Give Gentoo a Try!

**Trogdor** · 03-01-2004, 10:51 PM

I love Gentoo. It is a source-based distrobution, and you really get to look under the hood. It also has a great community. If you are comfortable with Linux, try it out! You won't regret it!

The packaging system is based upon BSD's ports, and is called "portage." To download and compile the source of, say, nethack, you need only type "emerge nethack." If you like Slackware, chances are you will like Gentoo, as they fill a similar niche.

To quote Gentoo's website,

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 performance, configurability and a top-notch user and developer community are all hallmarks of the Gentoo experience.

Thanks to a technology called Portage, Gentoo Linux can become an ideal secure server, development workstation, professional desktop, gaming system, embedded solution or something else -- whatever you need it to be. Because of its near-unlimited adaptability, we call Gentoo Linux a metadistribution.

**hammer123** · 03-01-2004, 11:06 PM

<edit> Too many people did not realize I was being sarcastic early in this thread. My purpose was to have fun while explaining why gentoo is so great. Keep this in mind </edit>

gentoo sucks I mean more programs are ready for download then probably any distro and the packages are recent. You loose the typical experience of wanting to install some program that is not available and then hunting for a bunch of libraries that are not available.

And besides if you stick with the other distros then you can download binary packages so you don't have to worry about optimizing or saving bandwidth.

**cybertron** · 03-01-2004, 11:20 PM

gentoo sucks I mean more programs are ready for download then probably any distro and the packages are recent. You loose the typical experience of wanting to install some program that is not available and then hunting for a bunch of libraries that are not available.

And besides if you stick with the other distros then you can download binary packages so you don't have to worry about optimizing or saving bandwidth.

Careful, that almost confused me and I've actually tried gentoo. This is supposed to be newbie friendly after all.

**hammer123** · 03-01-2004, 11:24 PM

Its users are also too stupid to detect sarcasm. I love etc-update though, everyone knows how to use diff to merge files correctly and the assumption that help is completely uncessary is useful. I mean hammer123 is an idiot and his problem never happens. You can use gentoo if you are completely clueless about linux. For example the simple base system installation only took me a week to complete.

[If you have not figured it out I am being sarcastic. On a serious note I think gentoo is well fit for desktop usage if you have lots of free time and want something that is functional though sometimes difficult.]

**EnigmaOne** · 03-01-2004, 11:43 PM

It must be a "Long Beach Thing."

**JThundley** · 03-02-2004, 12:11 AM

Yeah, Gentoo is kickass, welcome to the club Trogdor!
because... He was a dragon, I mean he was a dragon-man... Well, he was just a dragon.. but he was still TROGDOR!!!

**Trogdor** · 03-02-2004, 12:14 AM

hammer123, I can't believe you tried to troll me. We were friends. Don't you recognise the avatar?? I AM HOMEOBOCKS! EDIT: Wait . . . you were being sarcastic. Never mind.

Gentoo isn't too hard on the newbies. You should be comfortable with the shell . . . that's all!

**Trogdor** · 03-02-2004, 12:17 AM

Originally posted by JThundley
Yeah, Gentoo is kickass, welcome to the club Trogdor!
because... He was a dragon, I mean he was a dragon-man... Well, he was just a dragon.. but he was still TROGDOR!!!

TROGDOR!
TROGDOR!
Trogdor was a man . . .
I mean, he was a dragon-man . . .
well . . . maybe he was just a dragon,
but he was still TROGDOR!
TROGDOR!
Burninating the country side.
Burninating the peasants.
Burninating all the peoples,
in their thached-roofed COTTAGES!
COTTAGES!
And the Trogdor comes in the NIGHT!

**asklepios** · 03-02-2004, 12:41 PM

umm...sorry but i have never used Gentoo. rather i m a Slackware fanatic. i have given RH 7 and 9, MDK 9, 9.1 and 9.2 and a bit of dabbling with Debian (now stuck with Slackware-Current) but not Gentoo.
i have heard lots of good things about Gentoo but then one thing makes me back off..."one week to install" or "two days for a basic system". is that true? can someone live away from his/her puter for a week?

okay portage must be a divine thing but is there anyway to install a basic system in 10 minutes flat?
mind it: i m on dial-up but i don't mind leaving my puter on for a whole night for downloads. so is there anyway i can try Gentoo (no, no live CD)

**hammer123** · 03-02-2004, 02:23 PM

know how to compile a kernel

**mengle** · 03-02-2004, 02:51 PM

"one week to install" or "two days for a basic system". is that true?

It was for me. I had KDE and Open Office up and running after 3 days. After that you just need to emerge programs here and there. Yeah it's some time without a computer but just go read a book or go skiing or something. The best part is the portage system though. I couldn't think of a much faster way of keeping your system up to date. Way better than RPMs. Never used a Debian-based distro so I can't comment on how it compares to apt-get.

TROGDOR!

**ArthurFortune** · 03-02-2004, 02:59 PM

well technically it's a live CD, but all you have is a shell. you can do a stage 3 install (ie no compiling). unless you want the most up to date packages. I would say if you have installed gentoo before you could do a stage 3 install in under 45 minutes. However, you will not have the most up to date packages

**jrbishop79** · 03-02-2004, 02:59 PM

Originally posted by asklepios
"one week to install" or "two days for a basic system". is that true?

what takes up most of that time?? is it compilation/installing or download?

**mengle** · 03-02-2004, 03:13 PM

For me, it was certainly compiling (PIII, 933 MHz + cable modem). All those crazy characters going across my screen for hours on end were kind of mezmorizing. Much like watching a fire.

**jrbishop79** · 03-02-2004, 03:18 PM

it took that long on a 933 and broadband?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I shudder to think how long it would take on a AMDK6-2 500 and dial-up... I'd probably still be compiling into next year...

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