The downside to Gentoo is that it is mostly a complile from source distro, so your old clunker laptop may take longer than you would like to compile :)
Matt P. On Wed, January 11, 2006 10:36 pm, Randall Barlow wrote: > Cristobal Palmer wrote: > >> >>I know that there are people on the list who are actively using >> gentoo >>in production environments, so can one of you give a more complete >>argument for why the customization is easier? >> > I don't know that I would say that the customization of Gentoo is > really > easy necessarily, but *you* make the system the way *you* want it to > be. Gentoo is not for the casual user, or the new Linux convert for > sure. But the installation process is great for someone who wants to > learn more about Linux, or even computers for that matter. > >> Does a gentoo install >>start out significantly smaller? >> > YES!!! Well, I don't know how it stacks up against DSL, but it's > pretty > freakin' small on a base install because that's exactly what you get > with Gentoo - a base install. You compile your kernel, install the > basic Linux tools, yada yada, reboot, and bam you're at a blinking > prompt. It's small, but you can still choose to add more (X windows, > yada yada). Of course, most any distribution will allow you to do a > stripped down install, but most of them don't compile from source. As > Jason pointed out, the USE flags are great for trimming down the > packages, and this is something you won't get with any binary based > distribution. What you will NOT trim down is install time because > compiling all those packages can take a loooong time (binaries are > much > faster to install for sure). > >> Do those of you who use it know that >>you would be compiling just about everything to begin with? >> > Well, yeah, compiling these is what gives you all the flexibility. If > you don't use kde, don't compile support for kde in your apps > (likewise > if you don't use gnome). For example, the machine I'm typing this on > is > rather old and has no DVD drive, so I put "-dvd" in my use flags and > all > programs that would otherwise support DVDs don't now. If I later get > a > DVD drive, all I have to do is remove the minus in that USE flag and > emerge --update --newuse --deep world (well, and wait possibly a long > time :)) and bam, DVD support. The same goes for compiling your own > kernel. Of course you can do this in any distribution, but the point > is > that Gentoo is made with customization in mind! > >> Give me >>some arguments that'll inspire me to give gentoo a shot on _my_ old >>clunker laptop. >> >> > How about trying it as a challenge to learn new stuff? Seriously, I > learned a lot just in the install process. I do actually use it on my > $WORK machine as well (a Sun workstation), and it's been good for that > as well. I suppose I'd say that Gentoo is a good "hobbyist" Linux > distribution though. Sometimes you just need your machine to work > with > no hassles, and you may not get that very easily with Gentoo. But if > you're interested in learning a lot, and you have an old clunker and > some free time, give it a whirl! > > -- > Randy Barlow > Research Assistant > Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering > North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- > TriLUG mailing list : > http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug > TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ > TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ > -- TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
