let alone typing in every time you set up a box.

      Here, example of a code and Makefile I wrote to test gcc's optimization, results:
      dave@thor inst $ make
      -O: 612 cycles
      -O2: 615 cycles
      -O3: 609 cycles
      -O3 -march=pentium4 -mfpmath=sse -fomit-frame-pointer -ffast-math: 626 cycles

      (Cycles is how many times it repeated a certain function in a fine-grained time frame) There you are. -O3 is slower than -O2, -O2 is only very very slightly faster than -O (and if you re-run, half the time it will be slower), and a "k-l33t cFlaGz omghax" is only a notch faster than those. This is one of the sources I developed which benefits the [b]most[/b] from this tweaking! In a real-world application it makes so little difference it's not worth recompiling anyway. "hella faster" my ass. You're better off overclocking or something.

      Gentoo Is Rice. You are a ricer. You got owned by someone who bothers measuring things. HAND.
      (Besides, USE is the real advantage of Gentoo, the sooner you take that more seriously the better your life will be)

      --
      Sam ty sig.
    38. Re:I've seen this before... by shish · · Score: 2, Informative
      I can't tell you how many times a package upgrade has broken something like a mail server

      Why not? Can you not count? :P

      Been running gentoo for ~a year, server and desktop, and I've had nowhere near as many packaging problems as I had with mandrake and suse... The only time I had problems was when I updated the base system and used the new fstab instead of keeping the current one :/

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
    39. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Binary packages ARE compiled. Read what you wrote. It doesn't make a lick of sense. I'm sure what you meant to write was hand-compiled packages are more efficient, blah blah blah. Which is equally nonsense. There are many many variables which many Gentoo people are ignorant of.

    40. Re:I've seen this before... by ulib · · Score: 1
      >And you seem to have trouble distinguishing between a joke and a serious comment.

      Ehm.. my remark was quite lighthearted as well - I think it should be self-evident.

    41. Re:I've seen this before... by setagllib · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I noticed the shit he said ("[only gentoo gives] compiled binaries" = gold) but didn't want to double-post :)

      By the way, the gcc used for those tests was 3.4.2, so no, this has not gotten much better through gcc revision. It still doesn't make much difference.

      --
      Sam ty sig.
    42. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a) Gentoo is the only distribution that has a few vocal-but-clueless users mixed in with the friendly, intelligent, and helpful ones

      No, but Gentoy has by far the highest lamer to hacker ratio of any distribution ever in the entire history of Linux.

      b) just because these vocal-but-cluesless users don't have a good reason for using Gentoo means that there is none.

      No, the fact that there arn't any compelling reasons to use Gentoy over a more sane distribution is a good reason for using not using Gentoy.

    43. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wtf is "more cycles" == "faster"????

    44. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the point of the site was to get back at all the geeks that make fun of ricers

      No, it wasn't. Stop making stuff up to make yourself feel better. The point was to rip the piss out of Gentoy users. Why do you think the site is named "funroll-loops". Do you know what -funroll-loops is?

    45. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Do you realize that taking a single code for measuring the optimization performance is the stupidest thing on earth ? I've coded a few big mathematical projects, and -O3 gives a big *boost*, the code can run two to three times faster. Pickup random projects, compile then and measure. Not some fucking code with only *612* cycles. ***The optimization does *nothing* on small code bases***.

    46. Re:I've seen this before... by setagllib · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, read the explanation, 'cycles' as in how many times the function was repeated. Not as in CPU cycles.

      And I have tried this on many codes, big and small, real-world and synthetic, mine and popular. I don't know what 'big boost' you're talking about - you realise -O3 only adds two relatively minor flags over -O2, right? Read the manpage, and failing that, the source. I have.

      And where are your figures?

      --
      Sam ty sig.
    47. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you defend the people who say that "Gentoo is for Ricers". I can appreciate that. But then you state: "USE is the real advantage of Gentoo". Which is it? Does Gentoo have real benefits or is it to be denigrated and its users insulted?

      If Gentoo is so pointless like all you /.'ers like to pretend, why spend so much time b*tching about it? I long ago stopped posting about Gentoo, due to the aggressively nasty attitude toward it here at /.. Why can't you pr*cks stop posting about it too?

    48. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL dude. you're saying that if it's mostly a retarded fad, there can't be a single thing good about it?

      "Why can't you pr*cks stop posting about it too?"
      "due to the aggressively nasty attitude toward it here at /.."

      LOL, you're trying way too hard to accuse people of stuff and you're coming across like a monkey flinging its poo

    49. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think they mean "yum", actually. up2date is just a frontend for yum (or apt4rpm, if you set it up right).

      The problems with downloading the packages for FC2 was the biggest reason I stopped using it. Sometimes the mirrors would work, sometimes they wouldn't. Yum would seem to stall for several minutes while downloading a header, etc.

      IIRC, the apt4rpm repositories were a lot better. However, they didn't always mirror what Red Hat had put out and I would have to use yum anyway.

    50. Re:I've seen this before... by equiraptor · · Score: 1

      So, I must be a ricer.

      I use Gentoo on my desktop. I've tried other distributions, and I always end up missing Portage. I've tried FreeBSD, and Gentoo handles running on a desktop better (better flash support, and the like). I don't claim that my system is uberleet or uberfast just because it's all compiled on the local machine. I use USE flags to help things work together the way I want. I enjoy the distribution and the tools that come with it.

      I don't understand how this makes me a ricer.

    51. Re:I've seen this before... by JDevers · · Score: 3, Informative

      I run Gentoo, but don't really give a rat's ass about most compiler flags... It's just the first distribution I installed where I was able to setup the system EXACTLY how I wanted it and be able to easily maintain it. I know there are others out there that do it fine, but this is the first one I found and so I never uninstalled it.

      Now, the reason I replied, you should update to the newest version of Portage. It is MUCH faster, an emerge -Dup world took me 10-12 minutes to calculate last week and now it is about 2 minutes after upgrading.

    52. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    53. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes you can, however that isn't any form of package management. If you do that with a few apps, no problem. If you do that with a lot of apps... not to mention various libraries and such, then you'll start to get a mess trying to keep everything straight.

      I personally love Gentoo just for the fact that I can avoid the RPM hell that is RedHat and Mandrake and not have to install twenty-billion packages and libraries I don't need... And the fact that I don't have to get a completely new version and upgrade my whole system every 6 months just to keep up on the newer versions of things.

      I left RedHat after getting sick of stupid RPM dependancies, then left Mandrake after they started to get just as bad and jumped to Gentoo. I love the customizability portage gives me. I could care less if my "Appz run a supr sw33t 2% faster" or not. I just like having more control over my system.

      Also, since I had to do a lot more work on my own to get a lot of things working (especially during the install), I've learned a lot using Gentoo. A lot more than one of the more "user friendly" distros that does everything for you.

    54. Re:I've seen this before... by Narchie+Troll · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's an optimization flag for GCC that "unrolls" loops -- expands one or more iterations in place, to prevent the need to use jump instructions.

      The speed advantage of loop unrolling is questionable nowadays, because it results in significantly larger binaries; in the old days, however, people used to unroll their loops by hand.

      With today's incredibly fast clock speeds, loop unrolling is very often a bad thing, because the speed advantage is minimal compared to the large increase in binary size.

      It's one of several foolish compilation flags passed around by word of mouth; as the website claims, it is often part of the CFLAGS of the most fanatic (and naive) Gentoo users, along with silly things like "-O10" and atrocities like "-ffast-math".

      CFLAGS="-O -pipe -march=athlon-xp -fomit-frame-pointer"

      Some Gentoo users may be ricers, but naivete has never been a reason to insult an entire group.

    55. Re:I've seen this before... by jrexilius · · Score: 1

      Is that the primary benefit people site for gentoo?

      I have just moved my production servers to Gentoo from RedHat more for the package manager and the ability to strip out unwanted features in packages as they are being merged (USE flag). RedHat's SRPM system was such a pain to do this with.

      The little optimizations are nice, and no I haven't measured them discreetly, but I have measured the capacity and responsiveness of my applications (which is what matters to me) and there was a very obvious difference between RedHat and Gentoo.

      In the end, a rather customized redhat build vs. a stage1 build with a reasonable amount of tweaks (was going for stable not speed) and draconian use of the USE flags my production servers responded quite a bit faster and had more capacity due to more available memory (all exe's had smaller footprints).

      In addition I am now looking into adding the SELinux policy's and beginning the move to 64bit platform.

      Oh, I also have a Subaru WRX that I rally race. I guess I am a ricer..

    56. Re:I've seen this before... by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 4, Informative

      In a real-world application it makes so little difference it's not worth recompiling anyway.

      I am not a developer with my own optimization test code. I am a user with an extraordinary real-life requirement to perform a certain application as fast as I possibly can. It has been my job to come up with performance alternatives over the past few months, and I have professionally evaluated Windows, Red Hat, Mandrake, and Gentoo in a lab environment with code that actually does something. I have measured output performance to the millisecond and have more raw analysis data than I can back up to a DVD at the moment.

      Gentoo (with -O3 and march=pentium4) significantly outperforms everything else. During run-to-failure testing, Gentoo held up 30% longer than Mandrake or Red Hat, and Windows never really showed up for the race.

      The difference between -O1 and -O3 may certainly be rice (but I was able to determine that by reading the gcc docs), but Gentoo itself most certainly is not.

    57. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, you have too much time on your hands.

      If you really think rebuilding binaries without features is going to make a lick of difference in a reasonably powered server, you're an idiot.

    58. Re:I've seen this before... by jrexilius · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually shortcomings with RPM are exactly why I ditched RH.

      I wanted to be able to build a server optimized for... serving. Yet with RPM invariably it would install packages that were compiled for desktop or server use, install (and add to startup) stupid dependencies to support the desktop case, and a host of other wastefull things. Yes I could fix all those things and I used SRPMs to add the code tweaks I needed but it was a pain in the ass.

      Getnoo, just has this right, better even then debian.

    59. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the best flags are to use -Os and the arch that matches your CPU. Using the -Os switch optimizes the code for size, which improves load time.

      the other O switches don't help all that much

      I don't know your little slang words, so I won't answer the little kid bragging parts you wrote.

    60. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't even remember what RedHat uses but you know it's broken huh. Well for redhat you can use 'yum' which does the same shit as emerge or apt. RedHat also has bugzilla, where you can also find solutions!

      I'm curious how many other package management systems you've actually tried.

    61. Re:I've seen this before... by essdodson · · Score: 1

      This is just great evidence for how far downhill Slashdot's gone.

      Thanks for doing your part to keep it that way.

      --
      scott
    62. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do update portage. I've updated it each time it complained about having an old version. "emerge -s" takes nearly a minute to execute instead of a few seconds as it did a year ago. "emerge -S" you can forget about!

    63. Re:I've seen this before... by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      But is "download the source, tar -xvzf, ./configure, make, make install" as convenient as "emerge mplayer"?

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    64. Re:I've seen this before... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I own two Nissan 240SXs and run gentoo, so I am uber-leet rice. Whee. Except, I've put nothing whatsoever into cosmetic changes in either one, and have so far spent all the effort on body and suspension work, so I don't know if I qualify as a "ricer" or not. In order to get that particular merit badge, you have to actually do go-faster shit to the body of the vehicle, like big aluminum GT wings on the back of a front wheel drive car incapable of topping 100mph.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    65. Re:I've seen this before... by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      You do realize that some of us, who are also not ricers, prefer cars that don't handle like bricks and have reasonable efficiency, right?

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    66. Re:I've seen this before... by Stinking+Pig · · Score: 1

      good riddance :)

      Flame ON!

      --
      "Nothing was broken, and it's been fixed." -- Jon Carroll
    67. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Before jumping to hasty conclusion.. Note he's not talking about CPU cycles: "Cycles is how many times it repeated a certain function in a fine-grained time frame"

    68. Re:I've seen this before... by simcop2387 · · Score: 1

      I drive a 1993 Volvo 240, drives like a tank, and can take a major beating, 4 leaky intake valves (fixed now) ran great, but rough, and got the gas milage of a tank. oh and i use gentoo too (but only because i like the type of system that portage is, but DAMN has it gotten slow to start lately)

    69. Re:I've seen this before... by setagllib · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Simple: It doesn't. You're a user, good. Hell I use Gentoo too. I don't, however, claim that compiling from source makes it magically much faster ("hella faster", as the bright lad above pointed out) - sure, sometimes a bit faster, not enough to brag about though, certainly not enough to see with own eyes.

      People seem to think I generalised by seeing all Gentoo users are ricers. This is not true. The grand majority appear to be, though, even many of the highly-respected users on forums, and developers aren't exceptions. These people give detailed tutorials on how to tweak a box without actually improving performance, but wasting a lot of time in the process. That's rice. Since they represent the user group which sets Gentoo apart from other communities, it can be said they are ambassadors for the system. Ergo, they are ricers, and their product is rice. Take it how you will, that's how it appears to be.

      And I don't think anybody's arguing Gentoo makes a hardcore desktop. I'm not flaming the system, the users are what piss me off, and they're very vocal.

      --
      Sam ty sig.
    70. Re:I've seen this before... by equiraptor · · Score: 1

      People seem to think I generalised by seeing all Gentoo users are ricers.

      From your comment above: "Gentoo Is Rice." That does seem to be generalising all Gentoo users as ricers. And that's where we've gotten that impression.

    71. Re:I've seen this before... by Leffe · · Score: 3, Funny

      Portage is slow.

      Yep... but you can speed it up with the Python optimizer Psyco ;)

    72. Re:I've seen this before... by jrexilius · · Score: 1

      mem footprint does make a diffierence, as well as security. The less packages you have, the less code you have. the less code you have, the less exploits. As a general rule, anyways. as well, its less bandwidth and download time to update useless package dependencies that I never wanted.

      the idea is not that saving 50k of memory on one process will make a huge difference, unless it is an old-style forking daemon process and I am trying to serve more users with the 4gig memory limit I have per server. or other examples along those lines.

      The idea that I dont have to go after every package in my system by hand to reduce bloat and can rely on the package manager to do a reasonably good job of it is a huge savings in time for me.

    73. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Yes, read the explanation, 'cycles' as in how many times the function was repeated. Not as in CPU cycles.

      Might I suggest using a different word (perhaps 'iterations', 'counts', or 'runs'), as I bet most of us saw the word 'cycles', thought CPU cycles (as that's the only way we ever see it used), and skipped the explanation. I did, until I saw that the numbers were backwards from what I'd expected.

    74. Re:I've seen this before... by adamjaskie · · Score: 1

      No, you do not qualify as a ricer. You are actually a TASTEFUL import modder.

      The term "Ricer" does not refer to imports specifically either. I have seen "riced" Cavaliers, Probes, V6 Mustangs, etc. on the roads. It simply means the people that put, as you said, huge wings on the back of their car, and rediculous widebody kits, giant gauges all over their dashboard, a carbon fibre hood on a car with a full interior, 20 inch wheels with black rubber bands as tires, etc.

      Oh and many ricers make their car "faster" with a short ram intake sucking hot air from the engine compartment, and large diameter exhaust piping that destroys the low-end power of their engine while making their car sound like a lawnmower.

      Some cosmetic changes are OK, as long as they are tasteful.

      --
      /usr/games/fortune
    75. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That doesn't make you a ricer any more than driving a Honda Civic makes one a ricer. On the other hand, Honda Civics are made for ricers and so is Gentoo.

    76. Re:I've seen this before... by flatface · · Score: 1

      Yum, that's it! Thanks.

    77. Re:I've seen this before... by forkazoo · · Score: 1

      The gcc optimisation flags can provide a very big boost, but only if you do stupid things with your code. Seriously. If you examine the ASM to see *why* your code is running so much faster, you will often find that gcc noticed you put something where it wasn't supposed to be, and weren't using it. Move stuff that doesn't need to be recalculated every loop out of the loop, and you probably won't see a huge difference. Coming up with a synthetic benchmark to show off the optimisation is useless, especially when you are trying to argue with somebody who has actual time runs from real world code.

    78. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Use Slackware + checkinstall. It has binary packages when you want them. Compiling from source generally works fine. And, get this, with checkinstall, you build a binary package from your configured source. Said package, should you keep it around, can be used to install similarly-configured (and optimized and whatever) binaries on other Slackware systems. Why everyone says we have shit for package management is beyond me.

    79. Re:I've seen this before... by Una · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      `-O3'
      Optimize yet more. `-O3' turns on all optimizations specified by
      `-O2' and also turns on the `-finline-functions', `-fweb' and
      `-frename-registers' options.

      Ohh yeah.. Thats "two relatively minor flags" allright.
      I personally count three.

    80. Re:I've seen this before... by Digi-John · · Score: 1

      I'm impressed by your great knowledge in both cars and computing; too bad that you never learned how to type correctly. The general practice is to put TWO spaces, not zero, after a period and ONE space, not zero, after a comma.

      I'm not trying to troll or anything, but why would anybody take you seriously if you are too lazy to put in spaces?

      --
      Klingon programs don't timeshare, they battle for supremacy.
    81. Re:I've seen this before... by equiraptor · · Score: 1

      Honda Civics are made/designed for ricers? My god, you have a twisted view of the world. Honda Civics are made for people who want a fairly cheap, reliable car to get them from point A to point B, carrying what they need, with a minimum of fuss. Ricers want something cheap they can buy and mod, and therefore tend to choose cars designed for the previously mentioned purpose.

    82. Re:I've seen this before... by equiraptor · · Score: 1

      From my GCC 3.3.4 man page on my Gentoo system:

      -O3 Optimize yet more. -O3 turns on all optimizations specified by -O2 and also turns on the -finline-functions and -frename-registers options.

      I see two listed there, and that's an up-to-date Gentoo system. I don't know where you're pulling that man page from.

      Oh, and the difference between two flags and three absolutely must be huge, right?

      My GCC man page on FreeBSD (2.95.4) only lists -finline-functions.

    83. Re:I've seen this before... by kc8apf · · Score: 1

      I run a gentoo mail server and there have been a few package updates that broke it. Part of it has to with using more obscure packages (pam-mysql, etc), but still, a package shouldn't be marked stable until it's been tested. For some of the server stuff, they just don't test it.

      --
      kc8apf
    84. Re:I've seen this before... by Wastl · · Score: 1
      Gentoo's Bugzilla (mainly for ebuilds) is awesome. Just about every time I've had a problem, I can find a solution there. Yes, I'm saying that Gentoo's not perfect. It isn't. But at least I know it's getting better. Not sure if Debian has one, but the mailing lists sure are a pain to sift through...

      Did you ever try http://bugs.debian.org? Debian had a sophisticated bugtracking system even before Bugzilla was developed. Bug submitting is as easy as "reportbug PACKAGE" on the command line, and it leads you through much of the workflow involved in doing proper bug reports (e.g. it adds the relevant versions of depending packages automatically).

      On the other hand, I always found bugzilla a pain to browse and use. You often need to know way too much about the system in order to search for bugs or to submit bugs (just have a look at Bugzilla's bugreporting system itself to see what I mean). In Debian, you just enter the package name and get a simple-but-straightforward list of bugs structured in categories of importance.

      Sebastian

    85. Re:I've seen this before... by rzbx · · Score: 0

      Since you only posted one side of the coin, I'll do my best on the other side. First, I'm not a Gentoo user. Now, what is it about car tuners, overclockers, Gentoo tweakers, Linux kernel programmers, athletes, engineers, and many others that you hate? Do you hate their drive to push that extra few percent out of their machines or their bodies? Just looking at your own example I see just over 2 percent increase from -O and - 03 -march... Is this not significant? Well sure, maybe you don't give a shit because 1 second does not matter to you. Now before we jump all over another persons opinions, wants, or needs we should take the time to think. Consider a person running a test of some sort running 10 hours using 100 percent of the proc. undrr normal conditions. To tune the OS for a small increase in speed under such circumstances it makes a pretty significant difference in time running. Before you criticize the Gentoo users with comments such as "k-l33t cFlaGz omghax", consider that your only arguing your point-of-view.

      --
      Question everything.
    86. Re:I've seen this before... by alvania · · Score: 1

      Try `emerge search XXXblahXXX`.

    87. Re:I've seen this before... by Wolfrider · · Score: 1

      --Any more info / helpful link??

      --
      .
      == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
    88. Re:I've seen this before... by bmj · · Score: 1

      Yes, hence the "It's funny, laugh" ALT attribute on the Section image.

      --
      Whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must be silent. --Ludwig Wittgenstein
    89. Re:I've seen this before... by myklgrant · · Score: 1

      Linux is supposed to put the fun back in computing. Linux is supposed to give computing back to the user. It seems like these Gentoo users are having just that. Do any Windows or OSX users have as much fun with their OS as Linux users of any stripe? Making disaparaging remarks (without malice) of other Linux users is all part of the fun (really) - I'm sure they can take it. My Window-using friends look at me like I'm a nut when I tell them about my my travails with my Linux (debian-based) system. Screw them. I'm having a blast.
      Michael

    90. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Before I read the posts to this story, I would have agreed with you.

      Now it seems 100% proof positive that the page is 100% correct - Gentoo users are, by far and large, the ricers of the Linux world.

      About the only thing Gentoo has going for it are the USE flags, which allow you to conditionally compile various features in. Which, in my mind at least, is an example of just how freaking broken open source programs are, that you have to decide on features at freaking compile time! When I grab an Apache binary distro, I don't have to worry about the fact that I'm not using most of the "conditional features" because they're distributed as - *gasp* - modules. If I need some random feature, I don't have to recompile the entire freaking server, I dump in the new module.

      It took me like 20 seconds to set up PHP on a new Apache server. You drop in the module. I can't imagine how long it would take to drop PHP into Apache on Gentoo. You'd have to recompile the entire PHP and Apache builds. But, hell, they'd be 0.000000000000000000000000000001% faster than a binary distro! Yay!

      About the only thing I liked about Gentoo was that most of the packages were clean, without massive changes made by the packagers. Whoops, except Gentoo applies massive patches to half the ebuilds. Never mind that, then.

      So what does Gentoo have going for it, then? Well, it works very well to get around the DLL hell (that Linux "doesn't have") and the dependency hell caused by moron packagers. Yay.

      Then again, I'm one of those "heathen Windows users," so what do I know?

    91. Re:I've seen this before... by Hooya · · Score: 1

      i'm working on exponential algorithms (graphs and satisfiability and that sort of a thing) for my masters thesis. -O3 gives a big^H^H^H huge boost.

    92. Re:I've seen this before... by RevAaron · · Score: 1

      But is "download the source, tar -xvzf, ./configure, make, make install" as convenient as "emerge mplayer"?

      It would be, if that's all you had to do. On Gentoo, you just do that emerge command; on Debian, I just apt-get. But when a package isn't in the apt db, I am not just doing a ./configure; make; make install on one package- there's a good chance I'll have to go download a bunch of others, going down the dependents tree myself manually doing that to a bunch of other packages. Which is a royal pain in the ass... Why do the work when the computer could do it for me?

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
    93. Re:I've seen this before... by daft_one · · Score: 0

      You know, your sig would be funnier if it were "Yes, I say fuck a lot. You don't have to fucking tell me." Cheers.

    94. Re:I've seen this before... by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 1

      Gentoo (with -O3 and march=pentium4) significantly outperforms everything else. During run-to-failure testing, Gentoo held up 30% longer than Mandrake or Red Hat, and Windows never really showed up for the race.

      -O3 generates larger code than -O2, so you lose the performance gains in increased application startup for most types of programs. I suggest -O2 or even -Os.

      I'm interested in how the systems were configured--what was installed specifically on each system, what services were running.

      I've been building linux systems from scratch and toying with source-based distributions almost exclusively for some years now, and I'm going to submit that there is nothing about Gentoo that increases the potential speed of each package. It's all in who's building the systems.

      A lot of people read comments like yours and assume that Gentoo does something magic with the software running on it to make it go faster--just not true.

      --
      Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
    95. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +5, Insightful!? There isn't even any details here to back this up! Do the people who get mod points even know how to fucking read anymore!?

    96. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      psyco.sourceforge.net I'm not sure how much this will help portage. My impression is that it is slow becuase of its design, not because it is written in Python. Admittedly I have not look at the code for it though.

    97. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reading through the comments and moderation to this story says a lot more about the amazing cluelessness and arrogance of your average Slashdot user than it does about your average Gentoo user. Wake up morons. These people are trolls. You may as well have put a story about the GNAA or anti-slash on the front page.

    98. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      50% is quite huge where I come from. Care for a 50% raise, or pay deduction?

    99. Re:I've seen this before... by jnana · · Score: 2, Informative
      You need to install app-portage/esearch!

      The difference between esearch and 'emerge -s' is like the difference between 'find / -name "foo"' and 'locate foo', for the same reason. It will index your ebuilds, and if you set a cron job to emerge sync and run 'eupdatedb' (to update the index) regularly, you'll always have up-to-date, lightning-fast searches.

    100. Re:I've seen this before... by Gi77+B4t35 · · Score: 1
      not the least bit funny
      Come on, the demotivators spoof wasn't too bad. The rest was an absolute bag of knackers though.
    101. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One space after a period is more appropriate. There is no good reason to use two. Are you aware that you only used one space yourself?

    102. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      i'm working on exponential algorithms (graphs and satisfiability and that sort of a thing) for my masters thesis.
      LOL! Still at school and a packie has you job already! Sux0r!
    103. Re:I've seen this before... by equiraptor · · Score: 1

      Yes, but 1 can be quite small... Care for a $1 raise?

    104. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gee, when I was in university studying computer science (I got the degree a few years ago), we were told that the algorithm more than anything else dictates speed. Not the speed of the processor, not the size of the pipeline or the amount of cache memory, but rather the algorithm. If the program is coded badly it will take a gawdawful million years (actually many problems are on the order of millions of centuries) to run. If you use a better algorithm, you can be done in five minutes. I know I have run programs with great algorithms on a single 8088 clocked at 12 MHz that would beat the pants off of a poorly coded solution to the same problem running on 8 Opteron 250's. Mine would solve in under a second. Theirs would be done in a few days. It's nice to push for all the speed you can, but 2% faster compared to 170000x faster makes the first look like spit in the ocean.

    105. Re:I've seen this before... by RevAaron · · Score: 1

      Wow, no need to be such a dick about it. Not sure if you actually read the article, but it was pretty funny- and at least a few of us were able to figure out that not all Gentoo users are like that. And not all car owners/car modders are silly "ricers."

      Slashdot has never been uphill in the first place. Get over it.

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
    106. Re:I've seen this before... by RevAaron · · Score: 1

      Yeah, the guys typing sucks, but your rules are out of date. You're supposed to only put only one space after a period now. I was taught two spaces as a youngster, but the rule was changed a while back.

