Now I;m not saying I don't like getting my hands dirty, its like building your own coffee table,) it will take longer to make but the end result is so much more satisfying. What I am saying is that for something simple the process took way too long and comparing the compiling time required to get system up with the uptime provided with a prepackaged distro, I took the prepackaged distro. As the cliche goes time is money and a month to get a simple webserver running was too much time for me.
Now I would hardly say that other distro installers are yes/no installers. Sure you can do that but you can also customize things also with selecting certain packages. Don't get me wrong, Gentoo is a great system however to get the sucker installed took too much time and though enjoyable having the server up was more important than playing with the installation. I would love to get a Gentoo system running however resources are short, (time and money.) I know there are many Gentoo fans out there and I'm not trying to put it down. I just merly want to offer my observations with my experience with the distro. On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:37:32 -0700, Chris Lobkowicz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Coming from the "Gentoo takes a long time to install" argument, I get > what I put into it. If it takes me a week to get the system built, it > takes a week. In the end, the portage tree speaks volumes about itself, > and the fact that my system is spankyfast compared to a (insert a > generic i586 distro here), is a godsend. > I actually like the fact that the install procedure is a process, > rather than a bunch of yes/no/other answers. > The install method is an excellent way to "get my hands dirty" doing a > linux install. Otherwise (insert the name of a gui install distro here) > installs are just that, stick in cd, boot, yes/no/other answers, done. > Nothing is learned, at least during a gentoo install, I learn about the > nittygritty right off the bat. > Gentoo's install method, though arcane, complex, long, frustrating, > magical, mysterious - always ends up for me being a tailored, powerful, > installed system. Gentoo fits the bill for me, and I will not use any > other distro. Other than to play with it, and see how they tailored > their X environment. > > If I dont need to implement a (insert network service here) *right now* > then gentoo is my solution, if I need to spin up something *right now* > then I look elsewhere, either a BSD variant, or a Windows solution. > > For those that complain about the lack of an installer, imho are > missing the whole point of customization. For the times when issues do > pop up, the gentoo forums are an incredible source of information, > regardless of distro. > And besides, installing the beast is half the fun for me anyways. > > Nothing says "It was worth it to me" to take a month to get gentoo > installed on a dual P90, without distcc! Installing is half the fun! > When else do I get to spend so much intimate time with a server? Once > installed, only maintenance duties are required. > > Cheers > Chris > > > > > On Nov 18, 2004, at 11:15, Jason Louie wrote: > > > On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:55:23 -0700, Niels Voll <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> wow - you Gentoo guys have patience fit for a saint ! > >> > >> ...Niels > > > > I'd agree. My first and only experience with Gentoo was over a year > > ago. Before that I've used RedHat6.x-7.x and Mandrake8-9. I was > > installing on a P200 with 128mb ram. I wanted optimize what I could > > so thus Gentoo was my descision. Even with the beautiful > > documentation Gentoo had I still had some small issues with the > > install... nothing I couldn't handle, (but I found it odd where the > > installation would fail at diffrent places each time). However the > > thing that got me was that after a month of install Gentoo I still > > didn't have a working web server, (a month of spending 1 - 2 hours > > almost every night.) After a month I finially got fed up and decided > > to give another distro a whirl. Out came the SuSE FTP install and > > having never tried SuSE before it took me less than 1/2 hour to have a > > functional webserver with very few unneeded packages installed. I > > have since moved to Debian, (debootstrap install via knoppix.) > > > > My thoughts on Gentoo is that the system would be very nice on a fast > > machine but on a slower machine, (the machines that need the speed > > optimization,) it takes *WAY* too much time to install. > > > > I might try Gentoo again down the road but only when installs would be > > less painful. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying > _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
