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Why I love Gentoo


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Guest Kunk
People always say they hate the compiling and while I admit it gets annoying at times Gentoo also makes me think a lot and have to research and I enjoy that.

 

<snip>

 

Now you ask why do I love Gentoo because off all these problems. Well it's fun! Frustrating but fun. I spent a lot of time looking for answers. And then getting it all worked out was satisfying. So now I have to break something else so I can fix it and hopefully learn more. Yes, I am crazy!

 

Let me ramble on for a bit . . .

 

I would wholeheartedly agree that the best feature of Linux is the ability to compile -- how many times I had wished I could re-compile a program in WindowsWorld to fix a simple problem. I switched over along time ago - with Mandrake 8.0 and have not looked back since.

 

Mandrake 8.0 was an utterly awesome experience for a newbie fresh from CandyLand. What a fun version to learn the ropes ! I had to configure manually some mighty tough stuff for a utter newbie - the modem, the scanner, and the cdwriter!

 

Linux without compiling would be sheer boredom, since everything works (most of the time) out of the box. Rpms are great, and I have been warned many times, that doing source 'will break the box' -- hmmm . . . six years and counting . . .

 

Just recently, I tried several other distros: Fedora Core 6, Gentoo 2006.1, FreeBSD 6.2, Debian 3.1 r0a, Ubuntu 6.10, Slackware 11.0, and the free Solaris 10 DVD set (thank you, Sun!). Of this mighty list only Ubuntu, Slackware, Solaris, and of course Mandriva 2006.0 and 2007.1 installed and worked out of the box. (Fedora did too, but the extra DVD's I had purchased in the 'complete' set could not be used without some nasty, convoluted workarounds. - but that's another story.)

 

Gentoo: oh, how I wish it would install: it looks so interesting. It has a such snazzy LiveCD desktop. The LiveCD loaded promptly and properly. Double-clicking the install icon started the ball rolling. On my production boxes (the Mandriva twins) I use ReiserFS because we are prone to multiple power outages where I live way in the boonies – ext2/3 do not like to be interrupted, so I opted for this robust, safe file system.

 

Ahem. After much digging, I found out you can load Reiser, but finally opted not to – just to get Gentoo loaded. I figured I could re-install Gentoo later with the file system of my choice – so I let it have its way, for the time being. Well, after checking off all my favorite programs, I clicked install, and waited for an eternity for it to complete. Near the final steps of the installation, it burped, and declared, in an ubiquitous error message, that it could not load a file, and then exited! Exited?? What??

 

I figured I did something wrong, and started a brand new installation. Again it burped, and died. Drawing upon my accumulated years of linux expertise, I tried an absolutely minimal install: different burp, same exit. Now, by this time, I was thinking 'bad memory' or something in the hardware department simply because of the random nature of the error burps. But I remembered, by this time, I had installed successfully Ubuntu, Slackware, and Mandriva 2007. It could not be hardware. The problem had to be the disk or the distro itself.

 

Anyway, to get back to the original post: I sure wish I can have some of these problems. Mandriva is just so stable - it's becoming . . . boring. Almost makes me long for CandyLand again (but I can't afford the downtime nor the purchase price.

 

I'll stick with Mandriva simply because it works so well. I can compile to my heart's content and still have a stable operating system if I mess up.

 

Btw, I love debugging!

Kunk

Edited by Kunk
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Hey~

 

Crackin' chat.

 

I'm not that great with Linux. I'm currently trying Debian etch atm, as an alternative to Mandriva. Its errr... new (muffled cry for help:). I think it was either Tyme or Arctic that, did a great piece on it, inspired me to try it.

 

It's my first break from the Mandy dist, ever, after 4 years. Gentoo and Ubuntu are next on my list too because of great threads just like this. The technical stuff is good, but sometimes the human aspect is more interesting to me.

 

Well done to you; Kunk, Mystified and eveyone who searches and achieves. :) Makes me feel more confident trying to give it a go too!

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With all due respect to all those in this thread, if you want to prove your geek abilities, use this LFS

 

I'm not advocating the use of LFS, but it is the most demanding on the mind.

 

Personally, I can compile 'anything' on my Debian or Mandriva systems. :D

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Yes, it was me. Currently I am writing this from my RHEL/StartCom AS5 distro and this distro is just the opposite to mystis Gentoo. Absolutely nothing, really absolutely nothing (!) ever breaks here. And I wait for security fixes and bugfixes but none are there. It is somehow intimidating, amazing and boring to have such a stable box. But it is great in case your other distros break, so you have always one fall-back option available. :)

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With all due respect to all those in this thread, if you want to prove your geek abilities, use this LFS

 

I'm not advocating the use of LFS, but it is the most demanding on the mind.

 

Personally, I can compile 'anything' on my Debian or Mandriva systems. :D

 

I did a lfs install one time. Never again. Gentoo is fun. lfs sucks.

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and ianw1974 too .. altho he has zero WAF (wife approval factor) :cheeky:

 

Hey you forgot the w! (emphasis mine) :)

 

I'm working on the WAF, so far I gotten myself a Nikon D40. I just need to WAF for the motorbike ;) I need more time :D

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With all due respect to all those in this thread, if you want to prove your geek abilities, use this LFS

 

I'm not advocating the use of LFS, but it is the most demanding on the mind.

 

Personally, I can compile 'anything' on my Debian or Mandriva systems. :D

I don't think anyone is trying to prove their geek abilities. Gentoo isn't that difficult to install and use. What Mysti has achieved was above average and high on the geek scale, but that's because Mysti rocks, not just because Gentoo is awesome.

 

LFS is the geekiest Linux to install, hands down. I just don't have the time /+ inclination.

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