      I'm not trying to troll or anything, but why would anybody take you seriously as a grammar/spelling/typing troll if you were too lazy to keep up to date with the rules you're preaching?

      Though mostly: who the fuck cares?

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
    107. Re:I've seen this before... by AndyL · · Score: 1

      You only use two spaces after a period if you're using a monospaced font. (For instance, if you were using a typewriter)
      Otherwise one will suffice.

    108. Re:I've seen this before... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      WTF did you do an emerge -u world on a production server anyway??

    109. Re:I've seen this before... by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 1

      apt-get install apt-listbugs

      Now every time you apt-get upgrade, it queries bugzilla for the version of the package its about to install, and pastes any outstanding bug reports. giving you a headsup before actually installing.

      apt-get install apt-listchanges will auto-mail you the changelogs which is nice if theres a config format change.

      And if you want a SUPER UBERRICE FAST DEBIAN, apt-get install apt-gentoo to add a couple of seconds of sleep() to apt, and print the compile logs to the screen.

      --
      Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
    110. Re:I've seen this before... by cicadia · · Score: 1

      Actually, HTML parsers consider any length of whitespace to be equivalent to a single space character. Typing two spaces after a period in an HTML document is a waste of time, as the browser will render it as a single space anyway.

      --
      Living better through chemicals
    111. Re:I've seen this before... by Digi-John · · Score: 1

      That is very interesting. I always use two spaces as that was what they taught me in keyboarding two years ago. When did the rules change?

      As for there only being one space after the periods in my post, I don't know why that happened. I typed it with two spaces and it shows up with one... typing-Nazi Slashdot, maybe? :-)

      --
      Klingon programs don't timeshare, they battle for supremacy.
    112. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Check out this section of the gcc 3.4.2 manual. It includes all three. Your Gentoo system is out of date.

      I disagree that these are minor optimizations; register renaming (especially with the web stuff) can give huge speed benefits in some cases.

    113. Re:I've seen this before... by quakeroatz · · Score: 1

      " I'd rather "emerge mplayer" instead of hunting for the binaries."

      Oh fuck you too. Just because we like apt-get doesn't mean we don't _know_ how to compile when we need to. Mplayer is a dirty exception because they don't like to supply binaries, I think it's something to do with codec licences.

      There's no hunting for binaries you asswipe, goto mplayer.org, dl source, make config, make all, make install, done. Plus you can use all the compiler flags you use in Gentoo, it's not like Gentoo has a fucking monopoly on compiler flags.

    114. Re:I've seen this before... by quakeroatz · · Score: 1

      Thanks for giving me your refined opinion on humor, as we all know, broccoli and Wright brother jokes are cutting edge comedy, you twitty ass monkey.

    115. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, I don't want a free iPod.

      How about a free lcd monitor? ;)

    116. Re:I've seen this before... by equiraptor · · Score: 1

      My gentoo system is not out of date as of this morning, according to portage. There may be a newer GCC than I am using, but that doesn't make my system out of date. IIRC, ~x86 is using GCC 3.4, but the generic form (no accept keywords set) is using the version I am.

    117. Re:I've seen this before... by daft_one · · Score: 0

      I wasn't trying to be funny. I just really don't like broccoli, the Wright brothers, or you for that matter. Well, either that or I watch "The Family Guy" a little too often.

    118. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well you could always use the unstable branch on a spare box yourself and do some testing you know.

    119. Re:I've seen this before... by aichpvee · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but the difference with Gentoo is that it has a lot of vocal-but-clueless users mixed in with the extremely misguided and semi-intelligent ones. Sort of like the Fedora fanboys.

      --
      The Farewell Tour II
    120. Re:I've seen this before... by flyneye · · Score: 1

      thats right kid,slow and safe.
      wear your helmet.
      I'll put the chevelle up against your tinkertoy.
      theres a reason a car that powerful has a frame and not unibody.you might as well huff your nitrous.

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
    121. Re:I've seen this before... by flyneye · · Score: 1

      well speaking as a troll as you can see by rating now,you can see form follows function when trolling.explicit lack of attention to detail and a riotous disregard forpunctuation sentence structure and complete

      --
      *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
    122. Re:I've seen this before... by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      -O3 generates larger code than -O2, so you lose the performance gains in increased application startup for most types of programs. I suggest -O2 or even -Os.

      I hear that with gcc 3.4 this is less of an issue. I used to be -O2 with 3.3, but with 3.4 I've been running -O3 as a result. I'm not sure if anybody has done a conclusive study. Don't forget -fstack-protector either! (Although not all packages support it yet. When problems are uncovered ebuilds are usually modified accordingly.)

      I'm not sure about x86, but gcc 3.4 is becoming fairly mainstream on amd64. (Granted amd64 itself is hardly mainstream, but it is reasonably solid on gentoo, aside from a few packages that don't get good outside support (such as Java - not much stability in the 64-bit JVMs).)

    123. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      erm. you completely missed the point. emerge -s was working fast! now it's not. this is a design flaw, not some need for more cruft added.

    124. Re:I've seen this before... by setagllib · · Score: 1

      You're right, 3.4 has an extra flag (but the bench shows it slowing it down, doesn't it? unless you show a bench where it speeds things up), I was thinking of gcc 3.3 because that's what almost everyone in their right minds would be using for production machines.

      --
      Sam ty sig.
    125. Re:I've seen this before... by exeel · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that guy obviously uses gentoo, can you tell by the way him apes perfectly the www.funroll-loops.org "typical" gentoo user?

      --
      ___
      Exeel -

      whisper 'mov cat,rooster' > public.bar.stool->girl.ear 2> hell.nofury >

    126. Re:I've seen this before... by 21chrisp · · Score: 1

      Your argument seems to blast gcc more than gentoo. It is more likely that your benchmarking method is flawed. -02 optimizations will only show increases for anything that is computationaly intensive. It is better to use integer intensive programs (pretty much everything but games and scientific apps) with 02. Simple programs will not have much opportunity for optimization, so 02 will most likely not make a difference for them. 03 is best used for anything that is heavy on floating point calculations. Many of these opimizations will acutally slow down (or even break - cause crashes n some instances) integer performance, so you want to be careful with 03. It is best used with games and scientific apps. You also must consider any linked libraries as well. They would need to be compiled with identical flags. Many people compile something like kdepim with 02, while kdebase and kdelibs are compiled with 0. They don't get a performance increase and say 02 is useless.

      It looks like your test program doesn't take this into consideration.

    127. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it wasn't funny, it was defensive and stupid. Half a million sites a year? Out of how many millions sites a year?

    128. Re:I've seen this before... by dasunt · · Score: 1

      Gentoo (with -O3 and march=pentium4) significantly outperforms everything else. During run-to-failure testing, Gentoo held up 30% longer than Mandrake or Red Hat, and Windows never really showed up for the race.

      Let me criticize -- I think you make an excellent example of Gentooism.

      The only statistic you mention is "30% faster". According to you, Gentoo is 30% faster then Redhat and Mandrake. No version numbers are given, no meaningful statistics are given, no application is given, and, very oddly, Redhat and Mandrake seem to be equal in speed.

      It has been my job to come up with performance alternatives over the past few months, and I have professionally evaluated Windows, Red Hat, Mandrake, and Gentoo in a lab environment with code that actually does something. I have measured output performance to the millisecond and have more raw analysis data than I can back up to a DVD at the moment.[0]

      Pardon me while I question your honesty -- A DVD holds 4.7 GB of data. That's a lot of analysis data for timing runs. Doing some quick estimates with conservative figures, you have more data then is contained in a thousand Christian bibles, and that is not including any compression[1].

      Gentoo held up 30% longer than Mandrake or Red Hat, and Windows never really showed up for the race.[2]

      Nice windows flame. Windows has the edge in driver technology, and although plenty of applications on windows are slow, Windows itself isn't too much of a performance hog, especially compared to some vanilla installs of linux. But you don't give windows statistics for what you are doing...

      The difference between -O1 and -O3 may certainly be rice (but I was able to determine that by reading the gcc docs), but Gentoo itself most certainly is not.

      The difference between -O1 and -O3 depends on what you are doing -- some applications will show a significant performance gain, some will not. YMMV.

      So, please prove me wrong. What were you testing? What version of each software? Did you try compiling an optimized binary from source under one of the binary distros and compare that to Gentoo? Did you include setup time? What hardware did you use. And please, tell me, how do you get over 4.7GB worth of timing data?!

      [0]Quoting him out of order.

      [1]This assumes the data is all text -- I can't imagine a reason why timing run data would not be text, but I'm sure a fellow slashdotter will enlighten me[3].

      [2]Repeating a quote.

      [3]Speaking of which, how many timing runs would that be for >4.7GB of data? I'm trying to solve:
      timing_run_data * n > 4.7
      And plugging the result into:
      timing_run_time * n = total_time_required
      (Using guestimated figures[4]) and the time required to run all those tests are interesting, to say the least...

      [4] Say, each timing run results in 1 kb of data, and each timing run takes 1 minute of time...

    129. Re:I've seen this before... by setagllib · · Score: 1

      He said it stayed up longer, not faster... this made his post completely irrelevant to the topic (that compiling everything from source yourself is not much faster, if at all, than distros compiling everything from source for you) and is stupid.

      Explain to me, please, how a distribution can keep a kernel up longer than another? Same kernel = same uptime. If he mains bits of the userland went 'down', that's another story, also one that is meaningless because distributions don't write their own server/whatever software, at the most they'll patch it with someone's hacks. If he measured different kernels/configs across the distributions and used them to judge the distribution itself, he is a tool and should be fired.

      I'd really love to see a real comparison between Debian and Gentoo, fairly. Same kernel, same file system, same daemons running. Yes, Gentoo will come out 1-2% faster, if they got it right - but which will have less problems, which will be brought up faster, and whether or not a casual user sitting in KDE/GNOME/whatever will actually be able to tell which install is which, performance/responsiveness-wise.

      --
      Sam ty sig.
    130. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The point is, since *BSD's growing pretty fast, asserting that it's "dying" is plain BS.
      Nobody said *BSD is the most widespread OS - unluckily, Windows is. As you might know.

    131. Re:I've seen this before... by Mornelithe · · Score: 1

      The reason it used to work fast and now it isn't is because a year ago, there were many, many less packages than there are today in the portage tree.

      Yes, "emerge -s" has design flaws. It opens up thousands of tiny files. If you want to fix that, you can try using the database backend for portage (search the forums for how), or you can use esearch.

      As an analogy, "emerge -s" is to "esearch" as "find / -name" is to "locate". They're fundamentally different approaches to the problem with different tradeoffs (locate needs to make snapshots while find gives you always-up-to-date information). Using a database backend gives you something in between, but I imagine you'll complain about the 'cruft' of using a database system for the backend as well.

      --

      I've come for the woman, and your head.

    132. Re:I've seen this before... by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 1

      The only statistic you mention is "30% faster".

      Um, no: "Gentoo held up 30% longer than Mandrake or Red Hat, and Windows never really showed up for the race."

      At no point did I suggest Gentoo was 30% faster. It works 30% better for my application in a very specific kind of test. About which you know nothing. You have no clue as to the format or size of the log files generated, how the tools to parse those log files into digestible information work, how big the output is, or what happens when you bring the output data into Excel to graph.

      Even if I was in a position to divulge the details of my analysis results to someone outside the company, your inability to read and comprehend what I did say precludes meaningful discussion, so I wouldn't waste the time.

    133. Re:I've seen this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are not that many more packages than when I first installed. I should know. I've been using gentoo. I know what esearch and locate do, mkay.

      The description of esearch:
      Description: Replacement for 'emerge --search' with search-index

      Keyword: REPLACEMENT. This is a design flaw in emerge. If esearch is now the better option it should be the default. I don't give a rats ass about the implementation details.

      Now go to esearch web page. The author gives a 11s time for "emerge -s mozilla" which highlights MY POINT. I can never come close to 11s with "emerge -s", but I could at one point in time. And I really don't care to execute a database reconstruction each time I sync my tree.. this is superfluous since emerge JUST WENT DOWN THE ENTIRE FUCKING TREE. It's pointless.

    134. Re:I've seen this before... by KingPunk · · Score: 0

      I too am a gentoo linux user,
      and i must add, that if you take that site,
      with any grade of seriousness, you should seek
      metal evaluation, stat!

      the whole point of that site is just to crack
      on the userbase of gentoo,
      may of which, the site is correct about them
      knowing nothing, or little to nothing
      of what is going on under the gentoo "hood" if you will.

      take a breather man, its just the internet! -kingpunk /same alias on gentoo's forums.

    135. Re:I've seen this before... by Carnildo · · Score: 1

      These people give detailed tutorials on how to tweak a box without actually improving performance, but wasting a lot of time in the process.

      Wasting whose time? Mine, or the computer's? My time is valuable. The computer's time isn't. If compiling with -03 adds an hour to the compile time of a program, but knocks a second off the runtime for each usage, it's worth it. Likewise, prelinking after each update may take an hour, but if it reduces load time for KDE by 10 seconds, it's worth doing.

      --
      "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
    136. Re:I've seen this before... by dasunt · · Score: 1

      Um, no: "Gentoo held up 30% longer than Mandrake or Red Hat, and Windows never really showed up for the race."

      At no point did I suggest Gentoo was 30% faster. It works 30% better for my application in a very specific kind of test. About which you know nothing.

      And my invisible pink unicorn repellent is 30% longer than the competition.

      If you aren't going to explain the tests or the statistics, then they are meaningless. Without the statistics, your post is opinion, and is about as meaningful, or meaningless, as every other opinion not backed up by hard data.

      ( I did mistake "raw analysis data" for "raw analysis data from timing runs". My apologies for that error. >4.7GB of data is very possible then. )

    137. Re:I've seen this before... by Leffe · · Score: 1

      http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=153921

      The second best feature of Gentoo is it's forums.

    138. Re:I've seen this before... by black+mariah · · Score: 0

      The sad thing is, it's not intended to be funny. People whine about how much I say fuck on here. It seems to be the only point of interest for most people that engage in conversation with me.

      --
      'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    139. Re:I've seen this before... by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 1

      Run to failure does not necessarily mean run to Kernel failure. It means run to application failure. The run involved ramping up the speed load until the application would no longer work, so how long the system continued to support the app was a direct reflection of its performance (speed).

  4. -O99 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ZOMGbbq my code runs soooooooooo much faster then those stewped other n00bs who use binaries. they r teh missing out on all the gcc screensaver pwnage.

    1. Re:-O99 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You might be right, but does your Gimp, mplayer, inkscape, raytracer etc have mmx 1 or 2, sse 1 2 or 3, (or altivec) etc support for the large benefits they WILL give? probably not, maybe it was compiled for i386.. or if you are lucky i586. Or was it that you DONT want gnome, perhaps DONT want KDE or dont want EITHER support compiled into the app you want to use?

      Intel should start selling 2 or 3ghz i386s for all you people who things generic builds are the hip new thing.

      Or was it the fact that I only get the apps installed that I want? hmm.

    2. Re:-O99 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or perhaps you just don't understand the sort of code GCC produces or how it optimises? Yeah, I think that might be more like it.

    3. Re:-O99 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, another one of those poor people who don't understand that support for MMX, SSE et c. extensions are included in all distro binaries made for i386 as the lowest common denominator.

      The stuff doesn't run any slower just because it also runs on i386.

  5. This is news? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about an article about non-patched XP machines having bugs, or something.. oh wait.. already tried that. :P

  6. I can't stand ricers by 56ksucks · · Score: 0

    Stupid cars.. I'm a member of http://www.ricecopforums.com/ I put "rice tickets" on stupid ricer cars.

    --

    ---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"

    1. Re:I can't stand ricers by wasted · · Score: 2, Funny

      I put "rice tickets" on stupid ricer cars.

      Isn't stupid ricer redundant?

    2. Re:I can't stand ricers by metlin · · Score: 1


      Damn, where is the_mad_poster when we need him? ;)

    3. Re:I can't stand ricers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's what makes you special, instead of normal.

      You see, normal people don't give a shit either way, or if they do, it's not worth more than 5 seconds out of every day. But for you....well, somebody has to be that stupid, so why shouldn't you be that person? Bah, ignore me.

    4. Re:I can't stand ricers by theLOUDroom · · Score: 1

      I put "rice tickets" on stupid ricer cars. Isn't stupid ricer redundant?

      If anybody's stupid it's you.

      Leave people the fuck alone.

      Besides, if you see a modified car, it means that someone cared enough to do it. This means that car is important to someone. Do not fuck with it. If you do so, you are asking for trouble.

      Of course what else should we expect from a stupid, flamebait article like this. It's like posting an article under the title "fuck niggers!" We should be modding down the editor as well for contributing to the idiocy of people like yourself.

      --
      Life is too short to proofread.
  7. genius by Stalyn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    lets offend as many people as possible... lets see.. dress up CmdrTaco in blackface with a bucket of chicken in his hand.

    --
    The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
    1. Re:genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lets offend as many people as possible... lets see.. dress up CmdrTaco in blackface with a bucket of chicken in his hand.

      That's almost as bad as that mcdonlds commercial where the white woman tells the bewildered-looking black man that he doesn't get a toy with his chicken strips.

    2. Re:genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      McDonalds' "I'm lovin' it" campaign seems to be based on some sort of assumption that if you a commercial with no appeal to anyone whatsoever your product will sell better. They seem to have incorporated every method of irritating people into these commercials. It ties with the recent supermarket scanner anti-drug ads for worst ad campaign ever.

    3. Re:genius by bgarrett · · Score: 1

      If you are personally offended by this site, then you are probably the sort of person the site was made to parody.

      --
      Nothing worth doing is worth doing today.
  8. Great... by MarkMcLeod · · Score: 0

    Three "Pro (Insert Distro Here)" *n*x stories on the front page, let the trolling begin!

  9. You know the only thing sadder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Up tight morons who spend their lives getting so offended by these 'ricers'.

    I couldn't give a rat's arse about these people. If they want to spend weeks getting an imagined 1% performance improvement then great, I'm quite happy to ignore them.

    1. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by wasted · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It isn't the car or the money so much as the attitude. If you see someone driving like an idiot, being a hazard to themselves and all ground-bound life forms, it is more likely a kid in a Honda (or something similar) with a wing and oversized muffler than someone in a car with no wing and functional improvements.

    2. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by arkanes · · Score: 5, Funny
      I saw a riced out 78 oldsmobile the other day. I'm not sure if it was lame enought to be cool or not.

      Yes, I mean riced out, not upgraded or modified - titanium bored-out gas pedal, racing seat, ripped up padding on the roof falling down, bolted on wing (that looked like it'd been made by someone in a high school shop class....), chrome rims(1 missing), wings, nitrous and R-Type stickers(!)

    3. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by DrMrLordX · · Score: 1

      So, has anyone become hazardous to themselves and all ground-bound life forms by using Gentoo? And, if so, do you have any vids of their "accidents"? I could use a few cheap laughs.

    4. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by shish · · Score: 1
      you see someone driving like an idiot, being a hazard to themselves and all ground-bound life forms

      And gentoo is like that, how?

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
    5. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by scorp888 · · Score: 1

      You mean it's more likely to be a kid.

      Notice the lack of anything else.

      Kids are kids.

      In the Uk, when I was 17, (the legal age to drive here), it was escorts, and Vauxhall Chevettes, then it was Mini's and Novas.

      Back in your dads day, it would have been big block Chevy's and the like.

      Lighten up, kids will be kids, and you've got to give natural selection it's chance.

    6. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Ex-Cyber · · Score: 1

      An R-Type sticker would be a nice change of pace, actually.

    7. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Sentry21 · · Score: 1

      It's the ones that take off their mufflers and blare up and down the street at 3 AM because they think they're so cool.

      I can't really think of a suitable comparison with Gentoo. Maybe the people who load up vlcplayer and play movies at 2AM with 10% less CPU use, but that doesn't really wake me up, so I don't really know. I'm sure there's a comparison.

    8. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You apparently gave a rats-ass enough to post something about it. So while you can ignore "Gentoo ricers", you can't ignore people who rip on them?

      Pot...kettle...black

    9. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      Who was getting offended? It looked more like Gentoo users were getting offended by that site than the site maintainer getting offended by the ignorant section of the Gentoo community.

      I do agree the site goes too far to lump the whole community as one group.

      I think it is funny that a lot of the other posts seem to qualify as entries in funroll-loops.

      I gave Gentoo a shot from stage 1, the problem I ran into was that a couple packages were somehow missing from pretty much all the mirrors. I asked an experienced Gentoo user and he said it does happen from time to time.

      Gentoo is an interesting concept, but I'm not sure it is worth wasting hours of meat-bag time to save seconds of silicon time here or there on a single machine. Even worse is wasting meat-bag time only to be rebuffed by a missing file, so I have to choose between just letting the computer sit there powered on for hours and hope the mirrors catch up or do something better with my time.

    10. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gentoy users like to post long "What about Gentoy?" posts all over online forums whenever anyone hints at why they might like another Linux distribution. There is a vocal minority (We're told they're a minority but I see no proof myself) in the Gentoy community who don't have the slighest clue of the technical details involved and need to learn to keep their mouths shut when the grownups are talking. These people infest what were once useful discussions and sully them with their nonsense "What about Gentoy?" claptrap, making the original discussion useless.

    11. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by fatman22 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, yeah - as if we didn't do dumb stuff when we were their age too. They'll sort themselves out eventually and the process is fun to watch. Sometimes.

      The first half-century is where you learn enough to appreciate the second.

    12. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and R-Type stickers(!)

      Is that Evil Bydo Empire up to no good again? Well they're in for a real shock this time. Take off every '78 Olds! For Great Justice! Whoops. Wrong game...

    13. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um. No. I used to commute an hour and a half (both ways) through traffic every day. The people that endanger people are not the ricer boys. It's the ones driving their fucking huge tanks (called suv's) by *themselves* that endanger people. I can't *wait* for gas prices to hit like four or more bucks. (in US). The ricer boys tend to do stupid sh*t like run into mountains and fly off freeway turns (at least the ones that I've known). And the ones going really fast have usually removed a few things that protect you in accidents and crumple like paper when they hit something. So this is crap. What's horrible are the people who don't understand why they keep having close calls (they don't pay attention, slow down, etc), so they buy a huge fucking car, with huge fucking blind spots they never check, and all their problems seem to mysteriously melt away (or get pushed off the road). So instead of learning how to drive, they just increase their ignorance. One of the best thing I ever saw was this suv flying through traffic in the rain on the freeway, almost running people down, cutting them off, etc. An hour later, I saw the front grill of their car sticking up out of a ditch on the side of the rode. Not going so fast anymore. I got a good laugh out of that.

    14. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Narchie+Troll · · Score: 1

      Your ability to replace "Gentoo" with "Gentoy" in your posts is truly the mark of an advanced satirist. You put me in mind of a Swift, perhaps.

    15. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 1
      I saw a riced out 78 oldsmobile the other day. I'm not sure if it was lame enought to be cool or not.

      You have truely suffered. I can confidently say that that is the most horrible thing I've ever heard of getting the riceboy treatment... in the U.S.

      Here in Sweden, however, we have Kurdish riceboys.

      • Have you ever seen a Volvo 740 station wagon with neon underlighting?
      • Have you ever seen a mid-80's BMW 3-series with a four foot high spoiler?
      • And, presuming it's possible to survive the sight, have you ever seen a Volvo 244 with a body kit, spoiler, and aftermarket ralley headlights?
    16. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Grax · · Score: 1

      To tell the truth I see plenty of people driving likes idiots, being a hazard to themselves and all ground-bound life forms in unmodified vehicles.

    17. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Sevn · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's more likely to be an extremely old person that can barely see over the steering wheel driving an old, slow, gas guzzling debian. CADILLAC!! I MEANT CADILLAC!!!. Sorry. Try living where the old people go for a while. I've "done time" in Arizona and Florida. Old people in their amazing land barges are rolling over kids on the sidewalk all the time. Rolling right through farmers markets and shops. It's just not reported on often because it's politically dangerous to talk about it. Much like certain college students, old people have a lot of free time to write letters, make phonecalls, and harass people that try to take away their "rights".

      As for the distribution wonks....

      I've seen plenty of ignorant people on all sides. On one hand you have the Gentoo fanboys that say dumb things. Everyone has them. You just have a bunch of bitter debian people shining a flashlight on them is all. It's kinda sad and pathetic. You got something good going there debian folks. No need to advertise your inferiority complex. Be proud of your distro. Someone should take the webmaster of that site out and have an intervention. Help him/her work on their self esteem a little. Picking on an easy target to the point that you actually:

      1) buy a domain to do it
      2) do all the legwork to put the farce together

      is a serious cry for attention and help.

      --
      For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
    18. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually its more likely to be some dumbass in an SUV

    19. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I strongly disagree. I'm one of those idiots (I drive Nissan) and the people who are a danger to themselves and others are typically minivan and SUV drivers. When I see someone cutting someone off, by which I do not mean getting in front of someone, but instead getting in front of someone while going slower than they are, they are almost always driving a minivan, or suv; the next candidate is a middle-aged woman in your typical four-door beater box sedan, like a cutlass ciera. Usually the kids in the sports cars slide off the road and hurt themselves, but the woman in the minivan panics and ends up driving right up someone's ass because she didn't spring for ABS and she mashed the brake pedal. Now, I know your average ricer doesn't have the dedication to not cutting people off and to always signaling that I do, but while ricers do tend to drive impatiently and that is fairly dangerous, it's not as dangerous as driving with a total lack of attention, I.E. disciplining your children or yapping on the cellphone.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Maybe your area is different, but the only people who actually don't have mufflers in my area are muscle car owners. You will basically never see a ricebox without a muffler because they sound like shit, they don't have the displacement to carry it off and they get no tone in their exhaust system. They do often have glasspacks, but a powerstroke diesel (or similar) makes more noise at idle than most glasspack-equipped ricemobiles do at WOT. If you have someone with a diesel work truck living near you, it's worse than my rice car with the 3" exhaust on it, and I have an exhaust leak at the moment :P

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    21. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by hvatum · · Score: 0

      The only thing more pathetic then someone who gets offended by ricers is the person who gets offended by people who are offended by ricers.

      --
      Netbooks, they come with Linux or a $3 copy of Windows. Either way, Microsoft loses.
    22. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by adamjaskie · · Score: 1

      You have 3" exhaust? Why? Behind your turbo?

      If its a naturally aspirated small displacement engine like most of the cars I see riced out, a three inch exhaust is overkill. In fact, it is worse than overkill. It is detrimental to the performance of your car. Your engine depends on a certain amount of backpressure to produce low-end torque. All you are doing is robbing low end power and making your car louder.

