Gentoo... WOW!

I've been using Red Hat for a while, but I decided I wanted a bit more of the linux experience and so I decided to install Gentoo on my 2nd box instead of RH.

This OS is absolutely amazing. It's lightning fast. It boots in about 1/5 the time my RH box boots in. I compiled everything on my box, so it's super optimized for my computer.

The portage system is the best package system I've seen yet, by far. All you do is "emerge <name of program you want to install>" and it goes out, finds it on the net, downloads it, compiles it, installs it, and configures it. It couldn't be any easier. This is even easier than installing in Winblows.

The only downside is installation of the OS from a stage 1 can take a few days and a LOT of compile time. KDE took like 16 hours to compile. However, once you're done, you understand linux a lot better and it works really well.

I think you'll like the rc.d system as well. With rc-update it's very easy to manage which services to start or stop at boot time. I've been addicted to it as well.

-DarkArctic

stop tempting me to change over! im currently running mandrake with gnome, ive ran slackware , debian , freebsd , openbsd and a few others but ive tryed gentoo and all i can say is install is HARD!!!!!! (i never did get it installed) , i really want the option of emerge , summer time = all the time i want to mess with comps !

The install really isn't all that bad imo. I followed the instructions on the website. It gives a step by step, with all the commands you have to type. I just did that. I didn't understand everything I did, though I basically understood the outline. I definitely typed some things that I didn't understand at all.

I am no linux guru, and I was able to do a stage 1 install without any real hitches. If you get stuck, the forums are very helpful though.

There is 3 stages of install right.... I didnt quite understand portage and stuff lol

There are 3 stages. With the first being the hardest but the best in end. 2nd being pseudo hard and good in the end. And 3rd being moderate but not as customized as 1 or 2. I really want to switch from Mandrake 10 to it.

It has to do with whether you compile most stuff from source, or download mostly binaries. A stage 3 install uses generic binaries downloaded from the gentoo sites. A stage 1 builds almost everything from scratch. This is better because you can set optimization flags for your particular CPU, and so you get a much faster system.

I haven't had a system boot this fast since I ran MS-DOS.

[rant]
Then what are you waiting for? Go download the LiveCD image and burn a disk and start the install! I took three attempts the last time I installed from a Stage 1 image. the ONLY reason it took me three time to get it right was because I didin't RTIFS (Read The Instructions First Stupid!(?)!)

If you read the instructions...which, by the way...have improved greatly over the last year and don't get in a rush (like me)...you will be successful. Yes it does take quite a while to bootstrap and compile from a stage 1 source. BUT...it is definitely worth the wait to have a system that is optimized to your particular need and or hardware configuration.

GO for it...get away from the slow generic kernel compiled for the i386(!) and have a fast kernel compiled for your shiny new P4 or athalon 64 or XP processor to fly with!

[/rant]

SOOO TEMPTING now, im gonna get it tommrow morning and install it!

The documentation for gentoo has been very well put together. Along with the install guide, there's the desktop guides for handling installs of window managers, sound, and many more applications. The portage users manual is a worthy read to understand how portage works as a system management tool.

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/index.xml

There's a table of everything at the bottom.

I love Linux, I LOVE Gentoo. I switched from Mandrake 9.1, hated 9.2. I would not trade this for Mandrake, period.

Install is a bit rough but it is worth it.

I have read that you can do a stage 3 install and then after getting that done, you do a emerge -e world. That is then the same as stage 1. I have not done that so I am not sure. That is just what I have read. I have done a emerge -e world and it did make it faster. It recompiles everything on the system. Also tests that CPU heatsink.

Glad you like Gentoo. I do too.

Later

well my inet connection keeps dieing so i dont think i will be able to download gentoo right this minute but i will try again later cuz it really sounds great and i am shure i will learn alot from it.

MRD said:

The only downside is installation of the OS from a stage 1 can take a few days and a LOT of compile time.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I installed it on a P233MMX, and it literally took a week to get everything compiled that I wanted.

