Ladies and Gentlemen:
This e-mail is my initial thoughts on Gentoo. I write it as an
encouragement to the list and to the Gentoo developers. Take it FWIW.
Skip it if you'd rather not be bothered... after all it *is* "preaching to
the choir."
I began Linux with Fedora 1 this past spring. I started playing with linux
because I enjoy doing scientific computing, and there appear to be many
such *affordable* resources in the *nix community. I also started playing
with Linux after having re-installed Windows ME for the 2nd or 3rd time
because of viruses, adware, and lack of user control. (I.e. what the kids
do to the computer.)
Fedora is a nice start. Excellent installer. Good user list. Good set of
packages. OK package management.
Being unhappy with yum, rpm, and the limitations of Red Hat's configuration
programs (this is not a knock on those tools - they are very capable and
user-friendly)... I started looking around.
I came to Gentoo because I like the idea of a compiled distro. I didn't
like RPMs, especially when they don't work. Actually, compiling tarballs
seemed more reliable at times since you can do problem solving to make them
work. I couldn't figure out how to make yum work the way I wanted.
I kibitzed the gentoo-user and gentoo-amd64 list for several months before
purchasing a laptop. This past week I got the laptop and installed Gentoo
via 2004.2 universal (stage 1). (Yes, I know I only needed the minimal.)
GENTOO IS AN EXCELLENT DISTRO!
Here are the things I like the most:
1. emerge
Wow! What a great package management tool! And it's a great concept,
too... building on the standard unix distribution method. It's a great
concept, and it works great, too. Who cares if it's compiled... it WORKS!
For the love of god: IT WORKS! I've run into a few quirks, but they're
probably user-error.
2. gentoo-user
You guys are great! You're calm. You're humorous. You're helpful. Not
near as many flames over here as on some other distro lists.
And thank you ALL for your help in getting me up and running fully. To
help the community I plan to post an install report at
www.linux-on-laptop.net.
3. compiled
I don't know if I have any performance gains yet... it's hard to tell
because I'm not comparing apples-to-apples. I'm waiting a couple weeks
before prelinking while I add my packages.
4. no interference
Wow! Since Fedora is customizing this for their target user-base...
corporate Gnome users... running KDE in Fedora is less than ideal. KDE 3.3
is very nice. I'm also glad to be rid of other "vendor customizations"
that made it hard to learn and update the system.
...very nice.
SUGGESTION:
install script
I knew what I was getting into with installing Gentoo... and I *chose* to
do a stage 1. I knew it would be a long and tedious install. In fact... I
even tried to do a GRP install on an old 486 that I had. I was not caught
by surprise. But I can appreciate the value of a long install with the
promise of not having to do it again. (Which is what Gentoo promises
through emerge.)
However, it might be valuable to provide some manner of installer... if for
anything just to keep me from having to retype all those commands. I can
even envision a menu-driven interface (like the kernel's menuconfig) which
outputs an install script. A good example is the Slinky installer from the
R.U.L.E. project (www.rule-project.org). This also might help reach out to
newer users.
This is not to obsolete the current install method... but to complement it.
Peace,
Gabriel
--
G a b r i e l M . B e d d i n g f i e l d
--
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
This e-mail is my initial thoughts on Gentoo. I write it as an
encouragement to the list and to the Gentoo developers. Take it FWIW.
Skip it if you'd rather not be bothered... after all it *is* "preaching to
the choir."
I began Linux with Fedora 1 this past spring. I started playing with linux
because I enjoy doing scientific computing, and there appear to be many
such *affordable* resources in the *nix community. I also started playing
with Linux after having re-installed Windows ME for the 2nd or 3rd time
because of viruses, adware, and lack of user control. (I.e. what the kids
do to the computer.)
Fedora is a nice start. Excellent installer. Good user list. Good set of
packages. OK package management.
Being unhappy with yum, rpm, and the limitations of Red Hat's configuration
programs (this is not a knock on those tools - they are very capable and
user-friendly)... I started looking around.
I came to Gentoo because I like the idea of a compiled distro. I didn't
like RPMs, especially when they don't work. Actually, compiling tarballs
seemed more reliable at times since you can do problem solving to make them
work. I couldn't figure out how to make yum work the way I wanted.
I kibitzed the gentoo-user and gentoo-amd64 list for several months before
purchasing a laptop. This past week I got the laptop and installed Gentoo
via 2004.2 universal (stage 1). (Yes, I know I only needed the minimal.)
GENTOO IS AN EXCELLENT DISTRO!
Here are the things I like the most:
1. emerge
Wow! What a great package management tool! And it's a great concept,
too... building on the standard unix distribution method. It's a great
concept, and it works great, too. Who cares if it's compiled... it WORKS!
For the love of god: IT WORKS! I've run into a few quirks, but they're
probably user-error.
2. gentoo-user
You guys are great! You're calm. You're humorous. You're helpful. Not
near as many flames over here as on some other distro lists.
And thank you ALL for your help in getting me up and running fully. To
help the community I plan to post an install report at
www.linux-on-laptop.net.
3. compiled
I don't know if I have any performance gains yet... it's hard to tell
because I'm not comparing apples-to-apples. I'm waiting a couple weeks
before prelinking while I add my packages.
4. no interference
Wow! Since Fedora is customizing this for their target user-base...
corporate Gnome users... running KDE in Fedora is less than ideal. KDE 3.3
is very nice. I'm also glad to be rid of other "vendor customizations"
that made it hard to learn and update the system.
...very nice.
SUGGESTION:
install script
I knew what I was getting into with installing Gentoo... and I *chose* to
do a stage 1. I knew it would be a long and tedious install. In fact... I
even tried to do a GRP install on an old 486 that I had. I was not caught
by surprise. But I can appreciate the value of a long install with the
promise of not having to do it again. (Which is what Gentoo promises
through emerge.)
However, it might be valuable to provide some manner of installer... if for
anything just to keep me from having to retype all those commands. I can
even envision a menu-driven interface (like the kernel's menuconfig) which
outputs an install script. A good example is the Slinky installer from the
R.U.L.E. project (www.rule-project.org). This also might help reach out to
newer users.
This is not to obsolete the current install method... but to complement it.
Peace,
Gabriel
--
G a b r i e l M . B e d d i n g f i e l d
--
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