      --
      /usr/games/fortune
    23. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The 3" exhaust is for future turbo expansion, I intend an engine swap but first I have to finish all the suspension work because otherwise there's no point. If I wanted a fast car that didn't handle I'd buy a mustang :)

      However, you are only partially right about a free-flowing exhaust on a naturally aspirated car. A free exhaust with less restriction does rob you of low end torque, but it provides freer flow at high RPMs and, especially when coupled with an intake, will improve high-RPM performance, increasing horsepower. Generally speaking the hp gains are about equivalent to the torque loss. I have a 2.4 liter so I have lots of low-end torque compared to most of the "competition" which has 2.0 or 1.8 liter engines, so I can afford to lose a little torque and try to make it up on the top end to compete with people with variable valve timing. Then again, I'm not actually racing; what happened was, my stock exhaust system disintegrated and rather than buy a restrictive system, I bought something that would work with my future turbo.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    24. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny you mention SUVs.. my first thought was minivans, but I failed to consider that a lot of the evil minivan "soccer mom" types (who shouldn't have gotten their license anyway.. how the hell can you get a license and yet drive so badly?) have moved on to SUVs now.

    25. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by pyrrhonist · · Score: 1
      Have you ever seen a Volvo 740 station wagon with neon underlighting?

      Worse. I encountered a Dodge minivan with underlighting and a VTEC sticker.

      I had to pull over to let the seizures pass.

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    26. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 2, Funny

      Worse. I encountered a Dodge minivan with underlighting and a VTEC sticker.

      I had to pull over to let the seizures pass.


      I feel your pain.

      These creations should be as illegal as the RPG's I hunt them with.

    27. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by ahodgson · · Score: 1

      Yeah, whenever one of them wakes me up I have to remind myself how loud my car stereo was when I was 18. It makes me cringe and want to mail out apology letters to people in my hometown :/

    28. Re:You know the only thing sadder? by exeel · · Score: 1
      If you see someone driving like an idiot, being a hazard to themselves and all ground-bound life forms, it is more likely a kid in a Honda (or something similar) with a wing and oversized muffler than someone in a car with no wing and functional improvements.

      So what does this have to doing with anything gentoo related?

      If you see someone compiling like an idiot, being a hazard to themselves and all internet-based life forms, it is more likely a kid using Gentoo (or something similar) with a piercing and oversized CFLAGS variable than someone using a distro with no compiling and functional improvements.

      Nope, still dont make sense

      --
      ___
      Exeel -

      whisper 'mov cat,rooster' > public.bar.stool->girl.ear 2> hell.nofury >

  10. Hmm by TheKidWho · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seems like here we have a case where something is so good that people start to downplay it. I find gentoo to be a great distribution, while some people might say they are 1337 by installing it, its a rather simple installation where you just follow the instructions. And I love it because of how minimalistic it is, I install what I want and nothing that I don't want. That's what I love about gentoo!

    1. Re:Hmm by FuzzyBad-Mofo · · Score: 2, Funny
      Methinks some Debian users are jealous.. I recently migrated my relatively ancient MDK 9.1 workstation to Gentoo, and have found it a pleasure to work with. It has all the goodness of Apt, with the bonus of USE flags (I know, the article.. but you really can do neat stuff here).

      If you halfway know your stuff regarding Linux, it can make a very nice workstation. I don't know if I'd recommend it for servers though, since having a compiler installed on a server is just asking for trouble..

    2. Re:Hmm by andreyw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Some of us don't have a Cray around to help with the compile-times... or even a distcc cluster devoted just to upgrade that Gentoo box in a reasonable time.

      I *like* Gentoo. I *understand* why the Gentoo-people want to go with a BSD-ports-like system. Fine. But for the love of God... if your answer explaining Gentoo's greateness is "recompiling everything from scratch to update", then you didn't understand the question.

      That said, it tooks me 13 minutes to bring up my Debian system up to date... which I haven't updated in 3 months now. 10 of those took downloading the 300MB of packages.

    3. Re:Hmm by dead+sun · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Gentoo is a pleasure to work with. Absent from installing massive packages that aren't installed in some incarnation already I have no issues with it. Big builds can be relegated to the background in a desktop environment and I haven't noticed a big hit to moderate desktop usage while doing so. It's when you want to install a new package that's huge that causes a problem. Huge packages with a prior version installed let you use the older version while you're compiling away. I'm surprised by the number of people who speak of it like it's a huge issue. I mean, I can wait half an hour longer to use the newest, shiniest version of an app while I'm using a version that I've been using for the last X months.

      On the topic of servers, it can be done if you're smart about it. Gentoo allows for installation from binaries, really it does. It just so happens that you have to download the source, compile it to a binary, and then point portage at the binary to install from.

      Given that, if you're running a smart development and production server setup that are exactly the same, maybe sans some insecure stuff on the production environment machine, you can compile for your given target to binary on the development machine, test your packages for stability and overall goodness, and then migrate the binaries over to production, install, and be happy. It doesn't have to be built from scratch on the server.

      On the otherhand, if you're dumb about it and don't do something like that, you're just screwed. You end up having a bunch of mess around on your production machine, driving up the processor and RAM usage anytime you want to upgrade something even slightly, and it's just generally a mess. Even then, Gentoo is a bit bleeding edge in many package instances, which may not make it the best server platform without semi-intensive testing on the admin's part. It's really just a tad easier to install something like Debian stable and not worry so much about it.

      Dismissing Gentoo out of hand because there are some clueless people that are vocal about it is pretty stupid and close minded.

      --
      If not now, when?
    4. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      emerge --usepkg?

    5. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    6. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or you can let someone else compile and test it and then you have nothing more to do than install it.

      Why make it more painful for yourself?

      Ricetoo

    7. Re:Hmm by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Your production and development machines don't need to be exactly the same by any stretch, but it will limit your optimization options, you can't do -march, you have to do -mcpu. (Do I have those right? I sometimes get them mixed up, I think I'm lysdexic or something.) Then it will run relatively unoptimized on your development system, and give "full speed" on the production server. The development box can then be a virtual machine. You can even use distcc between the two to improve your compile times which is another nice bonus, so the dev system doesn't even have to be that fast if your server can take the hit of compiles.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:Hmm by antiMStroll · · Score: 1
      Type 'emerge foo' before going to bed or when you're done using the computer. Why is this such a difficult concept? Is your machine so old the compiler uses a handcrank? Do you live in front of the machine?

      I'm typing this in Debian Alioth on my desktop, which is awesome. Debian 64 was impossible to get running cleanly on my AMD64 notebook, so it runs Gentoo. The difference is all those 'ricers' have created the most comprehensive support structure I know in the Gentoo Forums. And yes, it is nice having the power to set compile time options to ignore Gnome, ESD, KDE, ARts specific extensions when I don't run either and don't want to download all the libraries, or to compile the 'links' browser with svga support so it can be run graphics mode in Xorg. It was a godsend on my previous P2 366 notebook, and the fine tuning Gentoo permitted allowed me to watch full screen movies on it across a 10 mbit network. Win 2k choked playing the same material.

    9. Re:Hmm by roror · · Score: 1
      if your answer explaining Gentoo's greateness is "recompiling everything from scratch to update", then you didn't understand the question.

      It's not. It's just the only thing that other distro users can attack gentoo about. They can't attack gentoo for the USE flags, or the latest package offering or the exceptionally helpful community members - can they ?

    10. Re:Hmm by Hatta · · Score: 1

      Gentoo is a pleasure to work with. Absent from installing massive packages that aren't installed in some incarnation already I have no issues with it.

      I love Gentoo, but I have one more issue with it. It tends to accumulate cruft. I ran out of space on my 9GB /usr partition recently. There were dirs for kde 3.1 3.2 and 3.3, and I don't even use KDE! I did install Gnome once upon a time, and I'd really like to know how to get rid of it. I have a 1.2GB /usr/lib. I'm sure there's plenty in there I don't need, but how do I find out which? This is the one serious flaw in an otherwise excellent system.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    11. Re:Hmm by KrispyKringle · · Score: 0, Redundant

      If KDE was installed (or kdelibs), I would guess you either have it in your USE flags or some poorly-written package chose to install it anyway (hey, it happens). Check out the man page for qpkg. It allows you to see which package installed which files on your system. If it turns out to be a package you don't want, emerge unmerge it.

    12. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Type 'emerge foo' before going to bed or when you're done using the computer. Why is this such a difficult concept? [...] Do you live in front of the machine?

      So, I should type that on all the machines? Is that when I am done using the computers, or when all my users are? Oh, that's right, I have a global, 24x7 operation, and my users never stop using the machines and are never all in bed, and won't tolerate the machines slowing down because they're all compiling something.

      Maybe I could optimize this process somehow, like if, instead of doing the compiles on all my machines, I could "cache" the results somehow and have some sort of master copy of the binaries. Then my machine builds and rebuilds, which I'm doing all the time, would be faster, and I'd get machines back into service more quickly.

      I guess I could use distcc to reduce compile times, but it'd be even cooler to get those times down to zero by asking the maintainer for a pre-compiled copy instead of duplicating the effort that he's no doubt already done.

      It'd be nice if I were running the same binaries everywhere -- that'd be easier to support. In fact, if I ran the exact same binaries as other users of the packages, it'd be easier for us to support each other and debug problems, and I could draw upon a much larger crowd of testers to be sure my applications had a stable platform on which to run. Maybe I can convince the maintainer to hand out packages to them, too.

      Of course, I'd want to package the binaries up for convenient distribution and then have some sort of dependency management to be sure I got the right versions installed and a tool to pull the packages from a variety of repositories.

      Well, this sounds like quite a project. I wonder if anyone's already done the work for me so I can concentrate on the more important work I have to do.

    13. Re:Hmm by Coke+in+a+Can · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I don't understand all this about painfully long compile times. Even on my bloody shitbox, which is a fileserver running on a Pentium MMX 166 with 32MB of RAM, compiling is no big deal. On my more powerful machines, it's nothing. The PII 350 headless box spends maybe an hour a week compiling new packages.

      You do know that you can compile in the background, right? And it doesn't break anything? You can even compile KDE 3.2.2 from within KE 3.2.1 - there's no productivity loss whatsoever.

      (yes I am running Gentoo, just in case this post is ambiguous)

    14. Re:Hmm by theLOUDroom · · Score: 1

      You can even use distcc between the two to improve your compile times which is another nice bonus, so the dev system doesn't even have to be that fast if your server can take the hit of compiles.

      Another option is to use distcc to farm all the compilation out to a computer other than the production server. You'd still have a bit of load on the sever, but you could use whatever optimisations you want.

      --
      Life is too short to proofread.
    15. Re:Hmm by antiMStroll · · Score: 1
      No one ever said it was universal though Gentoo has ways of handling this while still providing full control over the OS. Investigate the GRP option. Whether that's of value in your situation is up to you but it makes no sense to slag a source-based distro because it's more work. If you don't need the extra control it offers don't use it.

      BTW, did you miss my writing I like Debian and am using it to post this?

    16. Re:Hmm by EnormousTooth · · Score: 1

      You can usually free up tons of space by getting rid of the files in /usr/portage/distfiles and /var/tmp/portage.

      --
      I don't use Emacs; it uses me.
    17. Re:Hmm by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      So your answer is that overnight (or overday, for us 3rd-shifters) compiling sessions are a good thing?

      I can give you a damn good reason why 'emerge foo' before going to bed would suck ass. My AthlonXP 2600+ puts out a metric assload of heat, raising the ambient temperature of my bedroom by 5-10 degrees F. This isn't a good thing in a tropical climate (it's hard enough to sleep with the temp in the air-conditioned 70s!)

  11. Shamelessly ripped... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...from this recent comment.

  12. It is just me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... or does entire article deserve a -5 for Troll, and Flamebait? This isn't informative, enlightening, or particularily funny whatsoever. Slashdot is supposed to be 'News for nerds. Stuff that matters.' What some kids do in their spare time to flip off an entire community of hackers, users, and people has no place on a site like this. I've learned more about Linux hanging around in #gentoo and being apart of the forums these short six months than I have anywhere else in the last two years.

    My morale with this is the same when playing Unreal Tournament - Don't bash the newbies. We were all newbies once.

    1. Re:It is just me... by sultanoslack · · Score: 1

      Ironically, when I said the same thing yesterday I mentioned the Gentoo / Ricer site; I mean, at least yesterdays mediocre "news" was at least new. This has been there for months...

    2. Re:It is just me... by blunte · · Score: 1, Insightful

      No it's not just you. Not only is this old, and stupid, it's total flamebait.

      What's really sad is that some freak spent time putting this page together. What kind of life (or lack thereof) does one have when they get that motivated against a distro that they put up a special webpage?

      --
      .sigs are for post^Hers.
    3. Re:It is just me... by black+mariah · · Score: 0

      I could go to any forum and in 15 minutes time have enough stupid shit collected to make a website with as much content as this one. Another 10 minutes and I'll have the pages built. Another 10 minutes and I'll be emailing the link to other people.

      And it's not against a distro, it's against the idiots the use it. I'm all for making fun of idiocy (mine included).

      --
      'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    4. Re:It is just me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually my Slashdot logo for linux.slashdot.org (here) says "Don't fear the Penguins.".

    5. Re:It is just me... by mobilebuddha · · Score: 1, Insightful

      cuz it's funny to the rest of us.

      ya know.. it's like the yomama jokes. not funny to you, but funny to the rest of us.

    6. Re:It is just me... by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 1

      Let me know when the Gentoo zealots stop seeing my sig and deciding that they should try to convince me that my experience didn't suck.

      --
      I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
    7. Re:It is just me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, it's just you. I thought it was fucking hilarious.

    8. Re:It is just me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      waaa, waaa, I'm a Ricetoo boy

    9. Re:It is just me... by antiMStroll · · Score: 1

      Not really, it does appear to be no more than a bit of inept fun. Given the examples, the correct targets aren't Gentoo users but case modders. The Lexan cover, neon lit CPU fan crowd. Gentoo users are the equivalent of engine and suspension tinkerers.

    10. Re:It is just me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...or is anyone else having trouble telling funroll-loops.org and slashdot.org apart?

    11. Re:It is just me... by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 1

      Case modders admit that their changes do nothing but make their machine look cool, and thats okay. But if you think having "id" return in 0.001 instead of 0.002 secs, then you're as stupid as the ricers that put big fins on the back of their cars.

      I really wish I had two identical machines so I could slap debian on one, gentoo on the other, then do hard benchmarks.

      --
      Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
  13. Quotes from actual Gentoo users by benjamindees · · Score: 5, Funny

    ahh, this is golden:

    To me, an extra 0.1% performance increase, even if I am only imagining it to be faster, is certainly worth one day a week recompiling all of the latest packages from source code. Even if I do occasionally get my CFLAGS in a muddle! I think I speak for Slashdot when I say that Gentoo is the only sane option for getting the most from your hardware!

    --
    "I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
    1. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Goeland86 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      yes, golden with a trace of truth in it too.
      Sorry if it sounds like the usual gentoo user bragging, but that guy is definitely right to some extent. Unless you recompile your kernel manually to optimize support for your motherboard, CPU, ram, graphics card, etc. you're losing performance. Not all binairy distros allow you to do that. Especially not redhat/fedora, and others offer kernels that you're not supposed to recompile, lest you break something with the hidden config files.
      I have mandrake 10.0 at home, and when I ssh into because my sister can't get a wmv streaming working with mplayer, well, I'm as good as a n00b, because I simply CANNOT find where the config is, nor find enough information about the urpmi command.
      Not to mention that the only reason mandrake is on there is because my family wouldn't let me take 36 hours to emerge both kde and gnome so they could have the choice (my mom uses gnome, my sister KDE, and I use enlightenment).
      I won't argue that gentoo takes a long time to install, but sometimes it's just worth the tweaking.
      Simple example: my laptop runs gentoo or windows, dual boot.
      The laptop was designed for windows XP in mind, so you'd expect it to get the best battery life running win XP, right?
      Well, I get maybe 2 hours on it when typing text.
      Using gentoo, well, oh! surprise: almost 4 hours worth of use while typing a paper in openoffice, with the exact same configuration, and actually tested 'til the battery died for both OSes.
      Only with gentoo did I find the correct acpi codes to use to minimize power when on battery power, mandrake has them, probably, but hidden somewhere that isn't logical.
      What was that quote about SuSE? They're not worried enough about where things should be on their file system? The same applies to most rpm based distros, and probably most binairy distros in general.

      --
      ---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
    2. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by mark_lybarger · · Score: 1

      come on now. i'd like to see some benchmarks showing that just changing the processor type/family in the kernel config is going to boost performance?

      i'm also under the impression that most distributions give source rpms for their kernel among other things. thus for your mandrake install, you'll install the source rpm for the kernel sources, then cd /usr/src/linux (or wherever they install to) and make menuconfig to read about all the options and configurations available for your distro. the acpi codes (and most stuff in the kernel in general ) are going to be distro agnostic, so using gentoo i don't think alowed you to find the correct codes. other than the above average knowledge of the distro community.

    3. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless you recompile your kernel manually to optimize support for your motherboard, CPU, ram, graphics card, etc. you're losing performance. Not all binairy distros allow you to do that.

      Right about here is when you lose all credibility. I'd show you the error of your ways but I just changed my RAM and my kernel has finished re-compiling, so i've got to reboot now.

      Fucking cretin.

    4. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought that quote was so hillarious, it's now my email signature replacing the Einstein quote off of NoCat. I bet that guy had no idea his little nugget would be worthy of replacing Einstein in any sense...oh but it's definitely worthy.

    5. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Goeland86 · · Score: 1

      I beg to differ. In mandrake, when starting acpid, it didn't find any useable acpi events/battery/power supply (on my laptop where I now have gentoo!). Besides, having the sources for the distro's kernel doesn't really help all that much, because if you inadvertently delete a module you KNOW to be useless then your entire system is screwed, it will refuse to boot if it doesn't have all the modules. Come on, you know you won't be able to find a system with all those network cards, and for god's sake, get rid of hotplug to find all the new network cards at boot, once is enough. So, that is a waste of time on boot, and a waste of memory, KDE or Gnome are heavy enough in my opinion. Besides, isn't the average knowledge of the community a good indicator of how good a distro really is? Because you don't get people asking "why doesn't this button work in that window?", you get on average intelligent questions with reasonable amounts of data that allows you to answer efficiently usually in less than a dozen commands.

      --
      ---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
    6. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Goeland86 · · Score: 1

      you're losing performance because your memory gets clogged.
      I'm one of those people that has a valid reason to worry about ram use, because I have a limited amount of it, but I use linux for 3D design, and that so happens to consume ALOT of ram.
      So every bunch of kilobytes I can scrap off is worth it thank you very much.

      And I don't like being insulted either
      Fucking Cretin

      --
      ---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
    7. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by marsu_k · · Score: 4, Funny
      How about this one then?

      "I don't think that Debian can really compete with Gentoo. Sure it might be okay, but when it comes to dependencies, you probably are still going to have to get them all on your own. Or is there something like portage in the Debian world as well?"

      Just amazing :-) (for the record, I have nothing against Gentoo. It's the very vocal fanbase I have issues with)

    8. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by FuzzyBad-Mofo · · Score: 1

      Unless you recompile your kernel manually ... you're losing performance. Not all binairy distros allow you to do that. Especially not redhat/fedora, and others offer kernels that you're not supposed to recompile, lest you break something with the hidden config files.

      Hmm, I'm a Gentoo user as well as a Fedora Core 2 user, and I think they are both nice distros. I compile my own kernels for FC2, and have not had any issues aside from Yum wanting to "upgrade" it to the official kernel (gotta look into fixing that). What do you mean by "hidden" config files? The copy of .config Fedora sticks in /boot by default?

    9. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by mishan · · Score: 1

      You guys should just use Debian, then you wouldn't have this problem. There's no issue with recompiling kernels, it's extremely easy, and the distribution even provides a mechanism for building kernel debs, if that floats you boat. Personally, I just build the kernels by hand and install them by hand.

    10. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Goeland86 · · Score: 1

      no, I mean, as in most of the files or standard configuration options for gentoo are in /etc right? including alot in /etc/conf.d or /etc/init.d well, it turns out mdk 10.0 doesn't have the directories /etc/conf.d or /etc/init.d, and alot of the cups configuration in mdk is hidden in a remote folder somewhere in /etc, I had to use locate to find the config file and edit it so it would finally work. Not to mention some options as to whether to set your clock to local or UTC, because I think gui's are mostly a waste of time when they take me longer to start than to edit the config file and restart the service affected... but that's just me... and I am a freak that cares about how much time his computer spends rendering or how much ram his programs use.

      --
      ---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
    11. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by black+mariah · · Score: 0
      I am a freak
      Great! You've recognized the problem! Now all you have to do is get rid of it.
      --
      'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    12. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Bios_Hakr · · Score: 1

      I started with Debian in 1997. I moved to RedHat and later Mandrake before trying LFS and Gentoo. I've recently moved back to Debian and played with Slack a bit. I've got quiet a bit of experience with different distros. However, if a distro does something to piss me off, I'm gone.

      That being said, I'd like to know if you've ever gotten a RH kernel recompile to work. The config file is fairly easy to find once you scour google to figure out where it is. Alternatively, you can grep your system for it...if you have an idea of what you are looking for. Oh, don't try to use the kernel from anywhere except RH; they have their own special kernel mods.

      I like Gentoo and LFS because they, being built from the ground up, give you an idea of what is where and why. When you get a new device, you know if it's built in the kernel or not. If you need to recompile, you can do so with absolute confidince.

      --
      I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
    13. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by tomstdenis · · Score: 1

      Cuz that guy has a 100Mhz 486DX4 or something.

      I spend about 30 mins [tops] a day building usually leave it in the background while I play SAN ANDREAS [boo fuckin ya! ;-)].

      If you use Gentoo for speed you're stupid.

      The real reasons to use gentoo are

      1. Portage
      2. USE flags
      3. Status of using Gentoo

      Think about this. Go install Knoppix. Now try to export a TIFF with the packaged GIMP. Try to import a PS with TeTeX. etc. etc. etc. In gentoo you add USE=tiff and boom all programs that can be configured with tiff support now have it.

      Gentoos configurability is what makes it so attractive to me at least.

      Of course I actually use my Linux PC for more than just "playing the latest fad FPS game". I actually write software, papers, etc with it which requires having development and typesetting tools properly built.

      Oh and building from source is ideal if you own an AMD64 since most "binary" distributions are for i386 not x86-64. So if "wasting" 30 mins in the background here and there is the cost of having my applications built with the latest GCC for my cpu then oh no shock and horror it's worth it.

      Tom

      --
      Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    14. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Kristoffer+Lunden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I have nothing against Gentoo. It's the very vocal fanbase I have issues with

      What vocal fanbase? Really, looking around here and on other places on the net, Gentoo is constantly attacked and bashed by people from all over, but I have almost never seen a "vocal fanboy" going on about Gentoo.

      It is very strange that it is being attacked so vehemently, when Gentoo users do not attack others. Usually - everyone has their share of pimply teenagers that thinks it makes them alpha males to do such. But in Gentoo community, they seem very, very rare.

      You must be thinking about Debian and Mac users. Great distribution and OS, but the people using them... I'd use either in a blink, but I don't really want to be connected to those people. Sadly, as especially Debian might really be the best distro around.

      As for having a *big* fanbase, Gentoo has that. Which is one of their real strengths, really. You always get help, are never ever flamed for being a newbie or anything, just friendly helpfulness. Elitist fanboys take note.

    15. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you're losing performance

      Yeah I know what you mean. I've often wished that the idle process would run 0.1% faster. It's just a waste of CPU time otherwise, right?

      You are the perfect example of why Gentoy users are percieved as idiots. You clearly don't know the first thing about operating systems or the basic concepts required to understand operating systems. You apparently know nothing about GCC (Hint: GCC produces average to poor output, depending on the target. You can't magically make GCC produce better code for your Athlon XP). You totally fail to realise that there are a huge number of factors that means that your CPU is largly idle; your super-not-really-optimised Gentoy builds are doing the exact same thing that almost everyone elses machine is doing. Nothing!

      You're wasting your time. You just don't know it.

    16. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by DavidTC · · Score: 1
      That's what I like about Gentoo, number 2.

      'portage' is only really an advantage over Red Hat. Other distros have ways to get packages via something like emerge, like apt-get. Even BSD.

      But USE flags are amazing. With other distros, you have to use the default packages. This either means you get support for stuff you don't care about (And have to download the dependencies you don't care about.), or you don't, and cannot, get support for those things. Yes, yes, you can download source packages and compile them, but it happens automatically on Gentoo.

      Anyone who thinks you get a noticable speed increase from compling 95% of the things yourself is silly. There might be a slight speed increase from a few things, but it's not noticable. (What is noticable, though, is the new prelink support. That's sped up KDE startup at least 20%.) If you want speed, stop using gcc, download icc and use it. (I've actually been tempted to compile some Gentoo packages with that and see what happens.)

      Now, what is nice, is that almost every package, being source, is available for all Gentoo architectures. (Assuming the program actually works on said architecture.) None of that trying to track down mod_mysql_auth compiled for the PowerPC. As long as you boot into Linux via LiveCD or, really, any way, you can install Gentoo with any packages you want.

      And I've never seen or heard of these supposed Gentoo fanboys. I, personally, think Gentoo is the best distro out there for people who want to do a lot of tweaking. It's not the best for people who want a stable enviroment, like a server, (Yes, sometimes things break. It's still getting its footing. And you can shoot yourself in the foot easily if you ignore warnings.) Debian is the best there. It's not the best for a prepared desktop enviroment, I'd go with Mandrake there, or SuSE.

      --
      If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
    17. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    18. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      That's because they've mostly shut up by now. It isn't that long ago that whenever there was ANY distro discussion here, the Gentoo freaks would come crawling out of the woodwork, screaming "USE G3NT00, L0ZRS!" at anything that moved. And they'd show their embarrassing ignorance off, like the six-foot aluminium wing on your friendly neighbourhood ricer's car. Many of those quotes on funroll-loops are from just those discussions. Right here on Slashdot!

      And actually, I don't think the comparison to "ricers" is as apt as to some of those so-called audiophiles. Some of the things those freaks will do to their hi-fi systems for sound improvements that are usually completely imaginary really tickle my laughbones.

      At least imaginary performance bonuses from CFLAGS don't cost money.

    19. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by ahodgson · · Score: 1

      'portage' is only really an advantage over Red Hat. Other distros have ways to get packages via something like emerge, like apt-get. Even BSD.

      Uh, so does RedHat. Try yum someday.

