[oclug] Gentoo Linux.

[daniel]

On July 11, 2003 01:06 pm, Lee Dunsmoor wrote:
> Any "Like" or "Dislike" comments on Gentoo Linux?

IT'S THE SHIZ-NIT

my first exposure to linux was suse only a few years ago, and my biggest issue 
was the crackt-out way it stored all the settings and how yast would gibble 
anything you changed...  well that and the huge install.

so i switech to redhat.  with that one (now with more experience) i had a few 
more issues, kde is crippled on that distro, and up2date was always busy, AND 
the latest versions of software weren't available when i wanted them (again, 
kde).

so i switched to gentoo, and OMG i had no idea linux was so cool.  the way all 
your config files are actually treated as just that, config files editable 
with a text editor rather than preferring a gui.  compiling your own kernel 
to the requirements of your machine was pretty cool too, so what installing 
only what i needed/wanted on my machine with a single command.

in less than 2weeks i learned more about linux and became more of a power user 
than though any of my previous experience (~2years).

kde 3.1.3 is coming out very soon (a few days i think) and when it does, i'll 
have it on my desktop, while those poor souls using redhat will still be 
struggling to get the hacked-up rpms to work on their machine.  ALL of my 
software is the latest and most patched, so i'm less worried about someone 
exploiting a known security hole, my machine is just humming due to the speed 
bonuses involved in properly compiled binaries and most importantly:

  i know exactly what's on my machine, 'cause i put it all there.

gentoo's documentation is awesome, the community is very knowlegeable, and the 
software it's based on (portage) is just so damn amazing.  looking for a good 
newsgroup viewer?  "emerge -S news" will give you a list of apps with "news" 
in their package description.  choose one and run "emerge <appname>" and once 
it's compiled, you've got yourself a new shiny newsgroup viewer optimised for 
your machine's architecture.

just try it dude (66mb download) the instructions for installation are 
detailed and comprehensive and at the end of your install you will have 
possibly doubled your linux knowlege.

-- 
your old road is rapidly aging
please get out of the way if you can't lend a hand
for the times they are a changing
  - bob dylan