[GLLUG] SuSE 8.0

[Matt Graham]

On Tuesday 28 January 2003 21:26, after a long battle with technology, 
Stuart C wrote:
> >I have a full boxed set of SuSE 8.0 that I won't be needing anymore
> > (yay for Gentoo!)
> is gentoo good? hows the install?

Gentoo is, IMHO, great.  However, it requires a fast Net drop, some 
experience with Linux, and is really helped out by a fast CPU and lots 
of RAM.  Very good directions on installing a Gentoo system are at 

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-install.xml

and

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

...and if you follow them, you won't have any problems.  The thing that 
makes it annoying is that compiling KDE takes all night on an Athlon 
850 with 768M, longer than that on a PIII 900 with 384M.  DO a stage 3 
install; it saves a couple of hours.

Bonuses include:  No dependency hell ever, always has the latest stuff, 
optimized for your particular system, keeping up to date is as simple 
as "emerge sync && emerge world".  I'm getting KDE 3.1 built right now 
and could've gotten it last night.

Drawbacks include:  Not practical on slow systems, practically requires 
fast Net drop, init scripts neither SysV nor BSD, can intimidate 
newbies.

I hear you can buy CDs with precompiled Gentoo tarballs for specific 
arch. types (PII, PIII, Athlon-Tbird, P4...) for a reasonably nominal 
fee as well.  This saves a lot of time, but the packages might not be 
the latest and greatest.

-- 
   Frustration is annoying, but the *real* disasters in life begin when
   you get exactly what you want.
There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see