    20. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Goeland86 · · Score: 1

      I don't care all that much about CPU performance, it's what it is, with or without recompile. What matters to me is memory usage, as I posted in a comment further up. If I can shave off a few hundred kilobytes that can be used for 3D modelling instead, well it's worth it for me. I NEED that memory space that other distros eat up by loading all sorts of things I don't know. Maybe you should've read my answers to some of the other comments first!

      --
      ---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
    21. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by cryptoluddite · · Score: 1
      It is very strange that it is being attacked so vehemently, when Gentoo users do not attack others. Usually - everyone has their share of pimply teenagers that thinks it makes them alpha males to do such. But in Gentoo community, they seem very, very rare.

      It isn't strange at all, it's just basic human envy. Gentoo has a more reasonable community, it's faster, it has easier and better package management, it has better documentation, and it requires less effort to maintain. Those are just the facts for anybody that's actually used it. But it takes more initial effort to set up so people in general don't do it, but wish they had.

    22. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Haha, that tired old argument: "They're just JEALOUS!!!"

      Guess what knob, that argument is wrong. It's not envy, it's not jealously, it's disgust for the morons that arrogantly tell others that their system is better for reasons that are clearly incorrect.

    23. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by SaDan · · Score: 1
      It isn't strange at all, it's just basic human envy. Gentoo has a more reasonable community, it's faster, it has easier and better package management, it has better documentation, and it requires less effort to maintain. Those are just the facts for anybody that's actually used it. But it takes more initial effort to set up so people in general don't do it, but wish they had.


      Gentoo's a pretty good distro, no doubts about it. But I doubt everyone envies Gentoo over their preferred distro.

      Yes, I have used Gentoo. It's neat. The documentation is good, the community (for the most part) is excellent.

      All that being said, I still prefer *my disto choice here* over Gentoo, because it's easier to maintain for production servers.

      Open source is all about choices. Some people choose Gentoo, others choose a different distro. No one's in the wrong, or stupid, for choosing any Linux distro, or rolling their own.
    24. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ahahahahahahahahah
      hahahahahahahah

      you're losing performance because your memory gets clogged.

      Please tell me you're trolling. I don't think I can bring myself to believe that there are people out there as stupid as you who're actually arguing this shit with a straight face. Clogged. Is that a technical term? Or do you just mean memory leakage but don't have even a basic grasp of the terminology you're arguing with?

      Either way you're still fucking retarded because memory leaks are the fault of the application, not the kernel, and even if they were, recompiling the kernel wouldn't make the blindest bit of difference because at no point does the kernel address the DIMMs on that level.

      I suggest your time would be better spent actually learning a little bit about how your machine works rather than needlessly recompiling your kernel after adding a hard-drive.

      And I don't like being insulted either

      What're you going to do about it, you hopeless trainable?

    25. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, that's pretty similar to me:

      It's not Linux I have a problem with, it's the fanboys who tout it as Jesus 2.0 that piss me off.

    26. Re:Quotes from actual Gentoo users by Michael+Spencer+Jr. · · Score: 1

      It's a shame that some of us draw conclusions about the entire Gentoo userbase from the actions of a few annoying people.

      It sure is fun to mock those annoying people though. :-) I was in this Data Structures class, and one of my classmates was one of the bad kind of Gentoo user. I had already heard him lure people into distro arguments. He was excessively pushy about Gentoo once he found out someone was a non-Gentoo-using Linux user. He asked me one day which distribution of Linux I use. I told him I don't much care which distribution it is -- the kernel is Linux, the web server is Apache -- the system is already installed, and I'm not adding or removing anything, so it doesn't matter which distribution it is. It's Linux.

      I think I broke his brain.

  14. Sad by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 4, Funny

    I saw one of those oversized wings on a 2002 Mustang today. Nice car, kept clean, but with this ragged looking elevated flap marring the back like a vast plastic hangnail. It wasn't even the same color. I swear, I wanted to make a citizen's arrest. Then I noticed it was a V6, so I let the loser off with a warning.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.
    1. Re:Sad by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I agree, driving a V6 mustang is its own punishment. Only the most expensive mustangs have ever come with indepenent rear suspension and they handle like absolute shit. The V6 mustang is horribly gutless and you can keep up with them with your average modern non-turbo four banger ricemobile. My car has a whopping 155bhp/155ft-lb but a close-ratio transmission and a 4.083:1 differential and I have no trouble keeping up with V6 mustangs. At high speeds the low build quality becomes apparent and, well, it's a ford, so need I say anything about reliability? And ease of maintenance? It's harder to work on a ford taurus, for example, than a honda accord, especially when you're servicing the A/C. I know from experience. And, parts are more likely to fail.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  15. Re:i have to admit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Out of curiosity what distro do you use? I'm sure someone can find some negative stereotype to lump you into.

    I wish people could use their computer as a tool rather than a defining characteristic of who they are. This crap about "what your OS says about who you are" is rather bothersome and prevents people from looking at a computer and figuring out how to make it do what they need it to do. The thing Slashdot, and many others, need to ask themselves is why do they care what someone else installs on THEIR computer?

  16. Re:i have to admit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But its the same shit with OpenBSD idiots: "we're uber secure because the sources are *audited* (wow!) and the default install hasn't had any security holes blah blah (ooohh!)." - Nevermind you can't tell your face from a hat full of arseholes.

    And NetBSD: "but its so well engineered and consistient and lean and mean and nearly runs on my toaster." - Nice, next time spare me the bullshit advertising and tell me why it runs on less CPUs than Linux if it is so great.

    FreeBSD: (always with the Linux envy...) "its more scalable and engineered, oh and scalable, and fast, and best tcp/ip stack. Oh and its fast and engineered and consistient and stablestest and scalable and Linux is only faster on benchmarks and actually FreeBSD is faster in all areas that you can't measure." - Err, okay, you blathering fuckwit.

  17. I am not a number by 790396 · · Score: 0

    Oh wait, this is gentoo rice we are talking about.

  18. I'll be honest with you... by rpdillon · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...I am a Gentoo user and fan.

    Gentoo is not necessarily good because of the product, but in large part because of the process. When you finish doing a stage whatever (especially 1) install, you end up learning an awful lot about Linux that someone that drops in a SuSe/RedHat/Fedora Core/whatever disk doesn't know. Most experienced Linux users will see that a user that understands whats going on under the hood will fare better than one who gives you a thousand yard stare when you mention the /etc/inittab file.

    I think the benefits of compiling from source on everything are varied at best, and only sometimes outweighed by the time necessary to do it. That said, in some cases it is a good thing - if used correctly, the USE flags are nifty and let you compile without support for features you don't need. This can be quite useful, and provide a modest speed up in some cases.

    Ricers aside, Gentoo provides a superb package management system in the spirit of apt/yum, and is also source based. It boosts users with moderate knowledge level to a better understanding of the architecture of a Linux system, and this can lead to some absurd enthusiasm about the distro for the younger/more impressioanable types, but I take it much the same way I take any fanboy mentality: you'll see the upsides and the downsides as time goes on. I happen to think Gentoo is great on the whole, so I use it.

    Its just as childish for the folks annoyed by the Gentoo zealots to turn around be be anti-Gentoo zealots, creating webpages and ranting on about how horrible a community it is. Stop by the forums and you'll see its a responsive, well informed group, the majority of whom are quite reasonable.

    1. Re:I'll be honest with you... by TheKidWho · · Score: 1

      Im a Gentoo user and fan too but

      Cut the crap, installing gentoo is almost as easy as installing any other distribution.

    2. Re:I'll be honest with you... by ender81b · · Score: 1

      Randoma observations ahead.

      I used gentoo. I tried it with an old laptop I hard. Godddam was it fast - after it finished complining. PII 400 - took 1 week almost to get everything compilied. Afterwords it ran faster than everything that was ever before put on that laptop - win98 even. Of course it took 3 weeks to even get it close to a functional state and eventually had to put fedora core 1 on it to get sound working (I do not blame gentoo I blame lun1x in general for its stupid hassles.

      But then I had an ephinany. We'll call it Mac OS X 10.3. Not only was it nearly as fast at gentoo but it required 0% of the hassle to get working.

      Now I realize what linux is missing. I love my powerbook - that wya it works the effortless installtion of *nix apps (thanks fink!) and everything else. I could never imagine going back to pure linux enviroment. I have my windows desktop, my mac laptop, and my lunix server. And that's how it will remaind until linux gets its act in gear

      I have no idea if the agove made sense, have had too many pints. But I think it does. and that's all that matters

    3. Re:I'll be honest with you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wanna learn even more about Linux? Find the oldest copy of Redhat you can. Enjoy.

    4. Re:I'll be honest with you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your computer sucks, my below-average computer (333MHz) took 18 hours (still a damn long time though) and I even compiled FIREFOX!!! (which takes about as long as every other package in portage compiled at the same time... which I assume you did?)

    5. Re:I'll be honest with you... by cortana · · Score: 3, Informative

      Anyone else want to tell him that fink is based on Debian's apt-get?

    6. Re:I'll be honest with you... by st3v · · Score: 1

      Gentoo is o.k. to learn from but still not too hard to install. In my case, I learned a lot about how Linux filesystems are organized, the Linux boot process, all of the various boot and miscellaneous scripts in /etc, and especially how to compile software by compiling Linux from Scratch.

      Of course, I did this when I had lots of free time on my hands before I started college, and I'm glad I had the chance to. If you really want to learn about Linux, install Linux from Scratch.

    7. Re:I'll be honest with you... by Megane · · Score: 1
      And did you know you can even stop fink from installing from source all the time? Just use apt-get! I try to avoid fink's source installs as much as possible.

      I dropped linux entirely a year ago (I was only using it for servers at home anyhow). It was just too much of a pain in the butt. A blue & white G3 makes a great replacement for a linux server. They're cheap and upgradeable. And they'll run 10.4 with no problems, too.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    8. Re:I'll be honest with you... by Noksagt · · Score: 1
      I think the benefits of compiling from source on everything are varied at best, and only sometimes outweighed by the time necessary to do it.
      I don't know why some gentoo users and nearly all critics of gentoo or gentoo users make such a big deal about speed. Binary distros are fine for receiving binaries optimized for a specific architecture (LunarLinux and VectorLinux show this).

      The primary advantage of a source-based distro is how current the installed software can be. As soon as a tar.gz is released, source-based distros can write a short, quick wrapper for it & release ASAP. Oftentimes, only the version number of the wrapper needs to be changed & it is even more trivial. Binary-based distros must use more resources making a package (at the very least by compiling it (often by getting their hands dirty: getting it to build and run on the current distro--this testing can take a while). Source-based distros release packages to be tested by their users sooner & the amount of testing often allows the newer releases to be found in the stable branch sooner as well.

      They also provide one of the easiest methods to prevent multiple versions of the same library screwing up the system. Each package can easily list what range of versions of the libraries they need. Packages that depend on a library can be rebuilt if needed, but usually all packages will be built with the same version of a library.

      This lower barrier of testing by users also improves cross-platform support & fixes problems sooner. Users do notice bugs & are able to report it to both the distro and the package authors that much sooner.

      Custom binaries are, as the parent mentioned, often nice. My personal experience is that most packages aren't that customizable or that other distros offer a sane choice in the binary packages too. Sometimes saner.

      Source-based does have a number of obvious disadvantages. ccache, distcc, faster processors, etc. will solve the biggest one (if they haven't already). They also have a number of "advantages" which cause controversy at best & usually cause ignorant rants and raves (and apparently namecalling). But the bottom line is that there are tangible benefits in testing & the improvement of packages, which we all benefit from.
    9. Re:I'll be honest with you... by DavidTC · · Score: 1
      He probably compiled Openoffice.

      Damn that thing takes forever. And you can't compile it in pieces, at least not via portage. (I don't think you can compile it pieces under any circumstances, actually.)

      With my Athlon XP 1800 and 196 megs of RAM, it took something like 28 hours to compile. I can easily imagine a 400 taking five days or longer.

      --
      If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
    10. Re:I'll be honest with you... by gl4ss · · Score: 1, Redundant

      **Gentoo is not necessarily good because of the product, but in large part because of the process. When you finish doing a stage whatever (especially 1) install, you end up learning an awful lot about Linux that someone that drops in a SuSe/RedHat/Fedora Core/whatever disk doesn't know. Most experienced Linux users will see that a user that understands whats going on under the hood will fare better than one who gives you a thousand yard stare when you mention the /etc/inittab file.**

      did you read the site?

      "--teach-me-unix
      Watching shit scroll by for hours makes me a Linux expert overnight!"

      oh well and don't get me started about the guy who insisted that "by not compiling ps/2 support into my mozilla i get a nice speed increase" and all other kind of crazy _MISinformation_ that made no sense at all if you knew even basic principles of how things work.

      the quote compilation is fairly old though already(year or more maybe even too)...

      (i'm not against gentoo, it's an awfully good system, but then again i'm not particularly against ricer cars, in general i like japan/euro cars handling better - just the idiots that think they're modding them for performance when they fit a bigger tailpipe and add hella lights. like reading ricer mags won't make you an expert on tuning motors watching shit fly on the screen won't make you an expert on gentoo's inner workings.. things just don't work that way)

      it's not about how horrible the community in TOTAL is.. it's just poking fun at the members of it who want to speak out just for the sake of speaking out without knowing what they're spewing out...

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    11. Re:I'll be honest with you... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Actually, they provide a great package management system in the spirit of the ports systems used in the assorted BSDs. I went to BSD for a while (besides having been a SunOS4 sysadmin) and I enjoyed ports. Then I heard about gentoo, switched, and never looked back, because the majority of the cute new software is developed on linux and basically everything works on linux. Portage is fantastic and while there are some gotchas, mostly caused by ebuild maintainers not doing enough testing with different FEATURES set, there's an absolute ton of software in portage. It's quite rare I actually have to build anything manually, and as we all know the USE flags make sure that I get support for what I want in it.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re:I'll be honest with you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you read what he wrote? He says you're always going to get people like that, whatever distribution anyone uses.

    13. Re:I'll be honest with you... by toddestan · · Score: 1

      You run OS X 10.3 on your PII-400? I guess CherryOS is a lot faster than I thought!

    14. Re:I'll be honest with you... by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      *Did you read what he wrote? He says you're always going to get people like that, whatever distribution anyone uses.*

      you are? i'm not seeing this "mozilla without ps2 support" attitude from ANYWHERE else. gentoos 'fault' is in that it *aggressively* markets itself in a fashion of being 'extreme' and stuff like that, faster than anything. no wonder you're going to get some wackos in who claim all kinds of funny shit as the basis for these assumptions.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    15. Re:I'll be honest with you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Erm.. does it have a Makefile? If so, make a subtarget, then another, etc. Once you've got them all built, make the main target and it'll put the pieces together. Now, you can't compile it into usable pieces.. but you can compile it in pieces ;)

    16. Re:I'll be honest with you... by Ian+Bicking · · Score: 1

      As I get older, I find I actively am trying to forget the things I've already learned about Linux; I'm quite happy not learning more. The OS is boring, it's only interesting what you can do with it. Obviously not everyone is coming at it like this, but to me it's just the nature of progress.

    17. Re:I'll be honest with you... by DavidTC · · Score: 1

      By pieces, I meant the word processing bit, the spreadsheet bit, etc.

      --
      If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
  19. "Ricers" by 808140 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You know, I don't want to be always be the politically correct one, but the term ricer has always seemed inappropriate when coming out of a non-asian person's mouth.

    Now, it does so happen that many "ricers" are asian, that the practice probably originated in west-coast asian-american subculture. It is likewise true that East Asians consume large amounts of rice, although this is not necessarily true of Asian Americans (many of whom are sadly about as out of touch with their culture of their ancestors as that white guy who says he's German-Irish-Italian).

    But I guess it just seems crass to me to take a practice and associate it with the race that does it. It would be like calling Karaoke "Yellow Yodeling". Sure, it's funny, but I would imagine that for the vast majority of non-ricer Asian-Americans it might get tiring to constantly hear their ethnicity lampooned by non-asians who lack the sensitivity to seperate a culture from a steryotype.

    But maybe that's just me. Personally, I wouldn't use this term.

    After all, it really just is modding Asian imports. White americans have been modding American cars since the days of Henry Ford but we don't call them "potatoers" or whatever the staple white american food is.

    Oh, I hear someone say, "Potatoes aren't the staple of white america! It's not the same!" Hey, did you know that in the vast majority of northern China, people don't eat rice? They eat mantou, I kind of bread, instead. Why? Because rice doesn't grow in subarctic climates.

    Of course, they're all gooks and chinks to us, eh? Man I love ignorance.

    1. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sheesh. lighten up.

    2. Re:"Ricers" by Vegeta99 · · Score: 3, Informative

      You missed the definition by a mile.

      If you buy a Honda, and spend a few thousand dollars building up the powertrain, you're not a ricer. If you take that same Honda, and spend all your money on rims, stickers, and a big-ass aluminum wing for downforce in the back when the drive tires are in the front, you're a ricer.

      If you buy a Pontiac, and spend a few thousand dollars building up the powertrain, you're not a ricer. If you take that same Pontiac, and spend all your money on rims, stickers, and a big-ass wing, then you're a ricer.

      See?

    3. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      slashdot: home of the eternal whiner

    4. Re:"Ricers" by texwtf · · Score: 1

      Actually, there is a term - it's called "beefing it up". Now theoretically this means doing actual work to make a car go faster, but in reality it's almost always the American equivalent to ricing.

      Btw, that answers the question about what we stereotypically eat, too.

    5. Re:"Ricers" by UserGoogol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Certain phrases lose their attachment to racist expression. For example, it's quite probable that the phrase "what a gyp" was originally a slur against gypsies, but nobody really remembers that.

      Of course, "ricer" is not neccesarily in this catagory.

      --
      "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
    6. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I believe "ricer" refers to the tendancy for it to be done to Japanese cars. Not by Japanese people.

    7. Re:"Ricers" by advocate_one · · Score: 3, Informative

      it's got nothing to do with eating rice... it's a contraction of the original term "Rice Burner" as applied to Japanese motorcycles as a derogatory term from purists who'd rather ride some BMW or triumph or worse, from fat arsed yanks on overweight Harleys, who'd never be able to get their legs over a Japanese bike in the first place

      --
      Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
    8. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're as ignorant as they come. Here's a nickel and go take some rhetoric classes--you totally miss the point of the OP.

      Ricer has a connotation suggesting something vaguely Asian, and thus, by over-using the term, it has become a stereotype for a young Asian car-freak.

    9. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The term may have started out as racially derogatory, but it certainly isn't any more. It's pretty much lost all those conotations.

      Now, it refers to anybody, regardless of race or import/domestic make of car, who buys some little 4 banger car that makes 140 hp soaking wet, and adds a HUGE exhaust, a bunch of stickers, and a few other bolt-ons, and ends up with a dorky looking car that makes 142 HP.

      Then he pulls up next to a 500 HP Viper and learns that stickers and an exhaust do not a muscle car make.

    10. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, and all this time I thought those cars came from Japan, thanks for clearing that up. Now I know that those imports come from northern China.

    11. Re:"Ricers" by MachDelta · · Score: 1

      Maybe my experiences are far different from yours, but I didn't think the term "Ricer" had anything to do with race anymore. Yes, "Rice Burner" was a racial slur coined long before my time and "Ricer" is a derivitive of it, but I don't think it inherited the racial aspect of its parent. Most people I know define "Rice" as being gaudy, nonfunctional, having bad taste, and/or lacking substance. In essence, being fake or putting on a display in an attempt to impress others. It never has anything to do with the race of the person being accused. "Poser" would be a good comparison or replacement: You're trying to be or look like something you aren't (a race/rally car). So "Ricer" can apply to anyone, regardless of colour. The racial connotations are an unfortunate side effect of the words origins, rather than being founded in the term itself. And nowadays rice comes in all sorts of flavours. From the stereotypical imports that the word was first bore upon, to domestics, to other classes of vehicles (eg: trucks). So IMO, "Rice" has nothing to do with race now. Its all about opinions and impressions.

      But like I said, maybe my experiences have just been a lot different than yours.

    12. Re:"Ricers" by shirai · · Score: 1

      My friend calls the white version of ricers "bread boys" as in, look at that silly breaded out mustang. Mus' be a bread boy.

      No, I'm not racist (as in anti-white). I make fun of all races equally, including my own. ;)

      --
      Sunny

      Be my Friend

    13. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pot Kettle Black.

    14. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Courtesy of Bryan's Rice Boy Page:
      Who/What Exactly Is a Rice-Boy?

      Rice-Boy is a stereotype. The typical Rice-Boy can be identified by his car, or rather what he does to it. Generally, Rice-Boy will start out with a car that was not meant to go fast (typically a Honda Civic), and attempt to "fix it up," usually consisting of aftermarket rims, lowering springs and an aftermarket exhaust system with a large exhaust tip.

      Most Rice-Boy cars (or "Rice Rockets") have the usual complement of stickers proudly displaying features that the car might or might not have, most notably, the Honda VTEC sticker from the later model Preludes, and the plaques from the later model Integras.

      Rice-Boys do not exclusively drive Japanese cars. There are quite a few fake Mustang '5.0's and Camaro Z28's out there, as well as quite a few strange looking Neons.

      If you take a good look at the page, you'll note that the Gentoo Ricer post ripped off a lot of the images from Bryan. My personal favorite was always the VTEC computer... :)
    15. Re:"Ricers" by sweepkick · · Score: 1

      The term "rice burner" came about around the time underpowered foreign cars became (relatively) popular during the energy crunch of the 70's. The majority of the vehicles coming out of Detroit just prior to this were large v-8 "muscle cars" and "land yachts". The foreign cars were earned the moniker "rice burner" not strictly because many imports were from asian countries, but also because they were small and had tiny underpowered engines when compared to their US contemporaries.

      The term "ricer" is just an extension of that original idea: a non-flattering description for an under-powered vehicle that are decked out with equipment that is non-functional, overly extravagant, and... well... just stupid. The term is not at all limited to asian owners of these vehicles, nor is it limited to imports.

    16. Re:"Ricers" by 808140 · · Score: 0

      My point was not that those cars came from Northern China; it was that saying "White Americans eat Potatoes as their staple food" is just as ignorant as saying "Asians eat rice as their staple food". The difference is that everyone white on Slashdot knows that the former is ignorant, but I would wager that a large number of non-Asians don't realize that actually much of East-Asia doesn't eat rice.

      However, I will admit that in my head, I associated the term "ricer" with the people doing the modding, not with the cars themselves, and several people have pointed out in this thread that "ricer" actually (at least originally) refered to people that rode Japanese Motorcycles. I did not know this.

      However, when I hear the term ricer it is usually directed at a young asian kid in a souped up automobile, not with the make of the car (although these admittedly are usually Hondas).

      Anyway, before everyone gets their panties in a bunch, I'm not telling you what to say or not to say. Of course you're welcome to use whatever terms you want. But consider that you might be insulting people without intending to.

      Most of my white friends aren't racist, they're just insensitive. So think of my comment as being a heads up for people that might not have thought much about the use of the term.

      If you have internalized my point and deemed it irrelevant, that's your perogative of course.

    17. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Will do, whiteboy.

    18. Re:"Ricers" by Barto · · Score: 1

      I don't know for sure the origin of the word "ricer", but the best guess is a racist one: the association of superficial modification with asian cars and/or car owners.

      User 808140, you evidently have a moral problem with using words with racist origins even if modern use does not carry a racial connotation. You, and others in the moral hole that you've dug, will have to stop using the following:

      "nitty-gritty" : 18th Century slave traders' phrase for the debris left at the bottom of a slave ship after a voyage.

      "good egg" : This is linked to the slang expression 'egg and spoon' which rhymes with the highly derogatory name for black people, 'coon'.

      "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe" : one ending to this saying dates from before the civil rights era.

      See here and here.

      There are many other examples, some made up (folk etymology - 'nitty-gritty' may be an example of this) but some real.

      Don't get me wrong, if a racist story was accepted on slashdot or a story contained a racist term with no mitigating context (and I'm sure this has happened in the past), I'd support you completely. But there's no need to jump at shadows with "ricer = racism".

    19. Re:"Ricers" by barc0001 · · Score: 1

      However, when I hear the term ricer it is usually directed at a young asian kid in a souped up automobile

      Must be where you live. In my neck of the woods, there's a ton of "rice" on the streets, and almost NONE of it is driven by an asian. The cars are generally Asian, but most of it is stupid rich white kids with more money than brains. Nothing like seeing one of them go buy a brand new pickup and then lower it to an inch off the pavement, destroying its ability to "pick" things "up" any more.

    20. Re:"Ricers" by emazing · · Score: 1

      Is being calling a certain race by their staple food such a big deal? If anything, it would say something positive about them as a culture. Us Americans would probably be called Mickey Dees or something. All humor aside, I find it stupid that people find things offending, if the meaning is not intended to offend them. Why even assign meanings to words if you interpret them on your own? The term 'ricer' is now being referred to as a imported car from Japan (typically) with ostentatious cosmetic modifications. The slang meaning of the word is changing and so should the interpretation.

    21. Re:"Ricers" by black+mariah · · Score: 0
      After all, it really just is modding Asian imports.
      Totally fucking wrong, dickhead. If you're going to be an ass, get educated so you don't get schooled by someone else. The origin of the term rice burner has been documented elsewhere, but this deserves a special post all its own. While the term ricer does have its origins with import cars, ANY CAR can be riced out. Anything that you can slap a gawdy wing, overly expensive wheels, and a dayglo paintjob on is riced out. Bicycles, motorcycles, cars, planes, whatever. Point of origin is no longer an issue. There are riced out BMW's for fuck's sake! I suggest you pick up a copy of Import Tuner, Turbo, or any of the other fine magazines that deal in modern performance cars and count the times you see ricer applied to cars that aren't Japanese.
      --
      'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    22. Re:"Ricers" by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      Someone's always gotta play the tree hugging, "I love everybody," politically correct BS card. (I guess I'm Politically Correctist by lumping envirnmentalists in with policits. Or am I envrionmentalistist?)

      It's a joke. There's lots of rice in asia; it's funny to imagine it being used as a fuel source for a car. We're talking about an INANIMATE OBJECT (maybe inorganic would be a better term); regardless, it doesn't have a race. Sure, it was built by asian people, and asian people eat rice, but that's not derrogatory either; it's a fact. It's not something to be ashamed of (Oh shit, did you hear Chris was eating RICE!?!?), and while it may be stereotypical, it's definately true. "But, but, in a small village nestled between the worlds 13th and 22nd tallest mountains, they eat a small animal that's closely related to the arctic white mouse, which shouldn't be called white because it's actually more of an eggshell, and..." Who fucking cares?? When's the last time you saw a Chinese car anyway? Probably never, unless you've been to China. So it's even more irrelevant what they eat there.

