24 Aug
2004
24 Aug
'04
5:58 p.m.
On Tuesday 24 August 2004 07:17 am, james(a)dis-dot-dat.net wrote:
Don't give up just yet!
On Tue, 24 Aug, 2004 at 12:38PM +0200, mark(a)kfm.co.za spake thus:
<snip>
I wasn't going to say anything till you said this. Yes, Gentoo has USE flags,
but Debian comes in more flavors than "stable". Unstable... I had KDE 3.3
and didn't realize it until I saw a /. announcement that it'd been released.
And I didn't have to wait around for 24 hrs while it was compiling.
This guy is lamenting not being able to spend his computer time doing
production. Gentoo is not an appropriate response to that.
If he wants to do the Gentoo thing, tuning it as a workstation is as good an
excuse as any to go for it though.
energy - to drown people - to open portals of
thought and
Drown people? That's a Freedom that linux doesn't really give you.
<snip>
My linux thought is that the main difference
between linux and
windows is that under windows everything is packaged i.e. that
one installation will actually get that desired product to work -
while under linux a lot more time is spent on finding the correct
patches mixes matches reading than end time using/producing.
Obviously linux has flexibility power stability way beyond the
confines of windows or mac but it is the tieing up of those 'loose
ends' which make it easier for a new user to get going that make
the ultimate difference. While windows users have licence issues
some linux users have other.
I know where you're coming from. As an experienced user, I have no
problem with manually keeping a system udpated, patched ans running
smoothly. Generally, I know where problems that occurr are likely to
come from. The thing is, I don't want all that hassle. If I did,
I'd use LFS. Instead, I use Gentoo.
Gentoo isn't just for ricers. Personally, I find it has the nicest
package management (although that's probably not the best way to
describe it). I've also used Debian, but I still prefer Gentoo -
mainly because it's a little more configurable (like USE flags and
such) and it's a lot more up to date - Debian is safe, stable and
tested to death, Gentoo has regular updates to all components, and
still seems more stable than Debian Sid.
Now, I recommend you give Gentoo a try. Sure, there'll be some pain - the install process consists of some instructions
and a command
prompt - but it's worth it. For a start, you know how your system is
constructed to some degree. Secondly, installing stuff and keeping
stuff updated is a doddle. To install Jack, I type "emerge
jack-audio-connection-kit". When Jack gets updated, my system
updates next time I do an "emerge world". Thirdly, the documentation
is really nice and #gentoo on irc.freenode.net is a very helpful
channel.
And how long does that take vs apt-get update && apt-get dist upgrade?
Take all the milliseconds you shave with flags and deduct 'em from the build
time and pig-dog slowness of a package management system that runs on an
interpreter, then amortize that against the runlevel average.
I've tried playing quake to kill time waiting for an update to build. ;)
It's a dubious argument.
Now, I know that other people will favour other
distros. I know that
Gentoo isn't for everybody. But I like gentoo, and I think you
might, too.
It does rock pretty hard, it's just a big commitment. It could be the
right answer, but not to this particular question.
Give it a whirl. If you're reinstalling all the
time anyway, why not
try it out.
Have fun.
James
<snip>