The Linux Project: Gentoo revisited

Was it worth it? Well, let me say this about that, YES, it was SOOO worth it! Even now, the feeling of giddiness is unparalleled. I finally came to the summit of my own personal Everest...ok, maybe not, but my geeky tecno-woody tells me I did something really freakin' awesome...twice. And I am getting the feeling that number three's conversion is drawing nigh.

So, to sum it all up, I was right about Gentoo. It isn't the distro for the average Linux n00b. It has an incredibly steep learning curve. it can be maddening and frustrating setting it up and getting it out of the chute. Even for those who have some amount of experience with computers, Gentoo presents a real challenge. I know that it is only a matter of time before this machine gets the same treatment. From the itch in my fingers, I think the time is growing nigh.

And I was wrong. There is more to Linux than the software. Without the commuity, it's just a program. Gentoo definitely has a strong community behind it. Because of that reason, Gentoo might actually be good for the n00b, especially the one that wants to get a crash course in alternative operating systems.

And it bears repeating that their documentation is truly second to none. From how-to's, to wikis, to other resources, no one compares to Gentoo for sheer volume of documentation. And for the most part, it's well written, very detailed, and easy to use. It truly is the counterbalance to the complexity of Gentoo.

I never thought that anything would diminish my love for Slackware. However, some of the irritations in Slackware, and in its forums became too much to deal with. And although I know I could have gone down the Debian path, I knew that I had to try Gentoo. I had to give it a fair hearing. I knew there was something more to it than meets the eye.

So, on my ratings scale, I give it a five. Manual installation is the way to the cross. It takes a while, and misspellings mean mistakes. However, if you know how to read, know a bit about computers, and don't need to have your hand held by a "pretty" installer, installing Gentoo is workable.

LiveCD GUI installers are available, buggy, and are a fairly big source of irritation for many. It seems that the best installer to use is the 2006.1 LiveCD, Its GUI installer can get the job done. However, if you use the GUI installer and let the screen go black one time, you miss watching your computer's progress. your system will install, however, the progress screen simply won't refresh. I'm sure when it's done, you'll know. Still haven't had the patience to truly find out.

As far as basic system operation, it's a bit better than what I expected, so I give it a five. While there are a lot more bugs to iron out with Gentoo, fixing them will be very interesting, and educational. If you take your time, read the plentiful documentation, you will wind up with a strong, stable system. I know I did, twice.

The networking setup was incredibly simple, even though I told Gentoo I wanted a static IP address. I was expecting to type in a lot of data telling the computer all kinds of information encoded with numbers and periods. Instead, all I had to do was enter the IP address and a simple statement in one file, and the networking was done. Had I chosen to use a dynamic IP address (the kind most people have by default) I'd have had to do nothing. Frankly, I was amazed! Of all the things I never expected from a distro as complex as Gentoo, simple networking setup is on top of the list.

As far as device support, it supports all the hardware on both systems I currently have running it. Therefore, it gets another solid five. While most device support is a function of the kernel, the install CD's found every piece of hardware, and set up the initial kernel such that it worked with everything the system has installed.

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