      There's a HUGE difference between a stereotype and a prejudice. Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another. A stereotype is that all nerds are 5'2" 90lbs, pimply faced and virgins for life. Maybe it's true, maybe not, but it's only a stereotype, and it's funny to make fun of. Give it a rest.

    23. Re:"Ricers" by dspisak · · Score: 1

      Fess up. You are obviously Jon Katz. I can sense it. You're just trying to hide from us by not tying Ricers with Columbine somehow!

    24. Re:"Ricers" by Simon+Garlick · · Score: 1

      Read the posts above for the history of the term "rice" in the automotive industry.

    25. Re:"Ricers" by bcmm · · Score: 1

      Isn't it just a mispronounciation of "racer"?

      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
      Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    26. Re:"Ricers" by value_added · · Score: 1

      "You missed the definition by a mile."

      Interesting. I live in SoCal, have had numerous Asian girlfriends, own a Zojirushi rice cooker, but my interpretation of "ricer" is very different.

      The Honda I sold years ago.

    27. Re:"Ricers" by VilePSU2 · · Score: 1

      It's not "White" it's "European-American." Let's not have double standards now...

    28. Re:"Ricers" by VilePSU2 · · Score: 1

      Neirther is "Redneck" or "White Trash." But no one cares, so get over it.

    29. Re:"Ricers" by oliverthered · · Score: 1

      Yep, and that's what it's still used for.
      It's more effective when written down, since most gypos can't read for shit and will probably think it's money.

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    30. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh, so its OK to infer that Harley riders are 'fat arsed yanks' and that they are so out fo shape that they'd 'never be able to get their legs over a Japanese bike'.

      but the term 'ricer' is out of bounds.

      eat poop.

    31. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Australia, the term "to be gypped" came from the diggers who were in egypt, and got tricked into buying shit.

      ie eGYPt

      thats just one origin, that i have heard

    32. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The word "gypsie" comes from "egypt" too, though.

    33. Re:"Ricers" by Lowridah · · Score: 1

      Who are you to differentiate? How often do you see a car with external modifications done and assume he hasn't done anything internally? And then, how would you know what he had done? My Honda has rims but no sticker or wing. It does have the mouldings and emblems shaved off, the holes welded in, and the body smoothed out. It's very low. It has a very distinctive look that someone might assmue was ricey. It also has the power the interior stripped, the engine swapped out, and a power to weight ratio equal to most $80-150,000 sports cars. But to you, it's rice. There are PLENTY of ricey-looking Hondas that leave disgusted looks on sports car owners. Not out of distaste, but out of dissatisfaction in how much they spent.

    34. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      gyp and gyppo refer to egyptians.

    35. Re:"Ricers" by DavidTC · · Score: 1

      Which, incidentally, is also where the term 'gypsy' came from...it means someone from Egypt. Of course, gypsies are not, in fact, from Egypt, rather like the Pennsylvania Dutch who are, in fact, from Germany, or the Indians, who are not from India.

      --
      If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
    36. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, you really need to learn some word origins. Germans in Germany call themselves Deutch, they say they live in Deutchland. They're the Pennsylvania Deutch. And Indians comes from Indigineous. If you believe Columbus thought he was in India and that's why they were called Indians... sigh.

    37. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      That's the whole point, they're certainly not DUTCH.

      that's where the pennsylvania 'DUTCH' come from. people heard them refer to themselves as 'deutch' and they heard 'dutch'. Their ethnicity, though, isn't Dutch, it's German.

    38. Re:"Ricers" by equiraptor · · Score: 1

      http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ric er&r=d

      There's a list of current possible definitions of the slang term "ricer." You'll notice most mention modifications that don't actually make the car faster, and many mention that a car doesn't have to be Japanese to be considered rice in popular culture, now.

      The Track Dog is certainly not a ricer. It's a highly modified Mazda Miata that's used for racing and the promotion of Flyin' Miata performance parts. Because the car is actually fast (significantly faster than the stock version), it's not rice.

    39. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you just explained the resurgence of conservative political thought over the past 10 or so years - because liberal whining sucks the fun, joy, and meaning out of life.

    40. Re:"Ricers" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Unless the pontiac is based on a japanese platform (no GM examples come to mind, but there's a few good ones out there like the Eagle Talon being a DSM car, AKA an Eclipse) then nothing you can do with it will make you a ricer, just a wanker. By definition it has to be an asian car (preferrably japanese) and then you have to spend your effort on the appearance, as you say. People who work on the performance of asian cars are commonly called tuners, which is the asian-car equivalent of being a hot rodder.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    41. Re:"Ricers" by drinkypoo · · Score: 0, Flamebait
      I've always heard "crotch rocket" for sport bike, "rice rocket" for japanese sport bike (most of them are japanese, and the rest are british or italian; only recently has buell come on the scene and the vast majority of their bikes have some kind of life-threatening safety recall) and "rice burner" for japanese cars.

      A word to the sibling to this comment, pissing and moaning about characterizing harley owners are being fat - most of them are. Most people on rice rockets, on the other hand, are fairly fit. Why? Because it's a whole different mindset. A harley is a cruising bike, they're not designed for speed. The primary purpose in a harley is to make the signature sound, and to vibrate in just the right way to tickle the girl you've got on the back of the bike - which explains why you see so many women out there riding them :D I bet it's pretty nice on the prostate too, basically harleys are just big steel-and-chrome vibrators. If harleys were japanese, they'd be pre-riced (like the lancer evo) because they're all about style, not substance. Harley has a division called Buell that makes sport bikes, most of which suck ass (whoever heard of slinging a shock under the frame? That's horribly fucking stupid) but many of which are actually very powerful, like the lightning X1.

      Now, people will tell you that harley is the all-american motorcycle, but after being bought and rescued by sporting goods manufacturer AMF I have a hard time taking them very seriously, and anyway pretty much all vehicles today contain japanese components, including those from harley-davidson, so basically it's about style and nothing else. But, you can get style in japanese bikes, too, like the honda valkyrie or, if they still make it, the yamaha vulcan. But, if you drive down the road and look at who's on bikes, a much higher percentage of harley riders are big fatasses. They get that way by drinking too much beer and spending too much time in the saddle instead of exercising. You know, kind of the same way there's less fat on your average fruit picker than there is on your average computer dork - and I resemble that remark.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    42. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      If you believe Columbus thought he was in India and that's why they were called Indians... sigh.

      From wikipedia's article on Columbus:

      Christian Europe, long allowed safe passage to India and China (sources of valued trade goods such as silk and spices) under the hegemony of the Mongol Empire (Pax Mongolica, or "Mongol peace"), was now, after the fragmentation of that empire, under a complete economic blockade by Muslim states. In response to Muslim hegemony on land, Portugal sought an eastward sea route to the Indies, and promoted the establishment of trading posts and later colonies along the coast of Africa. Columbus had another idea. By the 1480s, he had developed a plan to travel to the Indies (then roughly meaning all of south and east Asia) by sailing west across the Ocean Sea (the Atlantic Ocean) instead.

      [...]

      On this first voyage, Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba (landed on October 28) and the northern coast of Hispaniola. He'd heard the word "Kulkukan" (Feathered Serpent), and rejoiced that the land of "Kublai Khan" or the "Great Khan" was nigh. He believed the peaks of Cuba to be the Himalayas, which gives one a sense of just how lost he was and how long it took the peoples of the world to map the Earth.

    43. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm asian and I used the term 'ricer' all the time when I see some moron with a lawn mower sounding tin can muffler or a freakin huge ass spoiler. It's like they're trying to turn their cars into airplanes. Doesn't matter what race they are. I've seen more white boy ricers than asian ricers as of late.

      It's not limited to import cars. I've seen plenty of metros and other 4 banger junk cars with the same deal on them.

    44. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just for the record, the term "ricer" refers to one who drives a "rice burner". It's not talking about Asians eating rice (like "beaner" referring to someone from Mexico). It's a reference to how shitty the modded Asian cars are.

    45. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not out of distaste, but out of dissatisfaction in how much they spent.

      Keep telling yourself that... pretty soon you'll overcome those feelings of shame you try to cover with a false sense of superiority.

    46. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, and all the people who use the term know its etymology? Thereby preventing racist tint?

      And I happen to be a fat-arsed yank with an overweight Harley you insensitive clod.

      When I fell trying to mount that ricer, it hurt.

    47. Re:"Ricers" by SaDan · · Score: 1

      Let's make this simple for you:

      All show and no go = "Ricer"

      Doesn't-matter-how-it-looks-damn-it's-fast = Not a "ricer".

      That's it. If the term "ricer" isn't PC enough for you, substitute that term for "poseur".

    48. Re:"Ricers" by SaDan · · Score: 1

      Let's make this simple for you:

      All show and no go = "Ricer"

      Doesn't-matter-how-it-looks-damn-it's-fast = Not a "ricer".

      That's it. If the term "ricer" isn't PC enough for you, substitute that term for "poseur".

      Doesn't matter if the car's brand, or the owner, is American, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, French, Russian, yadda...

    49. Re:"Ricers" by Vegeta99 · · Score: 1

      Geo (now defunt, right?) models are from Japan iirc, and they were owned by GM.

    50. Re:"Ricers" by UserGoogol · · Score: 1

      American Heritage disagrees with you on the indigenous theory.

      --
      "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
    51. Re:"Ricers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you even realize that most of these "Asian imports" are actually manufactured in the US?

      I believe most Hondas sold in the US are made in Ohio.

      aQazaQa

  20. Rice Rockets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    Some of the kids at my college got bit by that riceboy car culture fad. I remember strolling through the parking lot seeing the ridiculous looking Hondas and Acuras with those farty sounding large exhaust pipes that sound like a moose in heat.

    But hey, the tinted windows, exhaust pipe, and large Momo sticker across the top of the windshield must add at least 100hp right?

    1. Re:Rice Rockets by Spacejock · · Score: 1

      Hey, I'm a Gentoo user AND I drive a Subaru WRX with a 5" exhaust. (IMHO the only 4 cylinder car worth fitting a big pipe to, thanks to the boxer engine)

      I'm on a goddamn hiding to nothing, right?

    2. Re:Rice Rockets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No no no, it's all about the aluminum siding bolted onto the trunk.. You know, the ones where it's supposed to be a spoiler, but just looks like pieces of metal screwed onto the car.

    3. Re:Rice Rockets by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Give me the good ol' days of the 1980's, when every neighborhood mullet was fixing up a "bitchin'" Camero or Trans Am in the driveway, and crankin' the Loverboy or Journey on the car stereo.

      Mullets, acid wash, and rawk radio. You gotta love it.

  21. Re:i have to admit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmm i use Gentoo and OpenBSD as my main OS'es, does this make me say "what about wankers"?

  22. We are not numbers by dsb · · Score: 1

    But we like pototoe and rice burritos!

    1. Re:We are not numbers by 790396 · · Score: 0

      Ah, but indeed we are!

  23. Not Funny by aws4y · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I am a debian user but I think this site is way out of line. All of our distros have a following. I like debian because I really like the dpkg system and an apt based distro. Does this mean that other distros are lame? No. There are stupid people in the linux community who like to diss on distros, and promote there own. These fuckers miss the entire fucking point of Open Source.

    Its not what distro you use. As I said I like debian. But stable is not a good desktop distro so I try out ubuntu and love it. Gentoo is awesome because it used one of the best things about BSD (source based distribution) to make linux better. OSS is more about a marketplace of ideas, where projects tinker. Just because someone likes gentoo dosent make them a performance whore, and just because someone likes distro X it dosent mean anything except that they are a member of the communtiy and are trying to do the best with the options that they are given. Lets not let our community be destroyed by idiots on websites or idiots on message boards.

    --
    Did Glenn Beck rape and kill a girl in 1990? gb1990.com
    1. Re:Not Funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      its a joke, relax, i use gentoo, and not only do i not really care, i think its pretty funny.

      you could probably make a similar page for every distro, its not a big deal

    2. Re:Not Funny by joto · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I found it very funny. If gentoo existed while I was in the "larval stage" of using linux, I would surely be a gentoo-ricer myself. Instead, I was mostly a slackware-ricer, with two or three extra partitions to try out a new linux distro a month.

      Then I discovered debian, and since it was the only system I could easily keep up-to-date (let's face it, in those days, most distros didn't easily upgrade), it kind of stayed on my HD. I don't know how many years passed (5-10?), and I'm still using debian, and I still haven't reinstalled (except once, when I replaced my old computer). I've come to the point where I don't want to waste my time using another distro, as debian "testing" is good enough for me.

      I've never even tried gentoo, but I certainly recognize myself in the attitudes displayed there. Go on kids! Use gentoo for a while, then when you become bored of being ricers, try debian on a separate partition. If you have a broadband-connection, it will probably stick there. I honestly think it's the best path...

    3. Re:Not Funny by AvantLegion · · Score: 2, Funny
      >> These fuckers miss the entire fucking point of Open Source.

      Indeed. Personally, I'm into Open Source for the chicks.

    4. Re:Not Funny by Sweetshark · · Score: 1

      Go on kids!
      Yes, Daddy!
      Use gentoo for a while, then when you become bored of being ricers, try debian on a separate partition.
      Why? I can stop being a ricer and stay with gentoo.
      If you have a broadband-connection, it will probably stick there.
      Why?
      Give me a reason (a unique selling point) that debian has to offer over gentoo, since you imply here debian is better somehow ....
      The only one I can think of would be that they have stricter politics regarding licenses. Some might find this an advantage - others not. (And the new portage also supports a restriction to certain licenses, so even this is a more philosophical point.)
      As for "you have to compile everything" this is not true since GRP and binary online respitories exist.
      And if you want a nifty installer you might have a point - but somehow debian doesnt shine there aswell. (Not mentioning the gentoo installer project and Vidalinux ....)

      So, why do you say I would prefer debian again? Why should I try it?

      (Im not saying gentoo is better than debian, I just dont see any reason to switch ...)

    5. Re:Not Funny by roju · · Score: 1

      Grin. I'll give you a hint why Debian is so easy to keep up to date - how often do they release new versions? ;)

    6. Re:Not Funny by arodland · · Score: 1

      Who cares about releases? I can get updated packages every day if I want to. And if there are security updates, it's probably a good idea, too.

    7. Re:Not Funny by arodland · · Score: 1

      Indeed, about the same thing happened to me; I started out with Slackware 4, and had a lot of fun screwing with it, trying to get it as nice as possible. And then, when 7 came out (transitioning from libc5 to glibc2 and skipping two whole major numbers in the process), the upgrade completely fscked my system. So, I figured that before I reinstalled Slack, I should see what else was out there. I tried Redhat, and it locked up in the installer. I tried Caldera (haha), and it was just generally stupid. Then I tried this Debian thing everyone was talking about, and it was easy to get set up, and it felt comfortable. It was like they managed to cross the "don't get in the user's way" attitude of Slack with enough automation that doing everything myself didn't get in the way either.

      Nowadays when I want to install a fresh system, what do I use? Knoppix, of course. The hd-install script is a little rough, but suitable for someone who knows what they're doing, and what you get is a Debian unstable system, with a beautiful desktop environment already set up for you. My policy on choosing a distro has always been "use whatever takes the least screwing with to get how you want it", and currently Debian/Knoppix fits the bill perfectly.

    8. Re:Not Funny by shagrat · · Score: 0

      I did exactly what you describe...and I'm back to Gentoo. I tried Debian on a seperate HD. After several weeks of trying to configure it like Gentoo was by default, I gave up and went home, as it were. I have nothing against Debian, its obviously a fine distro, but I know where I'm more comfortable.

  24. what's so funny is... by advocate_one · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    gentoo is so damned easy to install now... anyone who can follow simple, well written, walk-you-through-the whole-thing instructions can do it... There's nothing l33t about it at all now... if you can't install Gentoo, then there's no hope for you.

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
    1. Re:what's so funny is... by norkakn · · Score: 1

      given this was an old version, but I know verilog, C, PPCasm, c++, I've installed and maintained a variety of linuxes and installed and maintained open and free BSD, yet I've never sucessfully installed gentoo.

      The untar command would always bork )-:

    2. Re:what's so funny is... by lachlan76 · · Score: 1
      untar? After I chrooted, i just needed to do
      tar -zxf stage1-i386-whatever.tar.gz
      cd /usr/portage
      scripts/bootstrap.sh
      emerge system
      emerge development-sources
      cd /usr/src/linux
      make menuconfig
      make && make modules_install
      vi /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6
      emerge grub
      grub-install /dev/hdb
      vi /boot/grub/grub.conf
      emerge syslogd
      emerge vixie-cron
      shutdown -r now

      That's all I can remember for now, there's probably more.

      I'd give it another go, it's great to use
    3. Re:what's so funny is... by norkakn · · Score: 1

      tar -zxf stage1-i386-whatever.tar.gz

      would fail. at some point it would claim that one of the internal files was not a valid file. I tried different images, different stages and different computers and always got a weird error somewhere during this command.

    4. Re:what's so funny is... by advocate_one · · Score: 1

      wow... some mod got up on the wrong side this morning... it's true... Gentoo is so easy to install these days that if you can't follow the well written installation guide, then there's no hope for you...

      --
      Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
    5. Re:what's so funny is... by lachlan76 · · Score: 1

      Have you tried installing from Knoppix?

    6. Re:what's so funny is... by norkakn · · Score: 1

      nope, i though knoppix was debian? I'm more of a BSD person, so I thought that perhaps gentoo would fit my tastes better than redhat or mandrake. Once I get around to getting a second HD I will try it again.

    7. Re:what's so funny is... by lachlan76 · · Score: 1

      What I mean is you use knoppix to format the partitions, untar everything, copy config files over, mount /proc, etc. and then chroot in.

  25. Lame Comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I use Gentoo Linux, and I'm anything from a hardcore user. I don't care about having the fastest most optimized packages. I use it because I find it the easiest distribution to configure, customize, and get working correctly. If I have a problem I can usually find an answer my searching. If not I can just ask a question on the forums. The Gentoo community is the friendliest, most responsive there is. I've never seen a touch of the inferred elitismm, and their accomplisments are amazing.

    I studied math in school, and the seemingly unimportant achievements of Gentoo users which they enjoy remind me of the satisfaction I got out of every proof I completed. They may seem unimportant and pointless to those not in the field. But real satisfaction and results follow from these activities.

    There are always people who can not understand intellectual achivement. But I had expected better of slashdot. I suppose I was naively mistaken.

    1. Re:Lame Comparison by Lisandro · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Please mod up. The strength of Gentoo isn't in the (particularly good) package system or even the (even better) 'USE' flags thing, but in their community. The Gentoo forums is perhaps the last place where you can ask a "n00b" Linux question and be answered promptly, with zero elitist bullshit attached. I liked the source distribution idea beforehand, but when i witnessed this i was sold.

      For some reason it seems to draw in nice people...

    2. Re:Lame Comparison by ricotest · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Unfortunately that gift is also it's curse. I dropped by #gentoo a few months ago when installing it for the first time and you'll typically get 3-4 questions being worked through at any given moment. Not only is this a little confusing, but a lot of questions went unanswered because so much text was flowing through.

      That said, it's definitely the first place I'd go for advice, it just needs some more non-n00bs to handle the influx.

    3. Re:Lame Comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you been to #debian ?

    4. Re:Lame Comparison by Kristoffer+Lunden · · Score: 3, Informative

      You might want to try the Forums then, same helpful people and attitude, but things don't just scroll by. :)

    5. Re:Lame Comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      --teach-me-unix

      With respect, there really isn't a great deal of intellectual achivement in installing Gentoo. Yes, reading the handbook is more educational than clicking dialogs in Anaconda but it's not exactly LFS, is it?

    6. Re:Lame Comparison by barks · · Score: 1

      I've never seen a touch of the inferred elitismm, and their accomplisments are amazing.

      LMAO!!!!!! Obviously you need to join us at Off the Wall. That'll change and swing that perception of yours mighty quick!

      #1 rule of OTW: Slyde is convinced of always being right.

      #2 rule: take caution in rule #1.

    7. Re:Lame Comparison by Lowridah · · Score: 1

      Frankly this is one of the subjects that I hate speaking on because I myself get called a ricer for it. Yes, most of those Hondas made 90 to 120 hp from the factory. Yes, there are thousands of kids out there that slap stickers and wings on them and they think they go faster. Then there are people that actually modify the engines or reprogram their ECUs and happen to own a Honda and get called a ricer. Does this standard apply in any way to Linux users? Is there a real advantage for any user out there to install Gentoo? OF COURSE THERE IS. That's like saying slackware users are unicyclists because they're minimalistic or want to know where everything is, or a Mandrake user a leasee because they want something they don't have to worry about making work right on thier own. All of these comparisons are silly. There's no Type-R sticker equivelant to a package management system. There's no exhast tip installation system. What's being compared? Obnoxiousness? I'm never offended by Gentoo users, why would I be?

  26. While we're at it... by OldJohnno · · Score: 5, Funny

    You might as well check out the Gentoo OPTIMIZBATION Guide http://timedoctor.org/index.php?id=2183

    1. Re:While we're at it... by shish · · Score: 1
      GENTOO LINUX does have problems, like the first one is that when you emerge things it does actually compile them into binaries (YUCK!) but luckily it turns on optimizations so it'll still run with reasonable speed. Until a decent C interpreter shows up we are going to be forever stuck using compiled binaries made by GCC

      TinyCC. Hurrah \o/

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
  27. pffffffft. by x.Draino.x · · Score: 0, Troll

    This is just some Debian user with penis envy.

  28. Gentoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll
    I got a bad impression about Gentoo when it first started. A couple of the developers had a habit of spamming irc channels asking for help. They were really annoying in Slackware channels. "Hey! You already use a source based distro. You compile from source all of the time. Wanna be a developer on this new distro?"

    I know a few people that became developers. IMHO, it was too easy for someone who didn't know what they were doing to become a developer. Some of the horry stories I've heard about broken packages and messed up permissions just confirms my feelings about Gentoo.

    Whatever you do, don't let a Gentoo user start talking about emerge. They become as bad as Debian users that brag about apt-get.

  29. Superb! by phaze3000 · · Score: 1, Informative
    My favourite quote from the site:

    "People, I am the only one who realise that binary packages are almost useless? Except a few basic packages (as in USE independent, e.g. gcc), the result depends greatly by the USE variable. Let's take for example the mod_php package. How useful a binary mod_php will be?"

    Oh my god, I've been wasting my time all these years! What was I thinking? All those websites running off binary mod_php packages were useless!

    --
    Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
    1. Re:Superb! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      There are people with some really strange beliefs out there. To illustrate, how ludicrous is the following person?
      "Oh my god, I've been wasting my time all these years! What was I thinking? All those websites running off binary mod_php packages were useless!"
      Yep. Any quote taken out of context can be made to seem ludicrous.
  30. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  31. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  32. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  33. Re:i have to admit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Same with those Mac OS X users.

  34. Derogatory term? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No I'm not trolling... seriously, isn't "ricer" more of a derogatory term? What is it doing on the front page of /.

    1. Re:Derogatory term? by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Just wait till the middle east starts building compact sport coups. Then, we can call those that drive them "Sand Blowers".

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  35. Obviously the best use of /. is to trash distros by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, and while we're doing it, let's recycle stuff from like a year ago, mmmkay?

    Clearly we have solved all other problems in the Linux community, and the most important thing we can do now is to mock the other guys distro.

    At one point I thought the people who trashed Slashdot editors were wrong, lately, not so much.

  36. Re:i have to admit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So how exactly did you get gentoo running on openbsd you annoying wanker??

  37. Re:i have to admit by temojen · · Score: 1

    I bought a used microVAX hoping to run NetBSD on it... but alas, the instructions started with 'in VMS download the image and copy it to the tape drive...'*. erm... I have neither VMS nor a tape drive... I could mount the SCSI drives in my (Linux) PC, if I had any clue what to do after that.

    *paraphrased

  38. Actually, the term "ricer" by barc0001 · · Score: 4, Informative

    White americans have been modding American cars since the days of Henry Ford but we don't call them "potatoers" or whatever the staple white american food is.

    According to american culture, at least, those whiteys would be referred to as "greasemonkeys", "gearheads", "rodders", etc. And, again according to American culture, it's becoming known as "pimping out" the car. Which is of course, very politically correct itself. Selling women as a commondity == improving a car.

    Hey, did you know that in the vast majority of northern China, people don't eat rice?

    Hey, did you know that the vast majority of Asian cars aren't from China? What the hell does that really have to do with anything? Do you even know where the motorsport slang term "rice" comes from?

    Of course, they're all gooks and chinks to us, eh?

    From the way you're flaming on, I am guessing you don't.

    It came from some performance bike racers in Japan mixing their standard fuel with alcohol to help boost power in the small engines at high RPM. Some of them used alcohol distilled from rice wine, and thus caught the nickname of "rice burners". Because that's literally what they were doing. This was way more common 15 -20 years ago, these days it's fallen out of vogue as modern racing fuel mixtures either have methanol in them already, or are formulated to not need it.

    Man I love ignorance.

    To each their own. You certainly do seem to indulge in it, so...

    1. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by 808140 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Thanks for your explanation.

      You're right, I did not know the origin of the term before posting this, but many people in this thread have been thoughtful enough to point it out to me.

      With all due respect, though, I'm not sure it's relevant. We can wax lyrical about the origins of racially insensitive language all we want. After all, nigger (not at all in the same class, I know) comes from a mispronunciation of the Spanish word "negro", which means black and was the socially acceptable way to refer to peoples of African descent for many generations in the US. Given this harmless etymology, does it make sense that it should be considered one of the most vulgar words in the English language?

      You see, the thing about these kinds of terms is that it doesn't matter much where the term comes from; what matters is the way it's used. Let's turn this around for a moment. Have you ever been white in Asia? If so, you'll probably be familiar with the terms "gaijin", "waiguk", "laowai", "waiguoren", "guailoh", etc, depending on where you lived. Now (with the exception of perhaps guailoh), all of these terms just mean "foreigner" in their respective languages. Intrinsically, there is nothing wrong with them.

      What becomes an issue is the way they are used, you see. They are frequently used with an underlying current of sarcastic bitterness that serves to sting you if you're trying your best not to stand out like a sore thumb in a country where the majority of people don't look like you.

      So, the "rice burner" story is interesting, and I believe you, and I'm glad you've educated me on this point. But, pointedly, it's irrelevant. Because when the term ricer is used, or at least in the contexts I've heard it, it uses a conspicuously distinguishable aspect of steryotypical east asian culture (the consumption of rice) and associates it with silly and uninspired modding of cheap cars.