MRD said:

However, once you're done, you understand linux a lot better and it works really well.

Click to expand...

Could you elaborate more about this? Everyone touts this point about Gentoo, but I just didn't see it. About a month ago, I used Gentoo for a few weeks and didn't feel at all like the installation helps one understand Linux. The documentation was more like "now do this" instead of "why you need to do this", which is what I think would be a better way to teach.

well if you want to know why it tells you to do x step

then you gotta figure it out on your own

which is a very good way to learn, for those that want to



by my 5th or 6th time installing gentoo on different boxes i'd learned all the commands in the install guide. what they did and how to use them (not to mention just day to day use, outside of a gui)


oh and it teaches you how to compile a linux kernel
thats gotta be one of the bigger things in becomming a linux nerd

fiji said:

oh and it teaches you how to compile a linux kernel
thats gotta be one of the bigger things in becomming a linux nerd

Click to expand...

I agree with that. If you don't get that kernel right, you got problems. It either won't boot or even worse, it isn't stable and makes you scratch your head a bit.

I learned a lot installing Gentoo. I have no regrets.

Later

I've now compiled my kernel about 10-15 times trying to get various things to work. I have actually (/gasp) succeeded in getting lm-sensors and ksensors to work. I could never do this in red hat and finally gave up. I understand a lot more about what all the different things do. I understand more about the compile flags. I understand more about how kernels work and how modules work. I can now edit run levels.

Also, because you have to choose which packages to install as you go, you learn about the differences.

I'm not claiming that installing gentoo makes you a super leet kernel hacker. I'm just saying it's another step, or at least it was for me.

My comp is a 2400+, and it took days to finish the compiling. I can't even imagine that you would put your poor little P233 through that. =)

The great thing with gentoo is how well the portage manages the system. The best way to do a gentoo install on a machine lacking a powerful processor is to do a complete binary install. If you download the full livecd + packages, you can have a system up and running fairly quick, even on a slow system. Once your up and running and have a usable system, you can then go back and upgrade parts of the system.

Note: this install is also called GRP (Gentoo Reference Platform) in the install guide.

Two good reasons to do so are, the packages may not be as up-to-date as the latest versions on the gentoo mirrors, and there may be more room for compiler optomizations. Let's say for example you've done a complete GRP install, and now you want to reinstall KDE to upgrade the version, and also get a little kick from the compiler. The first step is to update your local portage tree so it has the latest version updates.


Once the system is up to date, you can see all the packages you would need to install to get an up-to-date KDE version.


Before you start installing anything you'll want to tweak a few options for portage. Setup your CFLAGS to have any compiling optomizations you may want. Portage also has the ability to run itself at a lower priority. On a slow system that may take a few days to install large packages like KDE, you can still have a responsive usable system when you need to use it, and let portage go full out when your not. The PORTAGE_NICENESS environment variable is used to control how 'greedy' emerge is for cpu time when compiling. This can be set anywhere from 19 to -20, where 19 is the least greedy. As with all portage variables, it can be added to make.conf or used in a one-shot setting like:

kde takes forever to compile, at least it did for me. Something like 12 hours on a 2400+ Athlon XP.

haha is the install multithreaded so i can compile with both CPUs?

Id LOVE to try gentoo but im still struggling!! Once i get mandrake on here im gonna like force myself to live with it only until the weekends or something so i get away from windows....

You can install Gentoo from Mandrake. I did most of mine that way. You can then use Mandrake to get help, research or whatever.

You do need to put /boot on it's own partition for Mandrake though. That way Gentoo and Mandrake will have a common /boot. You can share /boot with as many distro's as you want. Doing it that way makes it MUCH easier to configure Grub or lilo. I would recommend Grub as your bootloader too. It is much better when doing more than one Linux distro, especially when you compile your own kernels and you have trouble with one.

If you do it from Mandrake and Mandrake sees both CPU's, then it will use both to compile with. I ?think? the bootable install CD supports it too. I am not positive though. I only have a single CPU rig.

Later