I can't believe it....

[Ryan Nix]

Thanks again Stefan for the run down on Gentoo and system cloning.  
Using Gentoo along with Netboot (for desktops) might be the best combo 
here from what I have seen on this list.  Gentoo sure sounds like a pain 
to setup but another friend of mine who uses x86 said Gentoo is 
definitely the way to go.

Cheers,

Ryan

Stefan Bruda wrote:

>At 16:02 -0400 on 2004-5-5 Robert Lyons wrote:
> >
> > I was hoping I would hear about someone that was using Gentoo. I
> > have downloaded the iso, can you tell me what the pro's and con's
> > are verses YDL?
>
>Gentoo is super, I am very happy with it indeed.  Here are some
>advantages of Gentoo over YDL:
>
>o  Newness is probably the biggest one.  You can be as cutting edge as
>   you like, but even the stable tree is newer than YDL.  Gentoo is a
>   source distribution (meta-distribution I believe is their term), so
>   anything that can be compiled from sources is available in its most
>   recent incarnation.  This is a permanent feature, as opposed to any
>   binary distribution you are directly connected to the developper of
>   the package you install and thus you do not have to wait for a
>   third party to catch up.
>
>o  The portage system is really flexible (I am really enthusiastic
>   about it), RPM does not even come close.  This is an inherent
>   advantage since portage works with sources whereas RPM works with
>   pre-built binaries.  You have full control over the look of your
>   system.
>
>o  Once you get used with the way a Gentoo system is configured, you
>   will find it very convenient (though you have to get used with it
>   first).
>
>This being said, there are four downsides I can think of:
>
>o  Probably the most immediate is the time it takes to build a usable
>   system.  I started from a stage 1 (non-bootstrapped GCC), it took
>   me one full day to just build the compiler and utilities.  Emerging
>   the system took another significant amount of time, and so on.  In
>   all, I believe I spent about a week building the system.
>
>   I actually built the Gentoo distribution on a live system, thing
>   that I heartily recommend if you have some spare disk space given
>   the time it takes for all of this (you would not want to lock your
>   machine for weeks, eh?).
>
>   On the bright side, this is a one-timer.  Besides, this is not an
>   issue if you start from stage 3 (which is probably the best thing
>   to do unless you want a lot of optimizations, you want something
>   special, or are just adventurous).
>
>o  Gentoo does not have a GUI installer or something, so you will have
>   to edit text files to configure your system and afterwards get used
>   with the configuration tools and structure.  At times the whole
>   thing is poorly documented, a Web connection and some initial spare
>   time are recommended.
>
>   I am myself used to dig into text files to configure things but
>   this may not apply to others.
>
>o  The PPC portage tree is not that well maintained as the x86 one, so
>   you may encounter problems.  I believe that no problems will appear
>   if you stick to the stable version (GCC 3.2.3), but things may new
>   tweaks for ddevelopment packages.  The best combination that I
>   found is to install the stable version except for development
>   packages chosen by hand.  How to do this is not documented as far
>   as I know but it is relatively simple once you know it (contact me
>   privately and I will send you the related configuration).
>
>   With some amount of trouble, I am now running GCC 3.3 (did not have
>   the nerve to try GCC 3.4 since some applications have not really
>   been ported to it, but 3.4 is available for the adventurous),
>   kernel 2.6.5, and many other such goodies.
>
>o  One thing that I found really annoying is the documentation, which
>   at times is missing and a few times downright misleading.  This is
>   pertinent especially if you want to bootstrap the system yourself
>   including development packages.  I was lucky in this respect as we
>   have a strong group of Gentoo users here at Bishop's University
>   (and some hard core fans too) and I had assistance.
>
>   This is probably a non-issue for a stage 3 or even stage 2 install.
>   Such problems are localized as far as I remember in the
>   bootstrapping process.
>
>In all, you should set aside time (coffee and beer too) for the
>installation, and you should climb the steep learning curve of a
>configuration process dramatically different from Red Hat-like systems
>(including a lot of Web searches for information; given the local
>support I did not try yet the mailing lists, but they may be
>helpful).  Once the system is installed though, you will smile--at
>least I definitely do.
>
>In any case, this is kind of off-topic for this list, contact me
>privately if you need more information.
>
>Stefan
>
>  
>