      I mean, calling Jews penny-pinching comes from the historical mandate in Europe that prevented non-Christians from being merchants, forcing Jews to enter the banking and money-lending professions. Based in fact; nonetheless tremendously insulting and generally not correct in this day and age.

      As a final aside, if the Japanese were adding rice wine into their fuel to increase methanol content, I would be very concerned about them. Methanol is extremely toxic to humans and "rice wine" sounds like something (sake?) that people might actually want to drink. Perhaps you meant "ethanol"? I'm not a modder so this is an honest question.

    2. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by barc0001 · · Score: 1

      Have you ever been white in Asia?

      I have yet to have the pleasure of being there physically, but I have worked for Asians. At one start up I worked for in the 90's, as one of the few white people there I got quite a kick out of being the "white Devil" or "ghost man". It was all in good fun of course. The file share my boss had on his workstation labelled "Die white people" got attention, I can tell you....

      As a final aside, if the Japanese were adding rice wine into their fuel to increase methanol content, I would be very concerned about them. Methanol is extremely toxic to humans and "rice wine" sounds like something (sake?) that people might actually want to drink. Perhaps you meant "ethanol"? I'm not a modder so this is an honest question.

      No, initially the source for the alcohol was distilling it from rice wine. That, obviously was ethanol. These days the alcohol is pre-added to the racing fuel, and methanol is used. Sorry if I was a little unclear on that.

    3. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The file share my boss had on his workstation labelled "Die white people" got attention, I can tell you....

      No, no, that just meant "The white people". He was mulitlingual, you see.

    4. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blah blah blah, shut up

    5. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
      Wow, you thoroughly "pwn3d" him, good job.

      More seriously, I was always curious about where the term came from - I actually assumed it had something to do with burning alcohol made from rice. I didn't know if it was something that was actually done, or just a joke about where "ricer" vehicles come from.

      Cheers.

      --
      Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    6. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 1

      I am actually amazed. You just followed up on the most thorough bitch-slapping I've ever seen anyone receive with the most graceless, pedantic attempt at re-engagement ever attempted.

      Let's apply some of your own logic, just for fun:

      What becomes an issue is the way they are used, you see.

      The only one associating the term "ricer" with Asian culture is you. The rest of us are referring to the origin phrase "rice burner", whose etymology the grandparent so witheringly pointed out to you. If, therefore, it is not the origin of the word, but its use that implies "a problem", then in the name of racial sensitivity, S...T...F...U.

    7. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Methanol has a significantly higher octane rating than gasoline, which is something you probably already knew. The usual means of boosting fuel octane, however, is to add MTBE. I would far prefer the methanol. For some reason most methanol is made from corn in this country, which makes it an expensive fuel additive, as most people do not use an efficient process for this conversion and it's energy-negative, although energy-positive methods for making corn into methanol certainly exist. Methanol is fairly safe stuff (unless imbibed) but MTBE can give you cancer just because you get it on your hands because it is absorbed through skin, and carcinogenic. Let's hear it for modern technology! I definitely support gasahol over MTBE.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      For some reason most methanol is made from corn in this country, which makes it an expensive fuel additive, as most people do not use an efficient process for this conversion and it's energy-negative, although energy-positive methods for making corn into methanol certainly exist.

      I don't follow it real closely, but I think the energy-negative claims have been debunked. The usual means of methanol production in the US is energy-positive.

      Of course, that's ignoring the energy input of the sun. Once you account for it, all means of energy storage/transport are "energy-negative", meaning they have loss to heat. Even fossil fuels - the only difference there is that much of the energy input was done long, long ago. Hitting oil is like finding a bunch of already-charged batteries.

    9. Re:Actually, the term "ricer" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, "negro" as pronounced nee-grow comes from a mispronunciation of the Spanish word "negro" meaning black. The word, "nigger" comes from a misspelling (adding an extra g) from the Latin word, "niger". The only pronunciation difference is the English "er" sound rather than a Latin e sound. I find it hilarious actually that the country of "Niger" is mispronounced as if the G were a J because of the political correctness.

  39. Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Is it just me, or has this week been a REALLY bad week for slashdot? Editors are approving shit that isn't even news anymore. I'm about gone for good.

  40. heh. by peatbakke · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's easy to point and laugh at the neighborhood kid with a Neon equipped with spoilers and excessive stickers (or in this case, a computer with overclocked CPUs and case windows), but really, what's the point?

    Now, I can understand complaining about overly loud stereos booming down the street in the wee hours of the morning ... but bitching about someone's hobby, which they do for fun, is about as lame as you can get.

    Yeah, it may be "illogical." Yeah, it may be "a waste of time and money." But it's not your time, not your money, and quite obviously not your interest ... so what's the fuss about?

    1. Re:heh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The worst part is that one of the benefits of Portage is just being able to select what dependencies programs are compiled with, while having these preferences preserved for updates. Being able to select flags, or even which compiler a package is compiled with, is just a small part of it.

    2. Re:heh. by thinkninja · · Score: 1

      The anti-Gentoo zealots are a direct response to the Gentoo zealots, and both sets annoy everyone else :)

      --
      "The number of Unix installations has grown to ten, with more expected." (Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd ed.; june 1972)
    3. Re:heh. by evilviper · · Score: 1
      Yeah, it may be "illogical." Yeah, it may be "a waste of time and money." But it's not your time, not your money, and quite obviously not your interest ... so what's the fuss about?

      Same as "the fuss" if you neighbor's hobby was collecting high explosives.

      It's the kind of hobby that kills people.
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    4. Re:heh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because they get in my fucking face. I'm in 2nd year mechanical engineering, where there is a high density of people that like cars, in some form. For every 10 people I meet, 9 have a ricer, or wish they did, and get all excited when they see one. They tell me their cars are "pushing about 200hp." They tell me that my '87 Supra Turbo isn't as fast as their '96 Civic, because it's "old and has a heavy engine." The other 1 person usually understands more how cars work, and even know what a cylinder is!

      If these rice dorks just kept quiet, didn't challenge cars that can blow their doors off, and accept that mister Big Block Chevy down the road CAN smoke them, then I have no problem. Also, not driving 100km/h in residential areas would be a nice touch.

    5. Re:heh. by peatbakke · · Score: 1

      But it is of very direct interest to you if a neighbor plays with high explosives next to your house, because his actions pose an immediate and provable threat to you and your posessions.

      Meanwhile, someone who puts -O999 in his CFLAGS and RAID-0 SATA drives in his rig, then says how cool --funroll-loops is in public forum ... what danger does that put you in? How does this endanger your social, political, financial, or personal well being?

    6. Re:heh. by evilviper · · Score: 1

      Ahem. I was not talking about Gentoo users.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    7. Re:heh. by psetzer · · Score: 1
      Part of why gearheads are so disdainful of ricers is their complete lack of understanding of how cars work. Putting bigger wheels on a car requires some understanding of what you're doing, and if you don't then the car will end out worse than before.

      For instance, larger wheels also have the effect of making the transmission taller. That means that the car is slower in acceleration and if the car is horsepower limited to a top speed, then it will actually go slower. To add insult to injury, the speedometer is now inaccurate, as is the odometer. This may not be much, but it's still screwing up your car.

      Shorter springs without any other changes is a bad idea. Some people get it in their heads that they've got to have spring rates that make late 80's F1 racers look goddamn pedestrian. Put in racing seats, and you'll see why race car drivers get paid so much. It's like getting kicked in the ass repeatedly. Oh, and it makes handling worse.

      If they understood that the super stiff shocks is because of the regulations that allowed unlimited ground effect, they'd understand that this was done in order to add a few more pounds of downforce in the corners, by keeping the car uniformly low. And as far as lowering your car to F1 levels, they keep the tracks pool-table smooth. You can't say that about the roads where I live.

      Body modifications are done because they're needed, not because they're good looking. That means making bigger fenders for larger wheels, a front grille that allows more airflow to the radiator, or vents for cooling. Big engines are hot engines. Panels to make your car look lower are all show, no go.

      Finally, getting power from the engine and then getting it to the road is very important, and a ricer wouldn't give a damn about that. Or they might just put in a new air filter. Exhaust pipe tips are the worst part, however. Larger diameter exhaust pipes reduce backpressure and allow more power to be used turning the wheels than pushing CO2 out the back. Tips do nothing, but make it look like you've actually done something.

      This is irritating to those who actually like fast cars, since it makes people think that everyone with a fast car is all show, no go. Would you like to have an original Acura Integra type R, with papers, and nobody believes you? I have a friend whose dad drives a '94 SVT Cobra. I knew another kid at school who drives a V6 Mustang with Cobra badging, but only one exhaust pipe sticking out the back.

      Ricers are Poseurs, first and foremost. They usually aren't newbies. Newbies may have some misconceptions and no idea how some concepts work, but are willing to learn. Poseurs act as if they're already experts, but refuse to learn. They honestly think that five degrees of toe on your suspension is the greatest thing since sliced bread (9 out of 10 tire manufacturers agree!), and think that you can modify the exhaust system on a 1.6 liter and have it be competitive against a friggin 8.3 V10.

      --
      "Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is living in a state of sin." -- John von Neumann
    8. Re:heh. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thanks for sayin that. brought reason to this whole sideshow of a messageboard

  41. Win xp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    If everyone would just use Win Xp like you should, then you wouldn't need to bitch and cry about people using different distros. P.S. I actually like MS.

    1. Re:Win xp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah we know Steve

  42. Why single out only gentoo? by jefp · · Score: 0, Troll

    Change it to linux in general and it would be just as true.

  43. Exactly speed has little to do with it. by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Insightful
    RPM based distro's have one slight disadvantage. They tend to lead to dependency hell. Although mandrake is a doddle to install upgrading it with software that has not made it into their releases is not. Maybe I am doing it wrong but I often have to install a lot of stuff from source to get all the header files I need for additional software.

    Gentoo of course has all the header files as everything is compiled from source. this doesn't make it faster, it just makes it a lot easier to install a new app wich hasn't yet made it into an rpm.

    Yes mandrake is easy to use, far easier to use in fact then windows thanks to its very nice installer BUT it was so easy to use that I could learn all kinds of advanced stuff on it. Like compiling my own kernel to take advantage of my own hardware. I have a rather crappy Asus Dual P3 wich for some reason never works in dual mode with stock kernels. I always have to mess around with boot parameters until I roll my own.

    If you then roll your own php and mysql because you want to see the beta's and be prepared with knowing the new features when they reach production well. It is just a short step to just roll your own.

    There are probably other distros out there that I could use but I will probably never go back to RPM, it is nice if you never want to bother with compiling but to me that is not a bother.

    But making harmless and not so harmless fun of other distros is all part of the fun of using linux. There is so much choice available and people have this in build need to defend their own choice that conflict is inevitable. Some people take it to far but that is just part of it.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Exactly speed has little to do with it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Configuring my new TV card with Windows : Insert CD - Click Next several time - Click Finish. Time lost : 1 minute.

      Configuring my new TV card with Mandrake : Try different card and tuner options, search the web, patch kernel, recompile kernel. Time lost : 5 hours. (and of course the card is not fully working)

      Are you sure Mandrake is easier to use than Windows?

    2. Re:Exactly speed has little to do with it. by pooh666 · · Score: 1

      I stopped reading here: "Yes mandrake is easy to use, far easier to use in fact then windows thanks to its very nice installer" 2 + 2 = an egg?

    3. Re:Exactly speed has little to do with it. by Danny+Rathjens · · Score: 1
      Maybe I am doing it wrong but I often have to install a lot of stuff from source to get all the header files I need for additional software.

      I think you may be. To get the proper headers and libraries you just need to install the foo-devel rpms.

    4. Re:Exactly speed has little to do with it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "RPM based distro's have one slight disadvantage. They tend to lead to dependency hell."

      Sorry, but what the hell is that supposed to mean? Just because Gentoo is "omfg compield fr0m sorce!!11" you don't have to deal with dependencies in packages? You don't have to deal with if a new executable depends on newer library functions not in your current library or if a library has deprecated old functions and no longer uses them?

      Grow up. Compiling from source is a waste of time.

    5. Re:Exactly speed has little to do with it. by bedessen · · Score: 1

      It's only dependency hell if you try to install RPMs by hand. Use yum and all you have to do is type "yum install whatever" and you get all the dependencies for 'whatever' automatically downloaded and installed in the proper order. You can even have yum upgrade across major versions for you, e.g. 9 to 10 and so on.

      If you find yourself installing from source just to get headers then you're not using your package management system correctly. You were probably just missing the right -devel RPM as the other poster mentioned.

      "RPM dependency hell" is nothing more that an unfortunate but preventable outcome of people not knowing what they're doing and installing RPMs by hand.

  44. Ok, I'll bite... by danielrm26 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hate to plug my own shit but here's my whole take on the Gentoo-bashing stuff. To make a long story short, Linux distros are like punk bands - the hardcore (lame) punk fans only like a band until it makes it big. Once that happens they turn their backs on it and find a less paletable, more obscure group.

    Screw em'. Let them be fucktards if they want to. I use Gentoo because it's easy. I'm lazy and it works every time - in a predictable way. The product is great, the forums are great, and if I run any other distro it's because I am in a time crunch or because it's at work and people will only sign off on Redhat. To me, distros boil down to the package managment and the community support. Gentoo excels in both areas.

    --
    dmiessler.com -- grep understanding knowledge
    1. Re:Ok, I'll bite... by pedicabo · · Score: 0

      Plugging your own shit....Wow! that I'd have to see. I subscribe to one of the linux magazines and get to play with a new distro almost every month. They're all broken. The trick is to use the one you have to fix least and can live with once it's working.

    2. Re:Ok, I'll bite... by incom · · Score: 1

      Great writeup. I'd mod ya up if I had the points.

      --
      True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
  45. What i really want by freqmod · · Score: 0

    I am a Gentoo user, and I am always looking for better distros. I recently tried Debian and Fedora Core, and managed to mess up Fedora Core in a day, and dropped Debian because of no XOrg 6.8.1.

    What i want is a distro wich at least:

    • Lets you customize your kernel
    • Has the latest software available
    • Has NO major dependency problems (currently I think Gentoo is the best at this point)
    • Is based on (i686) binaries. (no waiting for software compiling)
    • Has automatic hotpluging that asks you if you want to mount/take an action when something is plugged in (KDE compatible)
    • Has a programmed installer (not bash)
    • Has all quirks well documented. (configuration files and so on)
    • Starts up as fast as possible, and scales well with sevral services
    I have not found any distros better than Gentoo so far.
    1. Re:What i really want by timmarhy · · Score: 1

      sounds like you want freebsd, it does all of the above except the hotpulgg and even that can be configured manually

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    2. Re:What i really want by Hackeron · · Score: 1

      People like you cause websites like funroll-loops to be created.

      * All distributions let you customize the kernel
      * Latest software at the expense of QA and stability? -- either get from upstream or use unstable third party repositories. Gentoo manage this in 1 repository with keyword masking.
      * Huh? -- the request should be concistent libraries with as few duplicate versions as possible. Or a dependency resolving package manager.
      * Based on binaries? As in a binary distribution or closed source binaries?
      * Well, I havent seen any distribution to have a working hal+dbus configuration out of box (some will come soon). Others have more or less hacks to give similar functionality. -- In anycase, there's no hal support in KDE at the moment anyway and hal configuration is well documented on the gentoo forums.
      * Hmm, what about an installer written in bash? -- I've seen quite nice ones using dialog. -- surely you mean a distribution with an installer as apposed to without one? -- for the record, there are a few installers for gentoo.
      * Only things that require documentation is uncommon locations for config files, for anything else you check tldp or the upstream documentation.
      * There are several distros that have this as a focus. Granted at the expense of a crippled init.d system. On gentoo, set parallel startup in /etc/conf.d/rc for a marginal improvement, but other than that, no matter what distribution, you need to review what services you want started to see any real improvement.

      So none of your requests actually mean anything. If you want desktop polish, try ark, or lycoris, or lindows. Frankly, I dont think you will be happy with either.

  46. Nip-Rod by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

    As the parent said, if you blow all your money on shit like rims, stickers, wing, exhaust tip, etc...then your a ricer.

    However, if you build up the powertrain (tweak the engine to perform past its intended rating), then I would call that same Honda a "Nip-Rod". Of course, starting with the Nissan Z by popularity in the 70s, they were often called "Pocket Rockets".

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
    1. Re:Nip-Rod by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nip Rod? Well thats just blatantly racist of you to make up that word. It doesn't even sound good... rice is rice whether or not its highly tuned and fast.

    2. Re:Nip-Rod by Keeper · · Score: 1

      Rice is slang term. In prehistoric times, it was used to describe any Japaneese automobile.

      As Japaneese cars changed over the years from being ultra-economy gas sipping cars to what you see today, the usage of the term rice changed -- morphing into "someone who makes their car look like it is something that it isn't" -- sticking stickers on your car for stuff you didn't have, "fake" discs behind the rims to hide drum brakes, putting a V6 emblem on a car with an I4, cutting springs, etc.

      And time continued to march on. Now rice refers to just about any dumbass tasteless modification you can do to a car. Rice wings. Underbody neons. LED windshield washer nozzles. Body kits installed but not painted (ie: left primer grey). Coffee can exhausts. Etc. In other words, any ghey looking car.

      It's the 21st century. Time to update your vocabulary.

  47. While your at it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Asian Americans (many of whom are sadly about as out of touch with their culture of their ancestors as that white guy who says he's German-Irish-Italian).
    Honestly, I don't know if you need to feel sorry for Asain Americans being out of touch of their ancestors. Many of the Asain-Americans I know (certainly not all) are as American through and through as any other white/black/brown American I know.
  48. What's the point of this article? by ZonaldRumzfeld · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Just asking for a bunch of flame posts it seems. Gentoo has a great package system and a great community (especially the Gentoo Forums which has helped a lot through many problems for many distributions, hell do a search, it's better than google, heh). Granted there are those few fanatics (so do all distributions and OS's), this really doesn't help anyone but try to discredit Gentoo users as a bunch of idiot teenage kids. I think the many posts here already sums everything up.

  49. Amen. by smcavoy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    First my bias: I'm a Debian user.
    There are far to many gentoo fanboys that have simply discovered Linux through Gentoo (which is a good thing) that assume it is the greatest thing since sliced bread (a bad thing).
    I'd suggest to them to give an honest attempt at another distro (Debian Sarge Plug). Then go back to Gentoo if they really thing it is the best for them.
    Personally, I can't imagine compiling gentoo for each server, or even manging different binary sets for various CPUs, kernels are more then enough for me.
    but that's just my $0.02 cdn

    1. Re:Amen. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you do know that you can build packets and install on the server. i have some gentoo servers runing and
      for them i have one wichs only task is to build and test packets befor installing

    2. Re:Amen. by packman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Originally coming from slackware (3.4 or smth back in '96 I think) I tried lots of things, always ending up again at slackware. Tried SuSE, Redhat, Debian and Mandrake. Some of them were very brief, didn't like Redhat at all, Mandrake was just to play with, but was way to limited. Ended up in gentoo, and after 2 years still there.

      Ran debian for +- a year, but really didn't have a good feeling with the system, it just sucks monkeyballs as a desktop machine... Sure - I used the latest unstable or even test, but the problem is - the "unstable" or "test" perfectly discribe their state, I personally had a lot of dependency problems, and when a new version of some software package was released, it took months before it was added. The stable is hopelesly old, ok - stable, but secure?? I recently installed it as a firewall (still running), so I thought stable would be best. At that time, in the 2.4 series, 2.4.24 of .26 was just out I think. The debian installer happily installed a 2.4.18 kernel, and if you check the changelogs between those 2 versions, you'll notice they fixed some pritty bad root-exploits between those versions. Then checked the SSH version - same prob... What the hell should I install as a firewall then? Ok - added the security-update source for debian, which fixed the ssh-problems, but what the hell are you doing if you promote as your default stable version a very-exploitable default-install? I'm not even starting about the config-file managment and their updates... Lost settings more than once there.. :(

      Anyway - I don't like debian - but I can say WHY. This guy just ends up bashing on the users w/o any reason or arguments for "gentoo is bad". He does make gentoo-users look bad because they choose gentoo. Is gentoo bad then? Or is it simply bashing on a small minority inside the gentoo community (which certainly is there, I won't deny that), but which is in no way the whole gentoo community? The others choose their distrib simply cause they liked it and judged on that based on experiences - not on hear-say, but they all get the label of "ricer" like a big yellow star sewed on their clothes, simply because they choose smth a majority feels threatened by or doesn't like (whatever you choose, not gonna go into that-one here). Way to go to critisize a distro. If you do it, do it in a good way. My personal "hesitation" towards debian certainly had to do with how little doc or help I found while installing for the first time. The "doc" (or what it should represent) on the official site was pure garbage at that time. I came from slack, where you just put in a cd or floppy, it boots, and it installs, simple. First problem, where the hell are the installation cd's? I found "unofficial" cdimages, and finally gave one a try, afraid that I had someone's personal vision of a debian system on a cd, so not very sure about what was going to happen when I didn't use some official cdimages. Lateron found out that there weren't any official images - damn... Anyway - ended up installing, followed some instructions, and then the option came up to choose a package installer. It presented 4 choices or smth, dselect as the interactive, easy to use sollution and well - won't say much more than "it's a monster - RUUUUNNN!!!". Ended up reinstalling the whole system 4 times, after which I decided I would simply use apt-get to install separate packages.
      This still wasn't really the biggest issue with Debian.. The biggest issue was - the users. Ohhh ooeee auch... What was this article about? Right, gentoo users. What users always have the same critics on gentoo? I have to say, I only heard "complaints" about gentoo by other linux-ers that were running eeh almost afraid to say - debian. But at that time that wasn't the problem yet, since Gentoo didn't exist yet. Well - as a starting debian-user, I ended up reading the oh-so confusing doc on the website (was written in the way a chicken would describe how to create and lay an egg - they just already know how to do it, but not to exp

    3. Re:Amen. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Okay, so what's bad about gentoo is that it's an anti-distribution. How do I build software to promise that it runs on gentoo? Short of providing the source and expecting my users to install it, what does gentoo promise about the system?


      I mean we can all build our own linux systems from scratch but part of the idea for a dist is to provide a platform for ISVs to build applications. Even if you install LSB on Gentoo, I have no idea if you've done something really screwed up to it that would prevent me from linking against your shared libraries.


      Worse, without proper knowledge and I'll assert that the vast majority of gentoo users lack it, you can break things by compiling them differently. Kernels are matched to glibc and compilers; it may run but that doesn't mean something isn't broken. The damage is subtle but, just like over clocking, things may run 95% of the time and not be perfect. As a kernel hacker, you know how many times I've taken emails from some dumbass that had a hot rodded machine and he was bitching about my shit when it worked correctly if he stopped over clocking? (Go figure, DMA timers matter) Gentoo caters to that culture. By all means, go for it, if you can fix it then do it, own the whole thing, I admire the hell out of that but if you're serious about doing real work then at some point you have to have a platform to work on. Gentoo doens't provide that platform.


  50. Abusive Humor by Nice2Cats · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Yeah, haha. Funny as hell. A real joker.

    Probably one of the saddest developments in America in the last few decades is the way "abuse humor" has replaced the real thing -- more and more seems to be about making fun of other people, putting them down, and claiming this is funny. I realize that insulting people is easier than displaying real talent, but still. It is sad to me as an American that the best English-language comedians by far and wide today seem to be Brits, while we're paying "shock jocks" milions to spew garbage that wouldn't be allowed on any well-run playground.

    What is even more depressing is the complete lack of self-irony in these pieces. Take Monty Python's song "Never Be Rude To An Arab", where the singer makes fun of himself more than anybody else -- these are the masters, go snivel at their feet. "Fawlty Towers" has an episode where all they do is make fun of Germans ("Never mention the war!") but it is done so well that even my German friends can laugh, because John Cleese makes such a complete ass out of himself, too. Eddie Murphy has lots of abusive humor in his stand-up pieces, but he is the first to make poke fun of himself. At least the guy from Jackass is sticking his own tongue in drainage pipes.

    And sorry, I think "ricer" is a racest term. Obviously the Slashdot editors and a lot of people here don't agree, but I was pretty suprised to see this article promoted here. Hope they don't get into trouble with OSTG.

    So: It is not funny, it offers no insight, and uses racist language for what seems to be its own sake. Even if it has the word "Gentoo" in it and it is a slow day, I fail to see what this is doing on the front page of Slashdot. Me, I'll stick with reruns of the Soviet Russia jokes, and -- and mod the original article down as "troll".

    1. Re:Abusive Humor by black+mariah · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      And I'll mod you down (figuratively speaking) as an idiot. Here's an idea. Go to an import drag race in your are. Count the asians driving riced out cars, then count the crackers (eep! racist! OMG!!!!BBQLOL!!!!11), then count the black guys, and so on. The majority WILL BE white guys. Ricing out cars IS A WHITE GUY THING. The asians that are into import cars seem to spend their money on actually GOING FAST as opposed to LOOKING FAST. I'm sorry dude, you obviously have no clue about this culture or its inhabitants. Go to an import car race, and start throwing around the term ricer. Nobody cares. Now start throwing out 'gook' or 'chink' and see how fast you get the shit kicked out of you.

      --
      'Standards' in computing only impress those who are impressed by things like 'standards'.
    2. Re:Abusive Humor by originalnickused · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I was with you up untill "And sorry, I think "ricer" is a racest term" It was at that stage I realised I was dealing with a dickhead. How foolish of me.

    3. Re:Abusive Humor by squarooticus · · Score: 1

      I love politically-incorrect humor. This world would be a lot less stressful is people whould stop trying to be offended and just grow a thicker skin. I'm a pasty-white 100-pound nerd with glasses, and I'm proud of it. 'Nuff said.

      --
      [ home ]
    4. Re:Abusive Humor by evilviper · · Score: 1
      Probably one of the saddest developments in America in the last few decades is the way "abuse humor" has replaced the real thing -- more and more seems to be about making fun of other people, putting them down, and claiming this is funny.

      I'd say gross-out jokes are a step or two above that. I say that because "abuse humor" is usually not abusive, and it's not all that widespread. Gross-out humor, OTOH, is #1 in the country.

      Who needs clever jokes, when you can have Denis Leary talking for 30 minutes about playing with himself, while KD Lang watches...
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    5. Re:Abusive Humor by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1, Redundant

      Abusive humor isn't necessarily a recent phenomenon, and it isn't necessarily an American phenomenon.

      Ricer isn't necessarily racist, it is poking fun at people that add "fast looking" things to a car without making it faster. Often, they are people that think they are cool for having non-functional hood scoops or ugly kite rear spoilers on a front drive car. I see it done to American cars too.

