There are times in life when one should consider quitting when ahead. Such is the case with Gentoo Linux. A Gentoo is a kind of penguin. It seems that Linux and the penguin are intimately linked because Linus Torvalds, the originator of the Linux Kernel, the thing which gave rise to every flavor of Linux, likes penguins. According to urban legend, it was a practice of his to send penguins to Bill Gates. I don't know if this is true, but if it is, all I can say is how amusing is that?
Frankly, I think they should call Gentoo Linux, "Sets-Up-Slow" Linux. That would be much more apropos than naming it after a bird that can probably move like greased lightning through the waters of the Antarctic. Gentoo Linux can't do that. It doesn't even come close.
I am actually revisiting Gentoo because I attempted to install several times in the past. Without fail, each attempt ended badly. Due to the age of the CD ROM drives and the way that Gentoo, and some other Linux distributions operate, they have a tendency to cause these older CD ROM drives to stall in mid installation. Thus ended my numerous previous attempts to install Gentoo. Since I recently updated the test system with a new DVD ROM drive, I decided to retry Gentoo and some other distributions, which were previously problematic. I figured that I owed it to the people who took the time to create these various distributions to give them a truly fair shake. Ergo, I am revisiting Gentoo and a few other previously faulted distributions that have yet to be published.
In the case of Gentoo, perhaps I should have rethought that idea. However, fair is fair. I say that for the simple reason that not unlike Lunar Linux, Gentoo Linux is another Lipton cup-o-soup Linux distribution. In other words, it is compiled on your system at set up time. It is configured to run in as streamlined a fashion as possible to make your system run as quickly and efficiently as possible. It exists as source code until such time as the installation program compiles it specifically for your system.
My last experience with this method of system set up ended miserably. Lunar Linux failed to set up its GUI. While it did set up the "base" system, due to some web page glitches, it couldn't build the GUI. Even after this problem and my numerous attempts to bring it into line, Lunar Linux left me without a functional GUI. It remains to be seen what will happen with Gentoo. I say that because at the moment, the test system is still in the midst of compiling Gentoo. I am typing this as an email using Mozilla Firefox on my other machine.
This present attempt at installation began at approximately 6:00 PM CST. It is now 12:24 AM CST, and according to the installation program, I am at file 346 of 714 remaining files to be compiled. My thought is it should be finished doing it's thing about 4:00 AM ST or so. Oh yes, much to my chagrin, I have sunk my teeth into yet another slow moving, make it custom for the machine, Lipton cup-o-soup Linux distribution.
The installation finally finished. I acted very conservatively on this test. I only had it do the base system, the required libraries for X Windows, and the KDE desktop. After almost twenty-six hours, finally, the hard drive light flickered one last time, and the screen indicated that Gentoo Linux had finished setting up.
At last, I have finally succeeded in setting up a cup-o-soup Linux distribution. Much to my chagrin, all was not well. Instead of loading the KDE desktop, it loaded Flux Box instead. Flux Box is a very old X Windows desktop scheme. Really, it doesn't qualify as a desktop. It's more of a window that shows three X-terminal windows. You start programs by typing their command. KDE simply refuses to start, even after about two hours of fiddling after compilation officially finished.
Yes, I should have quit while I was ahead. Gentoo Linux gets a full zero! Perhaps there are Linux purists out there who would tell me I am a pussy or not a real Linux guru because I couldn't get either one of the cup-o-soup distributions to work. Fine, I'm a pussy. I'm not a Linux guru. Big deal.
I am also not recommending that anyone with Linux knowledge at the level of mine or below try to set up either Lunar Linux or Gentoo Linux. For the amount of time your machine is tied up, to have to end that process by troubleshooting reasons as to why your system still doesn't work is completely ludicrous. When there are so many incredibly friendly distributions that set up in an hour, and can work for even the completely uninitiated, why on earth would anyone want to mess with such annoyances?
Is it Linux Yet? No, and it's not going to be. I threw the pan in the trash!
Bill, the philanthropist, Gates is threatening to sue Linux users over patent laws. Isn't it strange that Gates is hyping his actions in 3rd world countries, but won't even release Windows 3 to public domain? My hope is that the whole computer community will move away from OS Windows to Linux. I use Macintoshes and refuse to support Gates' monopolistic ventures. New Macs use an OS based on linux.
by
Dale Hill (58 articles, 0 quicklinks, 101 diaries, 347 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 10:34:32 AM
...kiss my wide, spreading ass! Like he has the right to sue anyone over usurping the patented technology of anyone after he stole most of Windoze functionality from Apple. He can sue all he wants, he will get nowhere. UNIX existed long before Gates stole the original DOS operating system for a mere fifty grand. Linux is just another version of UNIX, like Minix, the system that gave birth to Linux.
There is a verifiable lineage to Linux. Even if there are some areas where certain people have usurped snippets of Windoze code for use in Linux, there is enough different between the two operating systems that, much like the judgment in the Apple Vs. Microsoft case, Microsoft won't have a leg on which it can stand. Even if it were to come to pass that Microsoft won this battle, can you see Linux fading away?
I can't! There are far too many people out there who are completely in love with Linux, and have no need at all for anything coming from Redmond, Washington, or any other Microsoft "campus". Linux will simply go back underground! Much like the kiddie porn internet sites, Linux will become a word of mouth kind of thing. Nothing that the mighty Gates does will stop Linux or change the minds of it's faithful. To borrow a statement from another group of militants, they can have my Linux installation disks when they pry them from my cold, dead hands.
Fuck Bill Gates and his sofware empire built upon stolen ideas! Viva la Linux revolution!
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 2:31:23 PM
Perhaps the robber baron Gates is pissed off because his latest pet project, Windows Vista, sucks ass like no other piece of shit that fell from the ass of Microsoft. I had to exorcise that particular demon from my new laptop and replace it with Windows XP so that the machine would run like it was new, instead of an anemic, three year old.
Having tried Windows Vista, I can only say it is obvious to me that Windows Vista started life as Linux. Much of its look and feel is way too much like Linux for it to be a coincidence. After trying numerous different Linux distributions, I can only equate the desktop of Windows Vista to the Gnome desktop, a popular Linux desktop.
Unfortunately, instead of simply admitting this truth, Microsoft took the underpinnings of what might have been a very stable system, and completely ruined it. It's like they tried to mix Linux and Windows NT and totally screwed things up.
For further amplification of this idea, read my review of Windows Vista. I am very glad that I got rid of it in favor of Windows XP. Now my machine runs like I would expect a new computer to run. Not only that, I can now boot into either Linux or XP, depending on my mood for the day, or what I need to accomplish.
Once again, fuck Bill Gates! The words of a man who has more money than some countries mean nothing to me. This is especially true when one considers the fact that Microsoft began as an empire of theft, and only became more wily in its thieving techniques. They have stolen code from every corner of the PC world, and they dare to bitch when the Linux world stole back. Hah! It is to laugh
Charade they are!
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 2:46:29 PM
3 comments
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