[CLUE-Tech] gentoo linux

[Collins]

On Mon, 29 Apr 2002 17:39:53 -0600 Jeffery Cann
<fabian at jefferycann.com> wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> I have heard of this distribution, but only in name.  A friend at
> work asked me about it and I had to shrug.  A brief gander at their
> web site (www.gentoo.com) indicates it is a lean and mean
> distribution that allows you to compile everything for your box.  
> 
> Anyone used it?  Thoughts?

I been on and off for about two years now.  In the off periods I
experimented with quite a few distros, but gentoo is now my permanent
home.

It depends on what you are looking for.  Something like SuSE or
Mandrake is glitzy and offerst to install more types of software than
you can use in a lifetime.

Gentoo is basically a grown-up version of something like Linux from
Scratch.  You get a fairly small CD (now available from CheapBytes, as
well as download), or if you are already running a linux system you
can just download a tarball to get the equivalent of the CD.  Once you
boot from the CD or untar the tarball, you run a bootstrap process
(about 2 1/2 hours on my 800Mz 256Meg system, then you install a base
set of software including XFree4.2 (this is all the typical GNU++++
stuff you find in a unix/linux system); also about 2-3 hours on my
system.  After that you're ready to boot the system and install
whaterver you like.  Both gnome and kde are available, of course. 
Either one is a 10-20 hour process.

The descriptor files for all software packages are stored in a
/usr/portage directory, and you run a program called emerge to
download, untar, install, and register the software on your system. 
The basic design was taken from the FreeBSD ports system.

My system is almost totally up to date, and it's easy to keep it that
way.  As you can see below, I run a lean and mean machine (no gnome or
kde on a regular basis).  I just completed a reinstall to check out
the latest install docs and to convert to xfs journaling.  About 13-14
hours to do everything I needed.  There was no need to do the
reinstall; I just got the itch.

Try it, you'll love it.

-- 
Collins Richey - Denver Area - WWTLRD?
gentoo(since 01/01/01) 2.4.18-xfs xfce-sylpheed-dillo-opera