    6. Re:Abusive Humor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A LOT of the ricer guys are asians as well.

      Seriously, for them it's a culture thing.

    7. Re:Abusive Humor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe, just maybe, there are more and more dumbass people out there? Could it be?

      I belive so.

      Long live Ricetoo!

    8. Re:Abusive Humor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't like the humor that you see, you should get better friends.

    9. Re:Abusive Humor by Dr.+Cody · · Score: 1

      Probably one of the saddest developments in America in the last few decades is the way "abuse humor" has replaced the real thing.

      Okay, I promise to lay off of the Asians, Blacks, Gypsies, Jews, and Arabs, but please, please, please let me continue to make fun of furries!

    10. Re:Abusive Humor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Please take the time to learn what "ricer" actually means and where the term comes from before posting self-glorifying drivel like this.

    11. Re:Abusive Humor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I agree with you 100%! I can appreciate poking fun at Gentoo users, we are a funny bunch, however, i also find ricer to be a horrible racial slur. I am amazed that nobody ever seems to mention that. While it might not be such a bad term, and may even have legitimate origins (rice-alchohol based fuel), it still is a very derogative term that i've only ever seen used as an ethnic slur to marginalize people of an Asian descent.

      I find the site extremely offensive, not as a Gentoo user, but as an Asian.

  51. Using gentoo, its the only option! by BrookHarty · · Score: 4, Informative

    Gentoo Sparc is the only sparc distro that is up2date on the sparc cpu/platform. SuSE/Redhat dropped support. :(

    So if you want Linux on your Sparc machine, Gentoo has the most up2date desktop and packages.

    1. Re:Using gentoo, its the only option! by flibble · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not quite, Debian is still upto date on Sparc as far as I'm aware.
      Admittedly my Sparc running Sarge was last updated a couple of months back, but hey if it works and all...

      --
      ZoeP
    2. Re:Using gentoo, its the only option! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Isn't up2date a redhat program? :P

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Using gentoo, its the only option! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must have missed this little distro called "Debian". I hear it does well on Sparc and HPPA, among others. And in case you don't really want to run linux, you could always try NetBSD, which has amazing sparc support.

  52. Old, but funny - Gentoo still rocks by MrEcho.net · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been using Gentoo Linux for 8 months now.
    I would just like to say that it made me switch from Windows XP Pro to Linux.

    I've used other linux distros over the past few years, but never really took linux to heart. I was able to compile programs and somewhat work with it and got around ok.
    The linux distros that I did were binary based systems, just a simple point and click option. This didn't teach me anything, when I did try to build my own app and "make install" it, most of the time it didn't work or broke another application. There is another point.

    When you build a app you have compile options "./configure". Lets take xchat for example. When you "install" xchat from a binary distro.. you get xchat, But with what options turned on or off? You have no idea what your getting besides the fact that its xchat.
    Now with source based distros you have the option of turning on or off build options. Here is Gentoo's build options for xchat "debug ipv6 mmx nls perl python ssl tcltk xchatdccserver xchatnogtk xchattext" That is a lot of control over what you build.

    Another big this is CFLAGS. These are very helpful for older systems, or you just want your programs to use every single feature of your 100-800$ cpu. With Binary distros most compile for i686. OK.. does that mean that gcc will use "mmx mmx2, sse sse2, 3dmow" ??? You have no idea what kind of optimizations you're getting.
    I know some Gentoo uses go all out on there CFLAGS, but from what I've notice it makes building the app a lot longer, it just makes gcc try more things to build the apps.
    I my self use "-O2 -mcpu=pentium4 -march=pentium4 -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe -ffast-math" I wouldn't call that "ricing" its just using all of what my system can do to make the apps run better.

    And with Gentoo's emerge system, kind of hard to beat that. Yes apt-get is great, but there is alot of cool tricks that you can do with Gentoo's emerge system. http://gentoo-wiki.com/Emerge

    Need help installing gentoo just ask around. Or you can find me in the irc irc2.othersideirc.net #rantradio

    1. Re:Old, but funny - Gentoo still rocks by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      -mcpu and -march are redundant to each others, aren't they? From what I understand -frename-registers is a good idea on x86, although your -fomit-frame-pointer probably makes a bigger difference - both options deal with register starvation.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Old, but funny - Gentoo still rocks by MrEcho.net · · Score: 1

      I was told from a few Gentoo users to just do it.
      It doesnt hurt anything.

  53. Ricenix by harikiri · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ricenix: Too fast, too optimised!

    --
    Man watching 6 MSCE's around a sun box, looks alot like the opening scene's of 2001:space odyssey...
  54. Guide to Slashdot frontpage by boa13 · · Score: 4, Funny

    1. Spot a funny website in the previous Slashdot frontpage funny story. Thanks to the Slashdot moderation system, it is easy finding one, since they are usually moderated +5, Funny.

    2. Send your "scoop" to Slashdot.

    3. Karma profit!

    1. Re:Guide to Slashdot frontpage by vigilology · · Score: 1

      You mean Slashdot posts user-submitted stories? Shock!

    2. Re:Guide to Slashdot frontpage by Have+Blue · · Score: 1

      I never realized my mouldering bookmark collection would be karma gold! Expect lots of Funny submissions in the future!

  55. w00t! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    <SARCASM>

    Yeah!! My wikid l33t tweaked out Compaq Deskpro XL (ya hear that? XL, baby!) 575 with a case window dremmelled into it, all the heatsinks swapped to copper, spraypainted white with two blue stripes down the side, a TURBO button added back (yeah, baby! Turbo! it makes the fans go faster by switching them to 12V and turns on a bunch of blue LEDs!), with the Pentium overclocked to a whole 80MHz and lots of cold cathodes, runs Gentoo compiled from stage1 with CFLAGS="-march=i586 -O9 -fomit-frame-pointer -ffast-math -funroll-loops -funroll-all-loops -funsafe-optimizations"!!!

    I even put a spoiler on the top, and, you know, holes for more airflow, and chrome n stuf!! Because more airflow always means kewl!

    It's almost as wikid as my mate's wikid car!!

    OMGLOLWTFBBQ!!!11!11

    </SARCASM>

    Seriously, I've used Gentoo for servers. I needed pretty high performance and very very good security on a quad Opteron 250 (2.4GHz, Tyan Thunder K8QS Pro, 16GB ECC ram, quad Cheetah 15K.3 drives in software RAID-5 of 3, with 1 hotspare) box I administer, and my life wouldn't be on the line if it went down (hence RAID-5 not RAID-1, and so on; and if it's software, just serial console in and pick it back up again).

    It's a surprisingly good choice, if you have special needs[1]; Gentoo Hardened 2.6.x with PaX & grsecurity (a tough patch for the latest 2.6 kernels, especially in amd64; it didn't apply cleanly so lots of careful dev work needed), strongly encrypted partitions using a custom device mapper plugin, reiser4 (a trifle bleeding-edge, I realise, but rock solid so far), custom kernel patches and some changes to GCC. It wasn't an easy thing to do and I can understand questioning the point, but it was fun and it's a very, very, very speedy and unique box.

    It's definitely possible to screw up easily (especially while doing etc-update), and I'm not terribly happy about them not digitally signing the portage tree for emerge sync (done manually every time a GLSA affecting me comes out), but administered with care and with appropriate babysitting it's great. Definitely not everyone's distro, though; that's its strength as well as its weakness.

    [1] No, I don't mean "retarded" by "special needs", although given the context of the discussion, you could read it that way in some circumstances. :)

    1. Re:w00t! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd have a lot more legitimacy if you knew that you can't put Opteron 250s in a 4-way configuration.

  56. It isn't performance ! by kage.j · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Gentoo is NOT compile-from-source for performance, it's for customization.
    I use it a lot and it has grown on me, although what does bother me is the mass amount of files in /usr/bin

    Oh well. :)

    --
    he demonstrated by A plus B minus C divided by Z that the sheep must be red, and die of the rot
    1. Re:It isn't performance ! by _xeno_ · · Score: 1

      From About Gentoo:

      Gentoo Linux in a paragraph

      We produce Gentoo Linux, a special flavor of Linux that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need. Extreme configurability, performance and a top-notch user and developer community are all hallmarks of the Gentoo experience.

      ...

      Thus, Enoch was born. Daniel wanted Enoch to be a blazingly fast distro with capabilities to completely automate the package creation and upgrading process. ... Over a period of time, as Enoch started improving, they felt that it needed a new name. They called it Gentoo Linux.

      They seem to have removed this, but the name "Gentoo" comes from the factoid that Gentoo penguins are the fastest swimming penguins.

      They seem to have revised history, but originally, Gentoo was "all about performance."

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
  57. It is -- and it isn't by fm6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well yeah -- if you remember how often one Slashdotter's flamebait is often another's plain truth. In this case, the point of comparison is the Ricer -- an exercise in pure technological ego. A lot of people (including me) find that sort of thing supremely irritating. But the suggestion that many Linux diehards have the same mentality is not far off the mark. Linux nerds (and other kinds of techno-nerds as well) often seem to like the technology for its own sake. Nothing wrong with that, but that means accepting that the picture the nerd projects to the outside world is just a little weird. Worth remembering, no matter what drum you march to.

    1. Re:It is -- and it isn't by ricotest · · Score: 1

      Well yeah -- if you remember how often one Slashdotter's flamebait is often another's plain truth.

      Oh, come on now. The site has 'Flame me, dawg' at the bottom of the page. The guy's a troll.

    2. Re:It is -- and it isn't by theLOUDroom · · Score: 1

      Sure it's just a joke, but so is this:

      How come there aren't any Mexicans on Star Trek?
      They don't work in the future, either.


      See.... how anybody could anybody get offended by that?


      Oh wait....I know, because the joke is a mean-spirited jab at a lot of people who don't deserve it. The thing both these jokes have in common is that they rely on stupid, offensive stereotypes to be "funny".

      As far as I'm conrecrned, this whole article is a fucking troll.
      I run Gentoo. (And love it)
      I drive a Japanese sports car. (And love it)

      Posting shit like this is just plain ignorant.
      I don't care if there are a few people out there who are annoying maligning an entire community like this means you're being a jerk. What's especially annoying is the article summary says:
      Gentoo users are proof that society is best served by roving gangs of armed vigilantes, dishing out swift, cold justice with baseball bats

      WHAT THE FUCK!? Why would you "print" that?

      Seriously folks, taking a good-natured jab at something that annoys you is one thing but that's way over the line. That's a fucking troll.

      Well yeah -- if you remember how often one Slashdotter's flamebait is often another's plain truth.

      What are you thinking? So you're saying you think that Gentoo users should be beaten?
      I'm sorry man, if you think what this guy's saying is "plain truth", you're an asshole.
      Just beacuse some retard actually sincerely agrees with something does not keep it from being flamebait.

      --
      Life is too short to proofread.
    3. Re:It is -- and it isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I run Gentoo. (And love it)
      I drive a Japanese sports car. (And love it)

      Congratulations. So - tell us about how great Gentoo is. Let's see if you are or are not a ricer. Based on your post, you are, but you just don't want to admit it.

      Do you think Gentoo is superior to all other distributions because it's "more optimized?" Do you think that by tweaking your CFLAGS and USE variables you can eak out an additional couple of horsepower - oops, I mean, uh, cycles - out of the applications that you run? Do you think that compiling from source makes you more knowledgable about how Linux runs than someone who uses Debian?

      If you answered Yes to any of those questions - you're a ricer.

  58. Sorry, i forgot by freqmod · · Score: 1

    Oh sorry, i forgot: Support for my Hauppage Win-TV Nova DVB-S card.

  59. my choice of auto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i rather have a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 with a 429 Cobra Jet under the hood...

    show those ricers what horse power really is all about...

  60. Re:I always figured...... by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 1

    Bitter irony? Possibly painful truth, guessing from your mod score...

    --
    Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
  61. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  62. Make sure you've tried a few ;-) by cheros · · Score: 1

    First off, I'm a SuSE USer, and have been since v6.4. My problem is that I have very little time to fiddle around, with SuSE (just upgraded to 9.2) is really easy to hand to someone else, insert DVD, point & click. So, even with teh absolute beginner it's not scary.

    Having said that. I myself occasionally stray and do a complete rip-n-replace of my workstation (when I finally find the time), and Gentoo is next on my list (which also features Debian and Slackware - going full circle as I started long ago with Slack on floppies ;-).

    What I recommend to others should be what suits them, not what my preferences dictate. But I've given up on RedHat. Maybe Fedora, but for my friends (and that includes business) RH is not worth recommending if you've ever used SuSE.

    And yeah, support is ESSENTIAL - communities are IMO *good* things even though it's for some a culture shock ;-)

    --
    Insert .sig here. Send no money now. Owner may sue, contents will settle. Batteries not included.
  63. Enlighten this clueless gentoo user by nusuth · · Score: 2, Funny

    I find about two thirds of supposedly hillarious USE flags commentary serious, correct and insightful.

    --

    Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room!

    1. Re:Enlighten this clueless gentoo user by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      USE flags commentary IS serious. It's the CFLAGS that people laugh at us gentoo users over, because [some] people think that by putting in the magical use flags they'll get a 100% performance improvement or something. Only on special cases will you see a significant improvement between -O1 and -O2, let alone going to -O3 which is unstable on many platforms (like MIPS; I have an R4400SC indy running gentoo.) You know, kind of like thinking that a 120bhp civic with a cat-back and a short-ram intake will make 130hp at the wheels.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Enlighten this clueless gentoo user by pyrrhonist · · Score: 1
      It's the CFLAGS that people laugh at us gentoo users over, because [some] people think that by putting in the magical use flags they'll get a 100% performance improvement or something.

      Oh man, you're going to be on funroll-loops.org soon for that faux pas. :D

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    3. Re:Enlighten this clueless gentoo user by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      That's okay, if you can't make a fool of yourself on the internet, where can you? I'm never running for office anyway. I hope.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Enlighten this clueless gentoo user by pyrrhonist · · Score: 1
      That's okay, if you can't make a fool of yourself on the internet, where can you? I'm never running for office anyway. I hope.

      Too bad. I was really looking forward to someone saying, "Mr. Poo will you accept the nomination?" ;)

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
  64. Legitimate value in being almost bleeding-edge by KhanReaper · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is one value of Gentoo that I think many people tend to overlook. While many seem to focus on Gentoo's ability to let the user specify optimization flags and build a system from scratch for performance reasons, I adore Gentoo's ability to use packages that are plainly newer than what most other distributions could hope to offer, especially with what one can get from using breakmygentoo's packages.

    Unlike loading my system with an absurd quantity optimization flags, I run my system with just a stable "-O -g." This has allowed me to commit a large number of very complete bug reports--and I mean over one hundred--for many projects--e.g., Gnome, Mozilla, and KDE--in the past year-and-a-half.

    What's more is this: I cannot begin to describe how annoying it is on standard, binary-package distributions to go about using and developing for newer software suites and manually having to deal with bleeding-edge dependencies that these distros would never include end up including for a few months, due to their instability.
    I am fine with their potential instability on Gentoo; at least I do not have to go about uninstalling nearly all of distro's Gnome's dependencies and rebuilding them from scratch and dealing with very strange conflicts between the distro's older components and the manually installed newer packages.

    If I am not believed, wait two months from now, take a fresh Debian or Fedora install, and attempt to compile the development version of Gnome against it without seriously damaging or fudging the distro's packaging mechanism and dependency system. I can attest that this is one virtue that Gentoo has over nearly every distribution that I have used, in that it minimizes the aforementioned dependency and package hell; and believe me: I have used a wide variety of distros in the past seven years, and only Gentoo has pleased me so well. Granted Gentoo does have its problems, but I have not stuck with a single distribution like it for such a long time, since I had been using Slackware and god-forbid, FreeBSD.

    On another note, if some want to claim that the packages contained in Gentoo's portage tree are not bleeding edge, I can say that I personally maintain a rather large, manually created portage overlay that contains numerous unofficial packages. The fact that these packages can be compiled uniformally, installed consistently, and removed with ease is wonderful and something that I would dare not do with another distribution.

    --
    Even the Politburo concurs with Process of Elimination http://process-of-elimination.net
    1. Re:Legitimate value in being almost bleeding-edge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NetBSD's pkgsrc provides a consistent, cross-platform package-management interface, and sits very cleanly in /usr/pkg. You can actually have multiple copies of the pkgsrc tree installed, in addition to not interfering with a system's built-in packaging system. So, you could actually have all of the things you listed (compiled uniformly, installed consistently, and removed with ease) on *any* Linux, including Linux From Scratch. NetBSD is always ahead in certain areas, like clean-code, package management, and cross-compilation. No one cares or notices because they're too busy working on that stuff to make a glitzy system.

    2. Re:Legitimate value in being almost bleeding-edge by donscarletti · · Score: 1
      I'm a gnome developer, and a proud gentoo user and I would guess that the majority of your bug reports, even if you are running ~arch would be fairly out of date. The gentoo gnome team do an exceptional job at what they do, but in reality, by the time a gnome package becomes stable on gentoo, or even a masked ebuild pops up in portage, the package's development would have moved on.

      I'm not suggesting you stop making bug reports or anything, they are often useful and there is never any harm in them, especially if you make them clear enough to check quickly. But I kind of think suggesting gentoo is _that_ cutting edge is kind of stretching it a little far.

      And I really hope nobody mods this up, because I really shouldn't be discoraging bug reports or bad mouthing gentoo like this.

      --
      When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
    3. Re:Legitimate value in being almost bleeding-edge by NecoX · · Score: 1

      Yeah... bleeding edge and "breaking" doesn't really go hand in hand with production, you know, where real people work for money?

    4. Re:Legitimate value in being almost bleeding-edge by thinkninja · · Score: 1

      Thank you very much!

      --
      "The number of Unix installations has grown to ten, with more expected." (Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd ed.; june 1972)
    5. Re:Legitimate value in being almost bleeding-edge by Narchie+Troll · · Score: 1

      Not all people are using Linux to work. Get used to it.

    6. Re:Legitimate value in being almost bleeding-edge by KrispyKringle · · Score: 1, Redundant

      You've got a great point. For production use, Gentoo is significantly more work than some of the alternatives (as a result, for a server that doesn't need to be terribly up-to-date, I'd likely choose Debian, and for a desktop, probably something like Fedora or SuSE).

      But if you run a server farm (or even just one machine), you can avoid a lot of these issues. If you run a server farm, you already have a test machine for installing updates on prior to rolling them out to the critical infrastructure (or you should), so with Gentoo, you can use that machine in the same capacity, and distribute binary packages. This is admittedly more work than debs or rpms, but not a whole lot more.

      Overlooked in this entire thread, though (as far as I saw), is Gentoo Hardened. The only other major distro to offer anything comparable is Debian, and since nobody provides binary packages with propolice, etc (as far as I know), you'll end up using debsrc or srpms anyway, if you want this on a Debian or RedHat system (in other words, the flexibility of Gentoo is the reason that these hardened features are so easily available).

      Finally, while Gentoo may not guarantee stability in the way Debian does, Debian also takes a long time to backport fixes. I remember waiting for quite a few days over the summer for a patched Debian PHP (after there was a RCE vuln published for it). Gentoo, by not backporting fixes, was able to have a fixed version out as soon as the PHP team released it (with a small delay for it to be committed, marked stable, and sent out to the mirrors). A recent study (by Secunia, if I remember right) showed Gentoo releasing by far the most security advisories of any major distro. This wasn't because we issue needless advisories, but because we do our best to track every one of the thousands of packages in Portage.

      So there are real advantages in areas that you probably care about more than a ``0.1% speed boost''. I don't use Gentoo because of any hyped performance gain. But I do still prefer it over much of the alternatives.

    7. Re:Legitimate value in being almost bleeding-edge by KhanReaper · · Score: 1

      I agree with you on this fact 100 per cent on Gentoo and Breakmygentoo not being bleeding edge enough, so I went about building my own portage overlay that I personally keep in-sync with ftp://ftp.gnome.org's latest developmental tar-balls.

      While it is true that these packages are not as entirely new as CVS code, I know that they are, in some senses, still valid testing subjects, for they are often only a week or so behind the real CVS code.

      --
      Even the Politburo concurs with Process of Elimination http://process-of-elimination.net
  65. what's with the fetish? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    mmm???

  66. /. gone down hill... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With crap like this making it to the front page... I'm starting to wonder if it isn't just fucking worth it to cull a million other news sources myself and pick out the geek.

    This was crap. This was old. This was _stinky crap_.

    Did we forget the 'stuff that matters' portion? Come on.

  67. BRILLIANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, that's an excellent idea. Let's do exactly that!

  68. Missing the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think that alot of people are missing the point of the site, which is that it's supposed to be funny.

  69. slow news day? by Krafty+Koder · · Score: 1

    i've linked to that page from my blog over 6 months ago. what slashdotter DOESNT know about it?
    old news.

  70. Gentoo-keeps "Open" and "Source" in OpenSource by sonamchauhan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Those who mock Gentoo users like this are fools.

    It's a sad fact snobbery afflicts Linux geeks as badly as it does other people groups.

    Regarding that foolish article, other Linux newbies (that use distros) could easily have similar questions and flawed assumptions.

    The process of compiling software into a distribution used to be the last "closed" aspect of the Linux movement. Things like Gentoo helped solved that problem.

    Yesterday I was browsing for the source of some software I was trying to install (this was the "Ogg Vorbis Direct Show Filters" that allow Ogg files to play in Windows Media Player), and I found that the released binary was two point versions ahead of the CVS version. i.e. No source existed for something many people thought was open source. (As it turns out, the copyright owner may not have released the source for that version). If this had happened for Linux software, instead of Windows software, Gentoo users would be the among first to notice and discuss that.

    Go Gentoo!

    [I've never used Gentoo.]

  71. Die white people by grouse · · Score: 1

    The file share my boss had on his workstation labelled "Die white people" got attention, I can tell you....

    Why? That's German for "The white people." Talk about ignorance. ;-)

  72. Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For those of us who are not too swift when it comes to programming.

    Is it more productive to: wait for gnome bugs to be squashed; a kernel that that can deal with them without crashing; just run xfce?

    "I essentially started using Gentoo because my ....ing KDE clock would never show the right time in Red Hat."

    was my favorite.

    It's all about styling, placebo's wont as well.

  73. For those people... by Stratis_Gus_Aftousmi · · Score: 0

    ...who become the butt of a joke, it can be funnier if you play up to that joke as convincingly as you can, don't take it to heart.

    But, BOT, I just want to say I like my Slackware binarys better. Just knowing I got them right from the developer lets me know theres no hidden agendas going on, thus giving me the feeling everything is exposed and "low level".

  74. Oh my they are out in force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing like a gentoo bashing article to bring them all out of the wood work. I am surprised they are soo noisey.

  75. Best. CFLAG. Ever. by shish · · Score: 1

    -fomit-instructions

    --
    I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
  76. Because (at least in the uk) sometimes... by Phil+John · · Score: 1

    ...these kids with the riced out neon take part in street races which can lead to the death of themselves and/or innocent bystanders.

    There was a case in Birmingham a few years ago when two guys racing down a city street plowed into a queue of people outside a nightclub (Dome 2) killing four of them.

    --
    I am NaN
    1. Re:Because (at least in the uk) sometimes... by peatbakke · · Score: 1

      Putting a typeR sticker on your car might make you a poser, but it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be driving like an asshole. Someone is not a danger to society simply because they have a wing on their trunk -- saying so would be the equivalent to calling someone out because they're asian, or black, or a woman.

      The problem is not body kits and nitrous systems -- the problem is bad driving, and there's plenty of assholes out there who do that regardless of race, gender, or vehicle.

      I don't doubt that "riceing" as a cultural phenomenon has a predisposition towards street racing, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's too easy and in very poor taste to condem the many for the actions of a few.

    2. Re:Because (at least in the uk) sometimes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is actually, to be define it better, street racing. You may argue that street racing is bad driving, but there is a lot more to bad driving than street racing (ask my girlfriend, she can't drive worth a shit).

  77. old and stupid by __aalwyc6372 · · Score: 1

    i can only join forces with so many here. it's _very_ old (there was a post in gentoo otw forum half a year ago or so) and it's really not a very good comparison.

  78. Re:i have to admit by timftbf · · Score: 1

    A lot of VAXen are netbootable - you run some combination of dhcp, rarpd and mopd on another box (eg your Linux PC), and get the boot image across that way.

    I got my VaxStation3100 up and running this way. I'm sure it's in the NetBSD install docs somewhere if you search for netboot...

    TTFN,
    Tim.

  79. A low IPC by tepples · · Score: 1

    Intel should start selling 2 or 3ghz i386s

    Intel already sells processors with the same instructions-per-clock as the i486. They're called "Pentium 4".

  80. I learned a lot by being forced to use gentoo. by nblender · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I learned things I would never have learned.. Like, for example, the author of 'iproute2' doesn't like /usr/include so he provides his own with the package. I learned the "iptables" developers can't agree which kernel includes to use, so they provide "unofficial" patches in order to make their software work....

    Yup. Things I would never have discovered were I using some other distribution that didn't expose me to these things.

    Where's my NetBSD disc?

  81. Tried Gentoo....waste of time.... by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 0, Troll

    Gentoo is nice, but I wasted my time. Binary packages are great because I didn't have to wait for the damn thing to compile. Optimizing to the hilt is only necessary if you really need too and most of the comments on that page sound like comments you'd see on MacRumors when the latest security patch comes out:

    I applied the latest security patch from Apple and my Powerbook seems to have more zip.

    If your Gentoo:

    The just released a new package for X11 (4.3.9 up from 4.3.8) and I spent all night compiling it and it just seem so much faster then 4.3.8!

    It's ridiculous. I have better things to do then compile X11 4-5 times a month or year depending on how fast the new packages come out just so I can gain 1 fps in a game or whatever.

    Granted, if you actualy and really need that extra performance, then it's worth it (say if your working on embedded or other types of constrained platforms).

    --

    Gorkman

  82. I'm a gentoo users by photon317 · · Score: 1


    I think thaqt page is funny shit. If you can't laugh at your own kind, you don't really have the right to laugh at anyone. I like to think that I use Gentoo because I know what I'm doing and Gentoo gives me a bit more control over exactly how my box is built, while still giving me enough package management to not have to go through the pains of real DIY from plain sources. But at the same time, I've often joked with freinds about how ridiculuous it is that I often end up spending 6 hours compiling software that I could've downloaded in binary form in 5 minutes, and the net result is like 17 seconds of saved CPU time over the course of the next month or two, at which point I'll be re-compiling that package again anyways.

