Does it always take this long? or Nobody breaks Linux like Oni breaks Linux

I'm installing Gentoo 2006.0 on my server. It is a Pentium II 450 with 512 MB/RAM.

The initial setup went fine, same with the selection of packages, partitioning etc, but, now comes the problem (I think)

The install has been Emerging x11 for like, 90 minutes. Is this normal? Will the rest of the install take just as long?

x11 is one of the longer compiles. On that hardware, compiling a whole system will take quite some time. The install manual used to tell you to go get a pizza or something, I think.

Yes it can take a long time. Just check on it every few hours. And it might be a good idea to emerge a small desktop environment before you emerge kde or gnome. They will take a long time and you want to be able to play while they are installing.

Well, I am able to play, just not too much. I'm using the Gentoo LiveCD, so I'm in an x environment that's loaded into RAM while I'm waiting for this damned thing to emerge.

Emerging X11 took a decent amount of time even on the system in my sig, and emerging Gnome took even longer. On that system it should take at least a couple hours to emerge each one, Gnome/KDE will take forever.

Yeah... emerging xorg and gnome combined on my 400mhz celeron box took at least a day

Thats what I never understand about Gentoo... everything takes longer than puberty and the percieved superior performance in reality does not exist.
It boots fast admittedly however the user performance under desktop conditions imho is simply not justified by the effort.

Gentoo is the same like overclocking: while there are some times when it's economically advantageous to do (P4 1600 for example), usually it's not/never worth it economically, at least not professionally. Instead it's a hobby, which is why both overclocking and using gentoo is generally viewed as done by "enthusiasts" only.
Realistic and intelligent gentoo users also don't say it's about speed gains. That's only what the teenager newbies say, it's more about a poweruser thing, configuring stuff exactly the way you want it.
If someone tells you it's about "really learning Linux" and such it's also BS btw. People who are serious about that get the Linux from Scratch book and at least look at BSDs, Solaris etc.

UnseenMenace said:

Thats what I never understand about Gentoo... everything takes longer than puberty and the percieved superior performance in reality does not exist.
It boots fast admittedly however the user performance under desktop conditions imho is simply not justified by the effort.

Click to expand...

If you set it up right, with prelinking or other optimizations, it can incrdibly fast. NPTL is very interesting, worth looking at if you really crave responsiveness. Yes it is quite normal for X to take a while, you're installing modular X aren't you? Are you installing one massive X package, or a bunch of smaller packages that take a few minutes to compile each?

Kligens, when did you get your blue stars? For some reason i dont remember you with them. . . maybe its just too early.

That's only what the teenager newbies say, it's more about a poweruser thing, configuring stuff exactly the way you want it.

Click to expand...

I have found another option for a minimal install that is aimed at users that don't want a bloated OS- PCLinuxOS MiniME.

It comes without all of the "extras" that most distros come with in a preconfigured package. Instead, a minimal OS is installed, and you get to decide what packages to install, without compiling anything- just add the apps that you want through Synaptic.

I started over on my Linux rig, wiping the hard drive to zeros, and installing MiniME. Then I added the apps that I needed, and ended up with exactly the Linux OS that I wanted- stable, fast, and not bloated. Nothing to remove.

This is for a OS of course, and not a specialized app like a firewall or server. Just the OS.

UnseenMenace said:

Thats what I never understand about Gentoo... everything takes longer than puberty and the percieved superior performance in reality does not exist.
It boots fast admittedly however the user performance under desktop conditions imho is simply not justified by the effort.

Click to expand...

To be honest with you I don't think the time I spent installing and configuring Gentoo was worth it. Of course, now that I have it installed and running how I would like it to, I'm not going to delete it for a while. I might for Ubuntu 6.06 whenever it comes out though. It is fast and it is stable, but waiting 20 minutes to install anything of substance is a pain.

Once I got past the install, the long install times for me aren't a big issue, I run my emerges and upgrades just before I go to bed, and usually by the next morning it is ready to go, unless it is a very large upgrade and then I'll have to wait until I get home that afternoon.

It really isn't worth it for performance reasons. I like gentoo (and compiling everything from source) for other reasons as well.

I really like gentoo and the performance is at least on par with other types of linux. Consider there is not a huge difference between gentoos filesystem and configuration and kernel and other linux distributions; however, what is different is the method that is used to install, update, and manage packages.

There are definitely some other advantages than performance and some other disadvantages than the time your system will spend running a compiler during emerge; however, I think the primary purpose of package managers like portage is to allow you access to the latest source codes all in one spot with all your dependencies and everything handled all by one method. This cuts down on the amount of time it would take for you to create your own method. Compiling software in any distribution takes relatively the same amount of time. Also, you do not have to use the gentoo portage system to install applications, you can arrange software builds all by yourself or use some kind of extractable or binary package.

In the past week i've been fighting with this ibm 760 E laptop that i have, trying to see which linux would work out with it best. I believe slackware was the best choice for this laptop. The main reason why is that it is extremely simple to install it from hard drive. Also, it has a simple package system which would not require me compiling anything on its 150mhz processor. Debian can be booted off a floppy and installed from a hard disk but also requires that the file on the disk is the actual iso image. This is somewhat more difficult to accomplish with a small hard drive. Gentoo would not be difficult here either, you could boot gentoo off of a series of floppies, mount a hard drive in order to retrieve stage3. This is one of the biggest advantages of distro's like slackware and gentoo is that you can perform the installation in a variety of ways. The slackware boot floppies provided the most utility over other installation boot floppies i've seen. Slackware is mostly package based though, as is almost every other linux distribution that you come across with the exclusion of gentoo. That is because gentoo is unique and thats what makes it so good.

Oh, screw this noise!

*Oni goes to download Kubuntu

The install screwed up on package 36 of 243. Failed install after all that time. That's time I'll never get back. Thank you, Gentoo.

*Oni writes 'Gentoo Linux' on his 'Revenge List'

Stop. Just because one package failed does not mean the install failed!!!!

This is why so many people hate gentoo because they think they have to do a total new install when they don't have to.

But go ahead and find a different distro that might fit you better.

Oni said:

Oh, screw this noise!

*Oni goes to download Kubuntu

The install screwed up on package 36 of 243. Failed install after all that time. That's time I'll never get back. Thank you, Gentoo.

*Oni writes 'Gentoo Linux' on his 'Revenge List'

Click to expand...

What's the error. You can probably get it workinmg, and not have lost all that time...

If you search the Gentoo forums for the error you get, chances are very good you will find how to fix it, and probably without too much work.

Well, afaik from the error, it failed while compiling a package (I don't remember the name). It tried twice and failed both times. The installer said 'Install failed' so I assumed that meant it was hosed.

At any rate, I don't think Gentoo will work for me, as I just don't have the time to put into it or the desire to sit there and watch it emerge for another 15 hours or so. su root (who is a very good irl friend of mine) recommended Kubuntu, so I've found a torrent for the DVD install. I'll try that next.

All this for Apache . . .

Kubuntu will be a much easier install.