Re: [gentoo-user] Install Advice
Alan McKinnon wrote: Sorry, but that's never a good reason for using Gentoo. If a binary distro compiles every option under the sun then the software will still work, but the binaries might be a bit big. Compiling on your machine gives no discernable performance benefit for the average user. Gentoo's strength is in being able to enable or disable individual features in each package. So, if you (say) can't stand Red Hat becuase it defaults to a Gnome DE, use Gentoo by all mans. If you can't stand Red Hat becuase you think it's slow, then you have faulty hardware and Gentoo is going to perform about the same... I have to disagree with this. I used to use Mandrake and Gentoo is a *LOT* faster than Mandrake. I turned off a lot of unused services and Mandrake was still pretty slow. This is especially true if you customize all the flags you can. I suspect he will see a speed difference. Plus he will know what is being installed and why. Gentoo IMHO beats Mandrake and others by a long shot. What would be the 'best' medium for me, minimal or live CD? I have a high speed connection. Doesn't matter, it comes out to the same anyway. The minimal CD has only the absolute minimum sources on it, so you have to download the rest. The LiveCD gets you up and running in an hour or two, but the packages on it are bound to have updates (because OSS projects release early and often), so with your first world update you will download new versions. Use the Live CD if you want to get a working machine quickly. If watching gcc output scroll off the screen turns you on (it does for most of us around here) then use the minimal by all means. This is true. Gentoo updates pretty fast. A lot quicker than most. That can be good but it can be bad too. Just try to sync up as soon as you can. No need installing something just to update it again in a little bit. Two avoid a typical dual boot install. I would like gentoo to boot from my second hard drive. During boot up, I can now select which HD I want to boot from. Will the install process let me assign a boot disk? It's been a while since I did a virgin install, so things might have changed recently. Back when I did my last install, the process was completely different to a binary distro, and one of the steps was to partition the disk manually, install grub and edit grub.conf exactly the way you want it. So your answer is yes, you can assign boot disks, but it isn't a check box you click. But, the latest installers may well have changed the entire process alan If he uses the GUI thing, which has never worked for me, it is a lot different. It seems to be easier to configure, if I could just get it to finish for once. It starts, then hangs up and just sits there doing nothing. Dale :-) :-) :-) :-) -- www.myspace.com/dalek1967
Re: [gentoo-user] Install Advice
On Tuesday 20 February 2007, Dale wrote: Use the Live CD if you want to get a working machine quickly. If watching gcc output scroll off the screen turns you on (it does for most of us around here) then use the minimal by all means. This is true. Gentoo updates pretty fast. A lot quicker than most. That can be good but it can be bad too. Just try to sync up as soon as you can. No need installing something just to update it again in a little bit. That reminds me of an interesting exercise I went though sometime last year: Hauled out my trusty 2005.0 minimal disk and let her rip on this very notebook. Set up my usual flags etc etc and let it compile. The thing is, it escaped my notice that the machine was offline and it was using the portage tree and the sources from the CD. I think it was a Friday and the pub upstairs was beckoning... On Monday morning I went to work and did the usual emerge --sync emerge -avuNDt world ouch. alan -- Optimists say the glass is half full, Pessimists say the glass is half empty, Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be? Alan McKinnon alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za +27 82, double three seven, one nine three five -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Install Advice
Hello, On Tue, Feb 20, 2007 at 02:05:26AM -0600, Dale wrote: I have to disagree with this. I used to use Mandrake and Gentoo is a *LOT* faster than Mandrake. I turned off a lot of unused services and Mandrake was still pretty slow. This is especially true if you customize all the flags you can. I suspect he will see a speed difference. Plus he will know what is being installed and why. Gentoo IMHO beats Mandrake and others by a long shot. Well, yes, it may be faster a bit, like 1%, maybe 10%… But if one distro would be unbearable slow, gentoo would be too. It won't just be faster 10 times, and yes, that 10% are nice, but not usually worth switching your distro. Have a nice day -- Q: Why was Stonehenge abandoned? A: It wasn't IBM compatible. Michal 'vorner' Vaner pgpfTUS3SiU7U.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: [gentoo-user] Install Advice
Michal 'vorner' Vaner wrote: Hello, On Tue, Feb 20, 2007 at 02:05:26AM -0600, Dale wrote: I have to disagree with this. I used to use Mandrake and Gentoo is a *LOT* faster than Mandrake. I turned off a lot of unused services and Mandrake was still pretty slow. This is especially true if you customize all the flags you can. I suspect he will see a speed difference. Plus he will know what is being installed and why. Gentoo IMHO beats Mandrake and others by a long shot. Well, yes, it may be faster a bit, like 1%, maybe 10%… But if one distro would be unbearable slow, gentoo would be too. It won't just be faster 10 times, and yes, that 10% are nice, but not usually worth switching your distro. Have a nice day I did a bit of timing on mine. Gentoo was about twice as fast as Mandrake. I have more stuff running now than I did with Mandrake. I have a good bit of server stuff running on Gentoo too. Gentoo is faster *if* you take the time to set it up right. I'm not saying to use insane flags that make you unstable just that you can optimize it for your CPU and such. It certainly helps a lot. Dale :-) :-) :-) :-) -- www.myspace.com/dalek1967
