Gentoo Linux is Incredible!

[ck3k]

I just got my gentoo box up and running, so far I love the os and the way it works....emerge makes my life easier and the absence of RPMs is nice.

I am running 1.4....i admit i did it from a stage 3 tarball :D

[Kry0NiK]

I played with gentoo for a while and despiting the agonizing compile times on a p2-300 laptop I didn't have too many complaints. I think my main issue is (and perhaps I was doing something wrong) was that it was one giant bleeding edge distro always changing. I like to track the stable release and only update something if necessary for security. Freebsd lets me to this easily so I returned home ;)

When you emerge world, you are updating every package regardless. If you dont want to update everything, you have the option of emerging one package at a time, thus only upgrading the ones you want. If you are that concerned about not updating packages, the same amount of homework would be involved either way.

[bruceleeroy]

Gentoo

i think you can get precompiled packages for most everything with gentoo now, although that kinda defeats the purpose.

--simple3

You can buy the Gentoo cds from www.gentoo.org with pre-compiled packages that are optimized for your architecture.

http://store.gentoo.org/index.php?it...ction=viewitem


Bruce Leeroy Green

[simple3]

i think you can get precompiled packages for most everything with gentoo now, although that kinda defeats the purpose.

--simple3

[Soybomb]

I played with gentoo for a while and despiting the agonizing compile times on a p2-300 laptop I didn't have too many complaints. I think my main issue is (and perhaps I was doing something wrong) was that it was one giant bleeding edge distro always changing. I like to track the stable release and only update something if necessary for security. Freebsd lets me to this easily so I returned home ;)

[ttye0]

In order to get my Gentoo Install CD to boot correctly without freezing I had to use one of any of the CD's that gives you the boot prompt (ie: where you set boot options during boot is the best way for me to word it).

When it brings you to the spot that says, "Type gentoo to boot or hit enter" ~or f2 for more options~ then hit f2.
See all those options? I had to disable all of them.
My acpi, scsi, and net all froze my boot...I ended up getting the installer to work on my notebook with: gentoo noacpi nonet noscsi (and also the other option but I forget it off the top of my head)

See if that helps :-D

[Cyb3RSoldi3R]

I am running Slack 8.1 on a Toshiba laptop and have been since Slack 7.0. I think Blackwave does too.

Bah, then you guys got the good ones. It locks up on install, all the places I've checked say RH and Mandrake are the two that will work (another on too but I can't remember). Other then that the installers on all of them won't work due to multiple problems from each. The ACPI is one common problem between the two. For instance to illistrate how the problems very between OSes SW 8.1 will install perfectly but mwhen it goes to boot up it does fully kick in (yes I've tried any tips anyones given me on the linuxquestions board, seems noone else own one of these). Then when attempting OpenBSD I can't even partition the drive (locks up while trying to load the kernels off the cd). At any rate word has it that SW 9 is gonna fix me problem so right now i'm gonna dl Gentoo and give it a try.

/edit DeBain!!! That's the other one that was said to work using custom kernels for dl yet when I did it (yes it was done right) would sitll lock up at start up.

OH, and if you wanna dl the ISO to try Gentoo it's at ISOzone

[jetforce4004]

Right now the 133mhz is just sitting there doing nothing so its not going to be a problem. It could take a month for all I care as long as it works. I still need to find another graphics card for it because the mother board dosnt come with one. I think i'll try it because thats the only thing I can think to load on it.

[octalpus]

Originally posted by jetforce4004
I want to put linux on a REALLY old computer and redhat is so huge ass I cant fit it on the drive so I'm gona try to put gentoo on it. Its gona run slow as hell cuz its a 133mhz pentium with I think 32 mb of ram. Will it just run too slow on a 133mhz, is it much better than nothing? any ideas of anything a 133mhz can run decently. I'm trying slackware next

It's not a matter of Gentoo running slowly, it's a matter of having to compile EVERYTHING. If you don't mind having to wait a week while your system compiles the packages you want for it to be useful to you, then by all means, Gentoo will give you exactly what you want in the end. However, just for comparison, it took just over a day for the base system to compile on a p2-400 mhz laptop, and almost THREE days for KDE to compile. This is a system considerably faster than the one you propose to install on. Note, this is just to get it up and running. A week down the road, when you decide you want something else added to your system, you have to sit and wait for it to compile. On a system such as yours, that's going to tie up most of your available resources, meaning your box isn't going to be useable for at least a few hours, possibly a few days, while your package compiles completely from source.

[jetforce4004]

I want to put linux on a REALLY old computer and redhat is so huge ass I cant fit it on the drive so I'm gona try to put gentoo on it. Its gona run slow as hell cuz its a 133mhz pentium with I think 32 mb of ram. Will it just run too slow on a 133mhz, is it much better than nothing? any ideas of anything a 133mhz can run decently. I'm trying slackware next

[blackwave]

Originally posted by Chris
Blackwave does too.

Roger that, I have 8.1 (w/2.4.20) running like a dream on my Toshiba 2800-s201... like a dream i said! :) slackware for life!

[Chris]

Originally posted by Cyb3RSoldi3R
Another Distro to attempt on my lappy. I'll see if it'll take. Most ones I've tried have issues with the ACPI though.
haven't:
Slackware
*note: If you think you know it works or you plan on flaming cause of user error then goto the help section and check toshiba troubles to be humbled.

I am running Slack 8.1 on a Toshiba laptop and have been since Slack 7.0. I think Blackwave does too.

[Cyb3RSoldi3R]

Another Distro to attempt on my lappy. I'll see if it'll take. Most ones I've tried have issues with the ACPI though.


Current standings for the Lappy.
worked:
Mandrake 8
RedHat 7.3 and 7.2

haven't:
Slackware
FreeBSD
OpenBSD
WarLinux
/edit DeBain (note: this has been said to work using special kernels for dl yet not for me 0_o)

*note: If you think you know it works or you plan on flaming cause of user error then goto the help section and check toshiba troubles to be humbled.

[octalpus]

I split off some posts that said nothing other than "I tried Gentoo, but my distro is better". If you're not going to contribute anything to the discussion on Gentoo, please post in another thread. If you tried it and didn't like it, post WHY you didn't like it. If you prefer another distro, then post exactly what it is that you find Gentoo lacking that the other distro has. Otherwise, you're not contributing to the discussion at hand.

Thank you.

[ttye0]

Damn man, don't know what to say to that. I guess a good connection and a 800+ Mhz processor are the recommended system specs? ;p