Philip Webb ha scritto: > 090518 bn wrote: >> Philip Webb ha scritto: >>> With binary distros, you are stuck with whatever their makers give you. >> whatever distro you're using, Linux is Linux. You're not locked out. >> If my xorg.conf doesn't work (it happened with Ubuntu), >> I can edit it on Ubuntu just like on Gentoo. >> I can compile source packages on Ubuntu too, if needed. > > But don't you immediately run into all the settings & assumptions > which the creators of that release of that distro have made for you ?
Yes. Which usually are sensible, and when they're not, I can usually modify them. Don't you immediately run into all the default settings and assumptions that the creators of each $PACKAGE do even here? Or do you write all your KDE configuration files by hand before running it the first time? > Can you have multiple versions of a library (as via Gentoo's slots) ? This, I don't know and it's an interesting thing. *Some* package is available in more versions on binary distros, but I dunno how they manage that. > You're also stuck with their kernel: > how many users of Mandriva compile their own kernels ? > how safe is it to use your own kernel with the rest of the distro ? True. Having a slimmer kernel is nice; however compiling your own kernel is not always failsafe even for fairly knowledgeable users (that's why I started the thread). > You also have to accept their version of big items like KDE : > if you use Slackware, you've got to use KDE 4 , like it or not (me: not); > with Gentoo, you can go on using KDE 3 & its pieces much longer. Yes, but for example I would like to try KDE4 --> requires ~x86 --> mixing x86 and ~x86 for such big stuff is bad. Gentoo x86 is way behind binary distros' stable packages, and that's another pain. > If you use Ubuntu, you've got to accept their eccentric & questionable > attitude to passwords, esp that they don't have a separate root password. > I find that a piece of cheap popularisation contrary to UNIX principles. I found it very useful and it makes much sense in my opinion -so much that I would like to know how to fully "ubuntize" my Gentoo in this single respect. I don't maybe like it's pulled down the throat of users, but if they had the option to choose between both with,say,one installation option click, it would be perfect. > So if you use Mandriva or Slackware -- good binary distros both -- , > you accept what's been cooked for you & are one of the crowd of diners. > If you use Gentoo, you enjoy your own home cooking. Even if I'm Italian, I'm maybe not such a good cook :) The problem is another. I loved Gentoo when I was an undergraduate or graduate student and I had my own desktop at home to tinker with, separate from my workstation in the office. Now I am working abroad and I cannot have root access on my workstation. So the workstation is almost worthless, apart from specialized needs that require me to work on it. If I want to be productive, I need to use my own laptop. And I simply cannot afford this laptop to go awry. That's why I am so shy in updating xorg and the kernel now. I will do it, but I want to be quadruple-sure of everything I can. And that's why I am beginning to think Ubuntu fast-food could be better than my own cuisine.... m.
