On Tuesday 09 May 2006 23:46, Gustin Johnson wrote: > <flame bait> > I don't think we can book the room for 3 days :P > </flame bait>
That was the first thought to go through my head too... :) > > Seriously, whats with the binary distro bashing of Gentoo users. The > "complete control" line is kinda silly, you can learn about your system > at "a low level" with other distros, it is a matter of personal interest > and motivation. I didn't think my comments suggested one distro was better than any other, but maybe it came across that way. The complete control line IS pushing it a bit and I did try to allude to this in my message. Afterall, any distro can compile from source, and one could get apt-get on a gentoo system if you really wanted. But, the comment was one of perspective. When I install a debian system, I get a nice installer that walks me through the process. Yes, I *could* make some choices that will customize it much more (like partitioning, or package selection), but you still end up at the same point when you're done - with a graphical interface, that you now need to tweak and clean up to suit your needs. (I'm ignoring the server install for now... that's closer to gentoo in spirit I think, or would that be gento is closer to a debian server install.. hmmm). But really, most mainstream distros are meant to install a base system on as many different platforms as possible, as easily as possible. So the installers tend to make a lot of choices on your behalf. With Gentoo, you start from the low level, with nothing really hidden from you. The install doc takes you through the process very well, so it's not as scary as it might seem at first. In the process YOU get to make the choices the installers normally make for you, and in the process learn why the installers choose what they do. Yes, you *could* do this process with any other distro out there, but they weren't built for this purpose. So it comes down to the underlying perspective of the different distros. Gentoo is targeted at the "tweakers", whereas Debian/Suse/Fedora/etc. are targeted at different folks. The only argument for any distro that I can see is that the right one is the one that works for YOU. >From what I know of Jon, I think he might have an interest in the tweaking area, but don't think that's really what he's after. So I think he might try Gentoo, but only for a short while. (Just an opinion Jon!!! ) BTW Gustin... when was the last time I called you when my gentoo system borked??? :) Kubuntu, well, that was today (or yesterday I guess now), but that's different.. :) But I agree with your sentiments as well - people think their distro of choice is the *right* one, so try to make other distros behave like it and are disappointed when they can't. Hmm... I did a blog on something like this not too long ago... (http://grover.open2space.com/node/13). Anyways, I think I need to get to bed... We'll go for beer and argue this one out.. (not that I really see an argument going on...) :) Shawn _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
