the point is that on a dialup connection it will be tedious to update kde, whether you are doing binaries or source. I have not done a thorough analysis of the package sizes between binary & source, but please don't say that bandwidth is a barrier to updating gentoo, on the above package less bandwidth is needed.
I'm on dailup. While I was learning the Gentoo way I dual booted with Fedora. My impression is that they both required approx the same amount of downloading to keep up to date. ( maybe fedora more ).
Probably because a) on Gentoo you only install what you want. - this should be even better with kde 3.4 split ebuilds. - on the down side you have to know what you want. b) not all Gentoo updates require a new download ( just a recompile ) - as opposed to downloading a new binary every time.
When I heard on this list that Fedora core 3 required 600Meg of updates, I didn't bother upgrading to it and keep rolling on with Gentoo's gradually evolving system.
Hence I find Gentoo quite manageable on dail up. - I fetch all the required source code first - If a big download is required I leave it running over night. - Downloads can be resumed if need be.
Col.
