DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 261, 14 July 2024

melloe · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2024 4:50 am Post subject:

?

Gentoo ISO had a couple of problems ( Listed in the articles you referenced ).

One was the CD would not mount the kernel, and the other was the 64 bit ISO was too big for the CD, requiring an overburn, which does not work on all media.

I downloaded the 32 bit, and it worked until it tried to mount the kernel.

They got out a fix very quickly, but I went ahead and did the minimal.

In went back and looked, I thought I had copied the referent statement from the article OOPS

I corrected it. Thanks

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mell0: 1. Kubuntu, XP, Sabayon 2. Mandriva,Mint, Mephis
Thor: 1. VISTA, Fedora 2. Chakra, Debian
Sam:XP, SuSE Zues: win7, SuSE testing

jester · Sr. Member Joined: 19 Apr 2024 Posts: 1166

You'll see it elsewhere on these fora from me - their QA has really tanked since 2024/2005 for the livecds & install cds; luckily it's entirely feasible to install gentoo from any livecd, not just gentoo ones

the distro itself I still very much enjoy - can't help but wonder if the releng problems are not 'flawed by design' - it was at one time a ridiculously popular distro that did attract (as melloe has previously put it) the 'macho mindset' in the 14-24 male demographic...

due to the fundamental rolling-release design, you could use an older livecd and still install an up-to-date gentoo (or as noted above just use a different distro's livecd) - I'd be wary of using anything gcc-3.x based though if you are not familiar with rebuilding your toolchain

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Arch64 :: Funtoo64 :: FreeBSD-8.0 :: OSX-10.4.11 (PPC)
Testing: Fedora12_x86-64 :: Ubuntu-10.04-LTS_x86-64

masinick · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2024 1:09 pm Post subject:

jester · Sr. Member Joined: 19 Apr 2024 Posts: 1166

the minimal install cds have been pretty reliable, but the livecds just started taking/positioning the gentoo experience in the wrong light and I think the (as yet still imperfect) installer was a perfect example of the loss of direction;

the gentoo-games livecds of 2024 were very exciting (unfortunately closed down due to license issues) and worked (in my experience at least) - as I recall, you booted into fluxbox and could launch a game while the system compiled

but behind all these bells and whistles was the basic principle of a minimal install cd and the (well-written) install docs; as a learning experience, it's at least on a par with slack and only a single step down from LFS, which certainly does not make it the first choice for all

I tend to use the arch system more these days - I'm committed to giving it a fair go (gentoo got at least 6 years of undivided attention from me) and I'm just over 1 year I think; additionally, though I was never averse to compiling from source previously, I have started to wonder if a world populated with machines compiling from source is the best thing for our environment (think energy consumption)

gentoo: I still recommend it, not as a first distro, but as an avenue to explore for those who have some linux time under the belt but the caveats will be (a) forget the livecds (b) minimal install image and be ready to read - it really can be a rewarding experience

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Arch64 :: Funtoo64 :: FreeBSD-8.0 :: OSX-10.4.11 (PPC)
Testing: Fedora12_x86-64 :: Ubuntu-10.04-LTS_x86-64

masinick · Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2024 5:02 pm Post subject:

The Arch experience certainly gets you going a LOT faster, but still lets you configure the system exactly as you want it. There are also sources from which you can build your own applications (or you can grab your own sources). From there, you build an Arch package. I've done that a few times and it works really well.

As we have often discussed, it all boils down to how much time do you want to spend to get a system exactly the way you want it to be, how much control do you want, and how much time are you willing to invest in order to achieve that level of control? LFS undoubtedly gives you the ultimate in control, Gentoo is not very far behind it, then comes the likes of Arch. When you go further into the binary realm, Slackware would probably come next, then come the Debian bunch. Finally you get to the binary versions that are built upon either Slack, Debian, or an RPM based system, but they do a bunch of things for you. That makes it easier and easier, but you take what you get. Sometimes it is very good, other times less so, but at that point you are at the mercy of its creators - unless you start replacing components, one by one with your own creations and modifying what gets started and what is omitted. Then you start to move back the other way toward a customized solution. It's a perpetual thing. Sometimes you just stick with what's given, other times you either want to learn how it's done or you are not happy with what you have.

I've said it again and again, to me, THAT is the big "value proposition" - to use market speak - that typifies and describes the free software phenomenon. You can use what someone gives you, but you always have the opportunity, if you have the will, the need, and the inclination, to do with it whatever you want, and that is the beauty of free software.

Generally speaking, I like what I get. The software I add or change is more likely to be applications that I write or get from someone and modify them so they perform the task that is needed. I have rebuilt kernels from time to time, but I have not done that now in at least five years. Last ones I rebuilt (other than my exercises with Gentoo) were Libranet Debian kernels, and I did it more as an exercise than a need. I did, in the nineties, frequently build UNIX kernels for Digital UNIX to test a particular build, so I have the know how somewhere back deep in the recesses of my brain. So for me, I have nothing to prove. All I want to do these days is have a nimble system that does what I need it to do. My needs are pretty basic, so I do not generally pursue source based systems other than to monitor and track where they are heading out of interest.

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Brian Masinick
Distros: SimplyMEPIS
sidux - no CAPS!, antiX, Debian

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