Re: [gentoo-user] Install Advice
On Tue, Feb 20, 2007 at 09:37:44AM +0100, Michal 'vorner' Vaner wrote Well, yes, it may be faster a bit, like 1%, maybe 10%??? But if one distro would be unbearable slow, gentoo would be too. It won't just be faster 10 times, and yes, that 10% are nice, but not usually worth switching your distro. Sometimes improved speed can be a problem. See... http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-131884-highlight-xboing.html I ran into this with a 1999 model 450 mhz PIII Dell that I switched from Debian to Gentoo. On Debian it was nice-n-slow at speed level 1. In Gentoo, the ball flew right past me before I could move. -- Walter Dnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] In linux /sbin/init is Job #1 -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Install Advice
Mike Adolf wrote: I have been using Linux for several years, but am new to gentoo. I just got a new dell xps 410 system with a intel duo E6400 processor. I have tried all the distros I've used in the past, kubuntu, suse, mandriva. All had problems serious enough to not use them. The problems may stem from using prebuilt x86 distros. Maybe since gentoo is built during install it might have a better chance. What would be the 'best' medium for me, minimal or live CD? I have a high speed connection. Two avoid a typical dual boot install. I would like gentoo to boot from my second hard drive. During boot up, I can now select which HD I want to boot from. Will the install process let me assign a boot disk? Thanks, Mike The install process of Gentoo is much different from the other distros that you mentioned. Basically the install is done from the command line. You partition your disks yourself, you create the filesystem, install the basic packages, configure the configuration files with nano or something, etc. It's not hard, its just intensive. To answer your question, yes you can install to your just your 2nd HDD. You can opt to install GRUB or LILO where ever you wish leaving the previous bootloader on the MBR intact. As to the medium. I use the minimal personally. The Live has an automated installer but I've never been able to get it to work. Read this, it will be your best friend during the install... http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/index.xml Hope this helps. Thomas -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Install Advice
Thomas Lingefelt wrote: snip As to the medium. I use the minimal personally. The Live has an automated installer but I've never been able to get it to work. Read this, it will be your best friend during the install... http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/index.xml Hope this helps. Thomas For future reference, you may need to edit the xorg.conf file and the video drivers line. I had to change mine from vesa to nv then the GUI worked fine. Well, you have to restart the GUI, but it worked. Hope that helps, maybe both of you. Dale :-) :-) :-) :-) -- www.myspace.com/dalek1967 -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
Re: [gentoo-user] Install Advice
On Monday 19 February 2007, Mike Adolf wrote: I have been using Linux for several years, but am new to gentoo. I just got a new dell xps 410 system with a intel duo E6400 processor. I have tried all the distros I've used in the past, kubuntu, suse, mandriva. All had problems serious enough to not use them. The problems may stem from using prebuilt x86 distros. Maybe since gentoo is built during install it might have a better chance. Sorry, but that's never a good reason for using Gentoo. If a binary distro compiles every option under the sun then the software will still work, but the binaries might be a bit big. Compiling on your machine gives no discernable performance benefit for the average user. Gentoo's strength is in being able to enable or disable individual features in each package. So, if you (say) can't stand Red Hat becuase it defaults to a Gnome DE, use Gentoo by all mans. If you can't stand Red Hat becuase you think it's slow, then you have faulty hardware and Gentoo is going to perform about the same... What would be the 'best' medium for me, minimal or live CD? I have a high speed connection. Doesn't matter, it comes out to the same anyway. The minimal CD has only the absolute minimum sources on it, so you have to download the rest. The LiveCD gets you up and running in an hour or two, but the packages on it are bound to have updates (because OSS projects release early and often), so with your first world update you will download new versions. Use the Live CD if you want to get a working machine quickly. If watching gcc output scroll off the screen turns you on (it does for most of us around here) then use the minimal by all means. Two avoid a typical dual boot install. I would like gentoo to boot from my second hard drive. During boot up, I can now select which HD I want to boot from. Will the install process let me assign a boot disk? It's been a while since I did a virgin install, so things might have changed recently. Back when I did my last install, the process was completely different to a binary distro, and one of the steps was to partition the disk manually, install grub and edit grub.conf exactly the way you want it. So your answer is yes, you can assign boot disks, but it isn't a check box you click. But, the latest installers may well have changed the entire process alan -- Optimists say the glass is half full, Pessimists say the glass is half empty, Developers say wtf is the glass twice as big as it needs to be? Alan McKinnon alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za +27 82, double three seven, one nine three five -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
