Trying Gentoo


Forum: Linux  and Free Software
Topic: Trying Gentoo
started by: green

Posted by green on Aug. 15 2005,14:52
I am trying Gentoo for the first time.
I chose a Stage3 install, because i thought that would be easy enuf for a beginner. The documentation on how to do this is very straight forward and easy to comprehend. They did a good job on that. Kudos.
However, i have been working on this for two solid days. Holy crap, Batman! That does not include downloading the .iso either. The compiling takes  f o r e v e r. Compiling the kernel took ~2.5 hours. When i went to "emerge" Xorg, i walked away from the box after 3 hours. That was last night, I hope it's done by now, but didn't check it.
Talk about time consuming! No difficulties so far, but for crying out loud, it's slow. This may be due to the box I'm running it on:
Intel PII 350Mhz, 220Mb RAM
Kernel: 2.6.12-gentoo-r6

I had no idea which modules i want loaded at boot so i picked a couple and went for it. It worked on reboot. Got network and a functioning CLI. So that's good. So then, on with a GUI.
Has anyone had similar experiences with Gentoo?

Posted by brokenkingpin on Aug. 15 2005,15:17
My +firend said it took him like a week to install gentoo on a old system... I dont think he was joking either lol
Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Aug. 15 2005,17:17
Last time I did a stage1, it took me over 100 hours to complete, but the result was a stable, stupid-fast system.

Only reason I don't still have it is that my hdd died.

-J.P.

Posted by mikshaw on Aug. 15 2005,18:43
Personally I'd rather spend half an hour installing a system that is stable and a bit less than stupid fast.  If I ever decide to torture myself for the sake of a little added speed, stability and security I'll go all the way with LFS....but that ain't gon' happen. =o)
Posted by green on Aug. 16 2005,01:53
Quote (SaidinUnleashed @ Aug. 15 2005,13:17)
Only reason I don't still have it is that my hdd died.

I bet you were one pissed off mug.
Posted by Borderpatrol on Sep. 14 2005,14:27
I started and then just didn't have the time. Perhaps when I have some more time.
Posted by pradi on Sep. 15 2005,11:01
I never succeed to install Gentoo on my systems. It kicks me out at compile process.
Posted by Jon_i386 on Sep. 16 2005,02:17
Yeah Gentoo for some reason take A LONG time to install, even on newer, and faster computers. Id rather just go with Fedora, or maybe even Slackware, or ZipSLACK.

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Actually I regret saying that. If you get Gentoo Minimalist it's a mere 10mb bigger than DSL. So what id do it download the Minimal ISO and download more packages from Gentoo's website :)

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