[digest-mode reply]
Thufir,
For good or ill, or maybe both good *and* ill!, Gentoo is basically an experts-only distro. (And STOP RIGHT THERE, flame-writers -- read the rest first.)
Gentoo gives absolutely *awesome* power, but *This* *Thing* *Is* *Dangerous* -- it is a loaded *and* *cocked* pistol aimed at everything on your drives if you are installing it and are not a seriously knowledgable Linux user. I'm serious. I'm _deadly_ serious.
Read the manual, and I suggest at *least* twice, before booting that CD you burned.
If you are already a reasonably (==highly!) knowledgable linux user, please either skip the rest or at least take it with a *packet* of salt rather than a grain... If you are not, read on, and pay attention.
The danger is not Gentoo as such, but the utterly 'naked' commands being used by someone who does not yet understand all the 'inwardnesses' of what must be done.
This is not to say that a newbie or low-experience user cannot use Gentoo, but I would *emphatically* suggest that newbies & other lower-powered *linux* users need to stay away from Gentoo, or else install to a *completely* empty drive, with no other drives in the computer.
If you are highly knowledgable, just about all the power you could ever want is in here, including outright *brilliancies* that I never heard of before. (I Like! :) :) :) ) And with that knowledge, Gentoo is no more 'dangerous' than any other linux; probably a lot less dangerous, in fact!
Read the manual (twice!) before booting that CD you burned, and if you are not already *very* Linux-knowledgable, this is not a good distro for you unless your intent is to become a linux expert in the next few weeks, by which time you will have a running system. And I repeat, if you are not already knowledgable, use a blank or blank-ABLE drive, only!, while learning.
If you are not already powerful, other things you will need to know somewhat about (www.google.com/linux and www.LinuxQuestions.org are good places to look) are drives and partitions and formatting, and a little about TCP/IP, particularly IPv6 versus the rest of the w-w-world, and what your hardware and ISP provide.
Read up, and we will be happy (and *able*!) to help.
Best!, rgh.
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