Patrick Marquetecken <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Hi, > > I'm now almost 2 weeks trying to install Gentoo 1.4_r3. > I work with other distro's for a few years now, and these two weeks make > me feel like a idiot. > A redhat or suse distro i can install within ours.
The problem here is knowledge you already have. A Gentoo installation seems like a pain in the ass when you are so used to pointing and clicking an install and having things "automatically" done for you. In other words, you become spoiled with the "walk away" routine of other Linux distributions. A RedHat installation is almost identical to a Windows installation. A Gentoo installation is similar to a Linux From Scratch installation. You cant compare a Gentoo install to a Redhat install, just like you cant compare a Gentoo install to a Windows install... one is graphical and one isnt. A Gentoo install is even more complicated than a FreeBSD installation, even though administering a FreeBSD box might be a bit more difficult than administering a Gentoo box. Look @ the LFS book www.linuxfromscratch.org and compare it to Gentoo's install. The only way a LFS installation goes wrong is when you skip a section, jump ahead or try and do things "your way." Ive noticed many pre-existing Linux users having a hard time with a Gentoo install, and I contribute it to the existing knowledge they already have on Linux. This prior knowledge makes many skip over steps outlined (very easily and straightforward I might add) within the Install How-To, because "oh thats simple stuff." I'm not trying to gloat, but my first Gentoo install was painless and simple, because I followed instruction verbatim. I've noticed this in my introductory computer class @ college, the people that raised their hands up the first day of class when asked who had prior knowledge and computer background are the people that are getting c's and b's on their tests and quizes. This reason is due to them not studying the material at hand, because they have a background on the subject, so they ignore or do not bother with reading the books and information handed out because they have prior background. The people which stated "no computer background" are getting A's on all tests and quizes, due to them *HAVING* *TO* *READ* and *FOLLOW* *INSTRUCTIONS* *VERBATIM* and materials handed in class. > It took me a few days to configure a usb-mass storage device and pcmcia > wireless network. You're not alone. Weird how you actually have to configure stuff huh... I'm sure everything "just works" on Redhat. I find it a bit more pleasurable having spent a few hours making something work, than just having it work. You know I never had to battle with setting IRQ and i/o on hardware, because Windows always made it just "work"... installing Gentoo on another box using an older 3com 503 card made my life hell for a few hours, until I sat down and learned what those little jumpers did and what changing a few settings in the BIOS to Legacy ISA did... I can now apply that to any computer system I have and am able to use outdated hardware due to me spending a good day learning WTF was in front of me. > Now my base system is working, and i will start with X11 and other > applications. > Congratulations! > I'm already having problems with my nvidia card and was wondering whats > next. > I dunno. > Is gentoo such a difficult distro, or is my knowledge to little? > You dont need knowledge to install Gentoo. All you need is to follow instructions verbatim. > > Having all this trouble i'm not surprised that linux on the desktop > still is something for a happy few. > Yeah, the happy few which follow instructions verbatim. > > This is not mended to start a flame but i must say it. > Neither am I... -- Louis C. Candell -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