    --
    11*43+456^2
  83. Yo! Michael! by Lobo93 · · Score: 1

    Was this at all necessary? I mean, why put a link to site designed solely to troll the bejeebus out of people using a particular distro? Yes, I use Gentoo - and yes, I love it. Having shit like this frontpaged on /. is just another derogatory stab at the supposed elitistic Gentoo community, which in turn will have some devotees coming forth defending and making sad apologies all over the place.
    Why should they(and me included, it seems) be forced to defend a Linux based distro on a Sunday afternoon; is M$ Winblows bashing passé, all of a sudden? Direct the force of loathing where it will do some some good, and not internally!

    Skip the tequila shots next time, Michael!

    --
    "The only clear view is from atop the mountain of our dead selves." - Peter Carroll
  84. WTF? Who likes portage? by evilviper · · Score: 0, Troll

    I have a question. I'm a gentoo user, and I tried it because of the rumors that portage was better than the BSD port system. However, I find that the rumors are completely wrong, so I don't understand the praise portage is getting.

    I've had tons of problems with it, and I KNOW how it works. God help the uninitiated. I don't think it's worth going into all the different instances right now, but let me summarize my question.

    What's so great about an imitation ports system, that is so incredibly complex that it's borderline impossible for mere mortals to maintain or modify as needed, and that insists on installing new kernel sources before it will allow you to upgrade Mozilla (just because you happen to have rsync'd recently)?

    Not a troll or flame. I'd like to hear some rational answers to explain this paradox.

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  85. Crap! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What is this?

    I must say I'm very disappointed in Slashdot for publishing this crap AND in the part of the slashdot community who is supporting this kind of rant.
    It's not funny at all!!! The Gentoo community is doing their best to get industry recognition and with success. This is a straight smack in the face for gentoo!

    Besides that, don't you understand you put the whole open-source community in a "divide and conquer"-situation?

  86. I couldn't stop laughing by Nelson · · Score: 1
    I'm not anti-gentoo or linux from scratch. I get a huge kick out of the kiddies though. I'm particularly fond of the type that bounce from distribution to distribution until they find one that configures some application for them.


    What's even funnier, rather than let the humor be (and unless you're one of the people mocked, you have to admit and know that there are those users in the Gentoo community, albeit they are not exclusive members of the gentoo world..) what really cracks me up are the rebuttals. They know it's not "faster" (start listing off some examples if you have them, I'd like to measure the performance increase of a running application) It's easy to talk but I'd like to see some real world numbers on a running application.


    It's just funny. Let it be that. Even if that percieved 0.01% humor improvement is imagined, I still think it's funny.

    1. Re:I couldn't stop laughing by Mr.roboto · · Score: 1

      I'm not anti-gentoo or linux from scratch. I get a huge kick out of the kiddies though. I'm particularly fond of the type that bounce from distribution to distribution until they find one that configures some application for them.

      I think you're half ways on the point here. I personally "bounced" between half a dozen different distros before I decided on Slackware. Why did I do this? Because whenever I was playing around with Linux, I would end up changing it to be more like Slackware anyways. If you're gonna end up running something other then a bone stock install you may as well run something that is closest to suiting your needs, be it RH, SuSE, Gentoo etc. Afterall, why take an X-oriented RPM based distro like RH and then reconfigure it to be more console dominant and recompile everything from .tgz files? It's a waste of time and effort.

      --
      Don't call my crazy, that's what they called me back in the home!
  87. What does 'riced' actually mean? by kahei · · Score: 1


    I gather it involves bolting crap to your car, which I think is a right guaranteed in the constitution somewhere, but is there a more precise meaning than this? Is there some nominal Japanese connection?

    Also, wtf is an 'R-type sticker'?

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
    1. Re:What does 'riced' actually mean? by CDS · · Score: 2, Informative

      The practice of bolting useless crap to your car, sticking stickers (for products that are not installed on your car), having 6 foot tall wings, a tailpipe the size of a coffee can, and generally making a relatively nice subcompact car total junk is called "ricers" because the people who do that to cars tend to use Honda Civics, etc. Since they tend to use cheap subcompact Japanese vehicles, the derogatory term "Ricer" evolved.

      Type-R stickers refer to the Civic type-R line (not sold in the USA --The only type-R line sold in the US is the Acura Integra.) The type-R Civics are highly-tuned performance cars. Therefore, ricers who are trying to impress their friends will buy a type R sticker and slap it on their stock civic and try to convince people they have a true type R.

      The running joke is that a type R sticker instantly adds 10 horsepower to a ricer :)

      For a good example of ricers, see the movie The Fast and the Furious. Prepare to laugh. Also visit http://www.riceboypage.com for definitions and pictures (their hall of shame is pretty good)

    2. Re:What does 'riced' actually mean? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ricer = Rive Burner; Ricer != Derogatory Racial Slur

    3. Re:What does 'riced' actually mean? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Type-R Civics are NOT highly tuned performance cars. They're regular Civics with a bigger engine and lots'o'styling. Riced by default, you might say.

  88. What every Gentoo Riceboy needs: TCCBOOT! by argent · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you're running gentoo and you're not recompiling your kernel at boot you're just a poser!

  89. Well... by DoktorSeven · · Score: 0, Troll

    Looks like that site now has a *lot* more ricer posts to put up. Thanks /. !

    [Disclaimer: I use Gentoo and use t3h b3st flagz evah: CFLAGS="-O299 -fgo-really-really-fast -fround-off-all-numbers -fpi-is-exactly-three -march=pentium4 -mcpu=pentium4 -mprocessor=pentium4 -mcomputer=pentium4 -lead -pipe -b4 -cu -fu -omg" )

    --
    This is a sig. Deal with it.
    1. Re:Well... by multipartmixed · · Score: 4, Funny

      You forgot:

      -type=R

      --

      Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
  90. bah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We've all seen it. It's lame.

    Poster should be -modded for TROLLING, flamebait.

    Please don't feed the trolls.

  91. Let me be the first to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    YOU FUCKING FAIL IT!

  92. Gentoo -- because I FEEL like it by Theovon · · Score: 1

    If I wanted to be TRULY efficient, I probably wouldn't use Gentoo. It takes like 2 days to install a system. Maybe that's because I'm very slow at following instructions.

    Gentoo portage is cool because it has a HUGE repository of applications, and it resolves dependencies. But then again, so do many other package systems like apt-get.

    I switched to Gentoo because I have friends whose use it. I wanted to migrate from Red Hat because it didn't support my new hardware, and I had trouble with Fedora Core 2 not having bootable CD's. I could have gone with plenty of other distros and been happy too. I just enjoyed the time-consuming experience of installing Gentoo, messing it up completely, and getting it done right the second time.

    I like Gentoo because I don't NEED to use a distro-custom kernel. Some distros, like Red Hat, don't like vanilla kernels (at least, I had some trouble with it, but I'm kinda dense). On the other hand, I wish portage would pay attention to kernel options and emerge the corresponding user-space utilities automatically.

    Anyhow... what it comes down to is the reason I chose Gentoo is because I'm stubborn, zealotous, and kinda stupid. That's what makes me so more brilliant and humbler than everyone else.

  93. Snobbery is the rice of the intellect. by karlandtanya · · Score: 1
    Yeah, lots of us love to snicker at ricers. I'm guilty, too.


    But, really, it's just snobbery.


    That said, I'm still reading the article (gotta love livin' in the counry and that great 28.8 connection!). And snickering ;).


    Have fun, y'all.

    --
    "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
  94. No no no you are missing the point by schleyfox · · Score: 1

    I use Gentoo, not because of the 2% speed boost (although it is faster than mandrake), but because of portage. Portage has almost everything, and it just works! I can get the same amount of control over my system from debian or something, but with over 100,000 packages Gentoo just saves me the trouble of going through dependency hell or tracking down packages/source code tarballs. The time it takes to compile on my system is minimal (except on kde!) so it just makes life easy.

  95. Re:WTF? Who likes portage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Try 'emerge -U mozilla' rather than 'emerge -U world'. That should work unless for some odd reason mozilla's dependencies include an updated kernel.

  96. Ob. Grammar Nazi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    They eat mantou, I kind of bread, instead.

    Please tell us you didn't mean "A kind of bread". Please. Maybe you like to count using roman numbers. But don't tell us you meant "A kind of bread".

  97. Re:WTF? Who likes portage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is apparent that you do not "KNOW" how it works.

    If portage insisted that you install new kernel sources before upgrading Mozilla, you probably gave it the wrong upgrade instructions. To check this theory, I ran 'emerge mozilla -pv', and checked the dependencies. Even though I'm running a 2.4 kernel (and not the latest), it didn't want to install any kernel sources.

    There is no paradox here. Portage is not designed to be a fool-proof system. It is designed to be powerful enough to do what you want, without being overly complex. If you want fool-proof, I hear YaST (from SuSE) is good. If you want power, learn to leverage the portage system's abilities. If you're having trouble with it, just ask (in a nice manner), and the Gentoo community will likely be very willing to help.

  98. GIS for Ricer Computer by gelfling · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://wrongknowledge.com/computers/ricer/

    It's da shizzle

  99. Personally, I found it +3 funny, +1 informative by dbc · · Score: 1

    because: it's humor. and it *is* funny. not snort-earl-gray-through-my-nose funny, but a chuckle.

    second: i'm only passingly familiar with Gentoo, so the story and the comments have given me a flavor of why i might want to try it someday. for instance, to make a minimal-footprint build on an old, cramped laptop or something. the experiment could be good humor, too.

    for the record, i'm a Slackie... Slackware never surprises me. and that is good.

  100. No replacement yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does any other distribution make it easy to run two version of kde? Stable and raw-from-cvs from the kdm login prompt? Debian doesn't. Gentoo does, and does well. I need this ability.

    The gentoo forums are almost a pleasure to read. There is an almost total lack of feelings of entitlement. The questions are 'how do I fix this' rather than 'why haven't you fixed this yet?'.

    Derek

  101. If it wasn't here, someone would invent it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gentoo has forced everyone to maintain adequate build systems for their software.

    It lowers the barriers for people to start poking around in the source code.

    It is a good training ground for developers.

    It is truly open source. You see it compiling when you install. Binaries are nice but they put a distance between user and source code.

    Derek

  102. It makes *some* sense ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... comparing an ancient PC laptop with a Mac laptop running OSX. And saying the PC was slightly faster (probably for day-to-day tasks?). It makes you a non-zealot Mac user - a rare breed on /.

  103. Re:WTF? Who likes portage? by evilviper · · Score: 1
    It is apparent that you do not "KNOW" how it works.

    If that is apparent to you, then your judgement is completely screwed up, because that's not true.

    you probably gave it the wrong upgrade instructions. To check this theory, I ran 'emerge mozilla -pv', and checked the dependencies

    First of all, mozilla was just an example. Second, your test is complete bullshit. If you have no idea what version of mozilla I started from, no idea what version of the kernel I am using, etc, then you can't possibly just test it that easily.



    Now, I thought my original point was clear, but since two posts have already completely misunderstood, allow me to clarify.

    The main problem I have with portage, is that it only checks if you have the latest (stable) version of a dependency installed. This problem spirals out of control, because of dependencies of dependencies of dependencies.

    So, if the version of the kernel you are using is no longer the latest after an upgrade, and you install a program that depends on a second program, that depends on the kernel sources, then portage will insist on dowloading the latest version of the kernel.

    If you want to test this out, make sure you don't have the latest stable version of the kernel sources installed, and then emerge a program that depends on something like alsa.

    This is not a question of "a fool-proof system", it's a question of portage being dumb enough that it requires the admin to spend a lot of time tracking down, and manually resolving bugs, conflicts, and other limitations of portage.

    And besides this, the specifics aren't really important, it's a question about portage in general, not "what did I do wrong".
    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  104. My perfect Slashdot slow-news day by dubl-u · · Score: 2, Funny

    NVI is a good minimialistic vi [...] unless your a dirty dirty emacs hippy

    Sweet! Now we've brought editor religion into the distro war article. Next I'd like to see a little grammar cop action, followed by some media-is-too-liberal vs media-is-too-conservative bickering. For the main event, frothing fundamentalist Randites can instruct us all in how to pronounce Ayn, while carefully being snotty enough that they can't be accused of being unselfish. Then, when everybody tries to shout them down, somebody can end the thread by making Nazi comparisons.

    Get to it, boys! Time's a-wastin'!

  105. Re:Gentoo-keeps "Open" and "Source" in OpenSource by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You say "The process of compiling software into a distribution used to be the last "closed" aspect of the Linux movement. Things like Gentoo helped solved that problem."

    That is not true. You have always been able to figure out how a package was built. In slackware, install the source package and there is the original tarball Patrick downloaded, a patch file for any changes, and a script that has all the commands he ran to build it. You can modify it and make it your way -- I have done this, to add newer features to MC that were released as patch files after the slackware release, for example.

    In an RPM based distribution you against install the source package; you can do everything automatically using rpmbuild, or just install the package and go into /usr/src/REDHAT/ and look at and modify the sources, and there is a .spec file that specifies where the binary will go and compilation options and etc. You can modify those and make your own RPMs to install; I have done this with Postgres and PHP, when the distributed RPMs for a certain redhat release were out of date.

    The point of all this jeering at the gentoo guys, is that they are mostly newbies who arrived at gentoo by not learning Redhat or Slackware well enough to do what they immagined they needed to do, and they just desparately installed different distributions until one of them gave them the appropriate feeling of eliteness.

    For example, the average gentoo user doesn't know how to make his own ebuild to create a package of his own, or use different features in a source tree, etc. They install things using "emerge" which downloads and builds in one step, not pausing for you to tweak the source tree to install it your way. And you can be fairly certain that they will never learn -- if they need the --with-wiz-bang feature on some package, they will scream to the gentoo maintainers, and when that fails, start installing every CD set on distrowatch until they find the one that does it for them.

    These loud mouthed cheerleaders wouldn't recogize this if it would save their life: ./configure ; make ; make install

  106. Bitch tits. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Boy, you got your little, uneducated ass told, didn't you?

    Now that was some funny shit, the replies putting you in your place. lol, dumbfuck.

  107. The exhausts at least do SOMEthing by caveat · · Score: 1

    I suppose I might be a bit biased, since I dropped $600 on an cat-back exhaust for my car this summer (95 240SX, A'PEXi N1 Dual); along with the intake and header, it definitely added a bit of power; even a $50 autozone coffee-can muffler should theoretically give you a small bit of power. Of course the ricer twits think that that alone is the only engine mod you need to have m4d p0w3r, totally ignoring the rest of the tuning and parts required to get the real benefits of a high-flow exhaust (next step for me is cams and a chip, just need to scrape up the cash first).
    I left the silencers in on my exhaust, but even without them it's only a bit louder than stock, and keeps a nice deep throatiness...no angry bumblebee for me. Of course, the large-for-a-4cyl. 2.4L displacement helps; a 1.6 liter honda engine is going to be whiney no matter what you do to it. Nor a body kit or ginormous rear wing; i did spring for 17" wheels, but those do give quite a handling improvement with wide tires, plus they look decent....

    --

    Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
  108. I'm going to take a stab at this but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    By "abusive humor" you mean humor that is close to or is the truth? Maybe this was done by a Gentoo fan pointing out the absurdities of Gentoo community, and is comparing them to people who think by adding noisy fart pipes and stickers to their shitty car adds to the cars performance, and makes them look smart.

    So maybe what we have here is the failure of people to tell when something is poking fun at them, or being able to take a joke about themselves. I seems some people here need to clam down, and not be so easily offended. If it not humor and is a real troll, just ignore them or not get so worked up about it.

  109. Best Community I've ever seen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here's a reason to use Gentoo: Awesome support.

    Gentoo has the best user community I've seen for linux. Their forums have never made me feel stupid for asking stupid questions. The people there have been so nice to me that I've actually turned back and helped other people with their problems whenever I could. Apart from all the other great features of Gentoo, it is always nice to know that if anything goes wrong, you're not alone with the problem and there's others actively working to help you out.

    Back when I was moving to a new distro every week, it was the warmth in the community that made me wanna use Gentoo.

    Just my two cents.

  110. -O3 -vs -O2 by tormedhammaren · · Score: 1

    Using -O3 can really boost some applications. Especially small and CPU intensive ones. I compiled the Unix Amiga Emulator two times. The first time with -O2, the second time with -O3. The 680x0 emulator (processor) performed 1.4 times better with -O3. I didn't measure the compile time, but it was a lot longer with -O3.

  111. conversion table by bcrowell · · Score: 1
    Gentoo <--> rice rocket

    Debian <--> VW bus

    Red Hat <--> new Chevy Celebrity

    Fedora <--> old Chevy Celebrity you got from your parents

    MacOS 9 <--> Honda Civic

    MacOS X <--> Honda Civic

    OpenBSD <--> Volvo

    Windows <--> Pinto

  112. You're right, that's very sad. by WebCowboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    What is so offensive about ricers.

    I for one find them hilarious.

    Who can take a civic
    A rusty old DX?
    Add a giant spoiler and some plastic ground effects?
    The ricer man can
    the ricer man caaaaan!

    My apologies to Sammy Davis Jr.

  113. Hello by donkstuff · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Welcome to last week. Honestly, it is such an old (yet funny) site, that i dont see why this made the front page. Might as well put an All-Your-Base article on the front page.

    --
    :(){ :|:& };:
    Paluminum.net
  114. A Ricer is a kitchen utensil ! by soundman32 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    I used one today to mush up some boiled eggs.
    I've used one recently to make mashed potato(e)s.

    Why do I want to put my linux distro through one, or even compare my linux distro to one?

    A confused cook.

    --
    No sharp objects, I'm a programmer!
  115. A Ricer? by crazy-metal · · Score: 1

    I like to think my Gentoo installation is like a German sportscar. I think around BMW M5.

  116. Distro Elitism is a destructive force. by Eminor · · Score: 1

    Distro Elitism does not server any beneficail purpose. It only serves to generalize and then demean people.

    If you have contributed to open source, then you should be proud of what the movement has accomplished. There are many different programs, tools and distrobutions that people can choose from. People will use what works for them.

    If use open source, then you should be greatful that you have this massive resource at your disposal.

  117. Keep a close eye on it. by adb · · Score: 1

    If you don't, it'll sneak out at night and put undercarriage lights on your car.

  118. Ah, at last we see a Hurd user. by adb · · Score: 1

    Don't all those context switches slow you down?

  119. thats what happens... by steak · · Score: 1

    when you say john wayne uses gentoo, but in actuallity everyone knows he uses slackware.

    http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=127758 &c id=10672606

  120. Dispelling the myths of Gentoo Linux by Chuck+Bucket · · Score: 1

    I always thought this was a good overview, and directly addressed some misconceptions about Gentoo. Regardless, people that don't care won't get it, but that's fine; Gentoo isn't for everyone, that's why there are lots of distros out there.

    Personally I've learned more by using Gentoo than from any other Linux. YMMV.

    CB)#@$@

  121. I switched to Gentoo by The_Dougster · · Score: 0, Redundant
    I used to run Debian, for years and years. One day this summer I decided to start fooling around with Gentoo just for kicks. Turns out I like it! I erased Debian about a month ago and have been using Gentoo since with no issues. And it is a lot faster, more than you would think. Once you've learned how to bootstrap Gentoo its pretty easy really. You can basically compile the entire distro from within a chrooted xterm so there really isn't any downtime while you are compiling.

    Nyah nyah... I did a Stage1 install :-P

    --
    Clickety Click ...
  122. YES YES YES YES YES! by Ingolfke · · Score: 1

    I've been saying this for a while now... Gentoo, like BSD, will travel down the road to oblivion.

  123. As a Linux User of 8 Years... by doomicon · · Score: 1

    Who gives a crap.

    --

    Awesome!
  124. Juggle the gcc Options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is a nice tool out there to make sure to pick the right optimizations for your specific algorithm:

    http://www.coyotegulch.com/products/acovea/

    This link not only provides you with a genetic algorithm to pick the right options but also explains some of them which seems to be a good thing now that I've read some of the comments.

    Oh, on this page you can find something about gcc myths and facts, sounds like a good read for some of the gentoo users:

    http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/730/

    I never wasted too much time optimizing my apps on a desktop PC, but I had to write assembly once to get the required performance on a real time system. Damn, does it make a difference if your code runs 20usec faster if you only have 660usec to process one block of data. Notice however, that human beeings aren't able to experience that kind of difference if it comes to application response times. I'm obviously exaggerating the issue a bit, but the message is, don't waste your time with that, go out and meet some people instead.

  125. Not just Gentoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i think the term "ricer" in the context of someone who like cosmetic changes in pretense of something better can be applied to many linux "users" in general. I write and debug Linux drivers, so I would like to think I know a bit about Linux. And like most real Linux experts I know, we don't care to spend too much time on making our desktop all sparkle and shine with blinding colors with the lastest version of GNOME or KDE.

    But the majority of young linux users out there spend most of their time on cosmetic setups on their environment to make their desktop look cool as suppose to use Linux for real work. They go around and proclaim how great Linux is, but really, all they know is how to modify desktop themes. This give them an illusion of being technical, and I can only imagine how compiling Linux src code make them even more hyped up.

    But really, lots of Linux ricers out there, not just Gentoo.

  126. The only nut worth tweaking... by aquarian · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...is the one behind the wheel. This is just as true with computers as it is with cars.

  127. I only run Gentoo for the unstable packages. by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    I run gentoo on 5 of my systems. Not because spending 10 hours compiling saves me 3 seconds at runtime. But because I am too lazy to manually install all the latest unstable packages. Do I absolutely need to be running version 0.99.4.1.3-rc17 beta? I probably don't, but that's not for anyone to decide but me.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  128. Re:WTF? Who likes portage? by setagllib · · Score: 1

    Amen. Personally I haven't had that many huge problems, but on some machines (but not others with the same installed packages - yes it's that random) alsa-driver is considered a dependency of alsa-libs, which is not right. Since I am using 2.6 kernels only, and alsa-driver is only really useful for 2.4, I injected the ebuild as if it was done already, then carried on normally.

    Almost a month later, a new alsa-driver comes out, and it wants to upgrade. For this, it must also fetch and install kernel sources (boy did this have me stumped - I didn't realise the alsa-driver connection at the time) for 2.4, which isn't useful to me at all. In the end I had to add the packages.provided entry by hand to convince the system alsa-driver was taken care of, but I know things will crop up again

    More than half of portage's functionality is to work around its shortcomings. Not to mention the same 'untested' software that is in Portage and breaks instantly but works perfectly in FreeBSD Ports, NetBSD pkgsrc, OpenBSD Ports, etc... and certainly all binary distributions... how do they explain that?

    --
    Sam ty sig.
  129. AMF Harley by EXrider · · Score: 1

    Actually AMF hasn't owned Harley since '86, the AMF bikes were the worst quality Harleys ever made, and knowledgeable harley shoppers avoid them like the plague. AMF didn't rescue Harley Davidson either, they almost ran them into the ground farther. AMF didn't know shit about manufacturing internal combustion engines, let alone motorcycles, and ramped production up high, and quality went down; a small group of investors bought the company back in the late eighties and focused on the retro appeal of the bikes and brought the production rate down, but the quality back up, these are the people that rescued HD. Now HD is a very successful American company that makes more money off of licensing their name to be put on other products than the sales of their own motorcycles. Harley Davidson bikes, excluding the AMFs, also hold their resale value extremely well compared to other motorcycles.

    I do believe that Buell also had the fastest production bike made in the mid to late nineties, until Suzuki's Hayabusa came along.

    --
    grep -iw skynet /etc/services
  130. Re:Gentoo-keeps "Open" and "Source" in OpenSource by sonamchauhan · · Score: 1

    Thanks AC - your post was quite informative.

    From the Gentoo site, it seems to have made several tasks easier than before (As I said, I haven't used it). Their page I was reading

    The jeering is still offensive and wrong.

    Quoting your post in full since it's zero-ranked:

    You say "The process of compiling software into a distribution used to be the last "closed" aspect of the Linux movement. Things like Gentoo helped solved that problem."

    That is not true. You have always been able to figure out how a package was built. In slackware, install the source package and there is the original tarball Patrick downloaded, a patch file for any changes, and a script that has all the commands he ran to build it. You can modify it and make it your way -- I have done this, to add newer features to MC that were released as patch files after the slackware release, for example.

    In an RPM based distribution you against install the source package; you can do everything automatically using rpmbuild, or just install the package and go into /usr/src/REDHAT/ and look at and modify the sources, and there is a .spec file that specifies where the binary will go and compilation options and etc. You can modify those and make your own RPMs to install; I have done this with Postgres and PHP, when the distributed RPMs for a certain redhat release were out of date.

    The point of all this jeering at the gentoo guys, is that they are mostly newbies who arrived at gentoo by not learning Redhat or Slackware well enough to do what they immagined they needed to do, and they just desparately installed different distributions until one of them gave them the appropriate feeling of eliteness.

    For example, the average gentoo user doesn't know how to make his own ebuild to create a package of his own, or use different features in a source tree, etc. They install things using "emerge" which downloads and builds in one step, not pausing for you to tweak the source tree to install it your way. And you can be fairly certain that they will never learn -- if they need the --with-wiz-bang feature on some package, they will scream to the gentoo maintainers, and when that fails, start installing every CD set on distrowatch until they find the one that does it for them.

    These loud mouthed cheerleaders wouldn't recogize this if it would save their life: ./configure ; make ; make install

  131. gentoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I ran Gentoo for a short time on one of my PCs, reformatted and put Slackware back on, and Slack loaded up quicker and everything ran faster. Hmmmm,

    Slackware must be like my 1968 Mustang ;] Old, but quick!

  132. Silly, silly, silly by warrax_666 · · Score: 1
    If you examine the ASM to see *why* your code is running so much faster, you will often find that gcc noticed you put something where it wasn't supposed to be, and weren't using it. Move stuff that doesn't need to be recalculated every loop out of the loop, and you probably won't see a huge difference.

    So which is easier:
    • Saying '-O3' to Gcc, or
    • Making gcc compile output the asm files, visually inspect those for optimization opportunities, try to massage your C/C++ code into yielding better assembler. (All the while probably making your code harder to read for humans).

    Hint: It's not the second one.
    --
    HAND.
    1. Re:Silly, silly, silly by forkazoo · · Score: 1

      I think you mean it's seldom the second one. :)

      Seriously, sometimes massaging your C files into better code can also mean more readable code.

    2. Re:Silly, silly, silly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hint: its neither. If you actually understand how a compiler works, and are competant in both C and ASM, you will write code correctly in the first place, and neither of your options will be needed. People who don't know ASM and/or don't understand what the compiler is doing write C (or C++) code that needs optimized.