[clue-tech] Taking the Gentoo Plunge?

[Michael Irons]

On Tuesday May 8 2007 6:20:45 pm Ken MacFerrin wrote:
> katanacb at comcast.net wrote:
> > Ok,
> >
> > I'm thinking about taking the Gentoo plunge, and I've read *lots* of
> > information about how difficult it is to setup (or not), how time
> > consuming it is to setup and administer (or not), how patches bork the
> > entire system (or not).  I'm not afraid to setup Gentoo on my system(s),
> > I've used linux for years and years, but I wanted to get some sort of
> > idea from local guys who actually RUN the distribution what their
> > experience has been like.
> >
> > If I do this I'm going to do it on 2 laptops, and 1 desktop (which
> > doubles as a fileserver for things like MP3s, etc).  I prefer KDE to
> > gnome but I can be converted.  I've most recently run Ubuntu, SuSE before
> > that but I've used pretty much every distro out there over the years.
> >
> > So, for those of you out there who run Gentoo, what's your experience
> > been like?  Are the rumours true?  I've downloaded the recent 2007.0
> > release and I can tell you that the live DVD seems to perform better than
> > hosted systems on my machine (I know it's strange, but it's true) and I
> > did do a gentoo install 3-4 years ago, but just got frustrated after
> > borking my install a few times.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Chris
>
> I've been running Gentoo on my main desktop for about 4 years now.  I
> started because at the time there was no other system that combined such
> a robust package manager (emerge) with access to cutting (bleeding) edge
> packages.  I would still argue that the vast packaging and support
> ecosystem is a leading strength, but others (aka ubuntu) have make
> significant strides here as well recently.
>
> As far as the install, it's true, in earlier days doing a stage 1
> install you could take forever for the initial build, but nowadays the
> stage 3 install is recommended which only takes a minimum of initial
> compiling to get up and running.  I also recommend using the "-bin"
> versions for huge apps like openoffice so you don't suffer hours of
> compiling for an update.  Some thing just don't need to be "optimized"
> for any sane reason.  I can usually get a basic, clean desktop install
> up and running within a couple hours now.
>
> Stability did take a dip around a year ago but those issues seem to have
> been worked through and things have been solid for me for quite a while.
>
> Overall, if you really want the flexibility to get under the hood and
> tweak everything about your system then it just can't be beat.  Another
> thing I've enjoyed is the basic lack of a release cycle.  Gentoo takes
> more of a continuous evolution approach of regular updates so there's no
> single "upgrade" pains from release to release.. The caveat is you will
> occasionally have some maintenance to do when a package needs
> reconfigured due to a major update to that application; and this can
> sometimes happen after a normal update when you didn't really plan time
> to deal with it.
>
> Based on my experiences, my recommended prerequisites would be:
>
> 1) Make sure it's a decently powerful machine.  This is not the right
> distro for an old, underpowered laptop. (Xubuntu is great for this though).
>
> 2) Have some experience running linux.  It's not the newbies distro.
>
> 3) Take the time to read the package manager docs.  "emerge" can do all
> sorts of tricks if you take the time to learn the more advanced options.
>
> 4) Do a stage 3 install to get up an running.  Once you have a stable
> system you can always go back and super-duper optimize your flags and
> then recompile everything while you go so something else with your day.
>
> -Ken
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Well put. Everything I wanted to say, but instead rambled on.

-- 

Michael Irons