Gentoo Linux

[Floppyman]

Hi all,

I want to download this distro of Linux, but I'm a little confused as to what to download once I'm on the FTP servers. Do I go into the released directory, then 2004.1 and download the Livecd and package cd? Or do I go into historical releases and download the Livecd and package cd's for 1.4? Thanks in advance for the help.

[mikeL]

according to ibibilo.org's readme file the livecd version is bootable, and the packagecd isn't. I don't know about after the .iso is burnt to a cd if it will be bootable or not. to be safe I probably would choose the livecd .iso

oh yea, 2004.1 is the current release

Mike

[LiGhTBoY]

Do you have a fast network connection?
If so download the minimal live cd and have the Gentoo Handbook ready (printed or another pc viewing it) and install it over the network (download only the files you need). Just follow the installation guide and you will be OK.

HINT: do not use fdisk to format the partitions, use cfdisk

[Floppyman]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yes, cfdisk is much nicer. It's easier to deal with megabytes than with blocks.:)

[Dswissmiss]

I'm always reading about how long gentoo takes to compile, is it just the installation or also downloading and installing programs through emerge?

How, long did the install take you?

[LiGhTBoY]

It took me about 36 hours to download, configure the kernel, compile everything on an AMD 1700+ running at 1.65GHz

[Dswissmiss]

I'm really starting to get an itch for gentoo. I've tried both debian and slackware, and both leave something to be desired (though I could happily live with them both). Debian just installs a heap of programs that I would never use, and it sometimes takes a while for programs to even reach the unstable branch. Slackware is a bit annoying with regards to hunting down and installing libs and such to get rid of dependencies, so portage seems like a viable alternative. I haven't read too much about it yet, but I think I'll go with the universal cd and as many prebuilt package cd to get a fast install just to see if I like it.

[Blue_Gundam2002]

I just installed gentoo useing a stage3 tar file. I wanted to use a stage1 but I couldn't get gentoo to connect to the net. It took me a couple hours to complete the setup on my laptop while following the gentoo online handbook. But I think I messed up somewhere or I'm just stupid becuase when I rebooted there wasn't a GUI just a command promt type invironment. But I didn't expect to even get that much out of it since it was the first time I tried to compile my own kernel.

[Xayd]

Originally posted by Dswissmiss
I'm really starting to get an itch for gentoo. I've tried both debian and slackware, and both leave something to be desired (though I could happily live with them both). Debian just installs a heap of programs that I would never use, and it sometimes takes a while for programs to even reach the unstable branch. Slackware is a bit annoying with regards to hunting down and installing libs and such to get rid of dependencies, so portage seems like a viable alternative. I haven't read too much about it yet, but I think I'll go with the universal cd and as many prebuilt package cd to get a fast install just to see if I like it.

The Debian base install is very clean, you'll only get necessary system services and exim, afaik. What version did you try and which CD image?

FYI you can *usually* run the Testing branch of Debian just fine as a workstation. Yeah it takes a long time for stuff to make it to stable, but if you're familiar enough with the OS to fix minor issues yourself the vast majority of the stuff in testing will work fine. You'll find bugs here and there, but they're rare and usually resigned to odd/uncommon hardware configurations.

Depending on what you need to run you might also try the BSDs. If you want the best port/package system, FreeBSD is it, hands down, but Linux emulation is always a crapshoot if you absolutely must run Linux-only apps/services. Sometimes it works sometimes not ;).

[Dswissmiss]

I've used the debian sarge beta 3 installer with little problems (couldn't get my internet to work, maybe I didn't download the necessary programs to run netconfig), you might be right though, I think I used the newbie package selection which probably installed every imaginable program onto my system.
I ran testing without problems (libranet) for a month, and when something I really want hits unstable I got it from there, like gimp or gaim. Gnome 2.6 seems to be taking months however, but since Kde 3.2 already made it into unstable, it's probably just a one time thing. If gentoo fails me I'll definately go with debian though.

[Xayd]

Gnome 2.6 from what I've seen...

Slightly faster.
Slightly buggier.

Not worth the upgrade.

[LocoCoyote]

Has anyone considered FreeBSD? It seems to me there are alot of tech types here. If you want a true unix........if you are not afraid of the command line.....if you want minute control......try it!

[rcx21000]

Don't get 2004.1, get 2004.0. I tried .1, and I couldn't get it to work with the inet whatever I tried. Stuck in .0, and it worked immediatly :)

[Dswissmiss]

Yeah, a lot of people seemed to have problems with automatic hardware detection in the 2004.1cd, but after loading my drivers manually I got it to work. I've been using it for a week now, and with the exception of not being able to emerge openoffice.org and some small other things, I quite like it. What do you guys think?

dswissmiss

[LocoCoyote]

You all conviced me...think I will give it a whirl this weekend!

[aym]

I've been running Gentoo on my main system for 3 weeks now and I love it!

The installation process was a great learning experience, you have complete control on everything, and Portage rocks! It's very easy to use and yet very powerful.

[raff]

OOH GOD.. Dswissmiss Tell me how you get those themes for debian and xp please.. wow

[Dswissmiss]

I'm either using aluminum alloy or milk 2.0, try here http://www.maxthemes.com/themes.htm

these are the linux ports http://www.users.monornet.hu/linux/index2.html

[LocoCoyote]

Dswiss....cool

[aym]

http://www.kde-look.org/
http://www.gnome-look.org/