Distro Reviews 2

brent

WetGeek yesterday I learned Gentoo was a penguin...and probably the only flavor not in your thread.

WetGeek

brent yesterday I learned Gentoo was a penguin...and probably the only flavor not in your thread.

What a challenge! It's gonna be a while, though. This is on a gigabit Internet connection:

elfprince

add Slackware and descendants ?

brent

elfprince Slack is one of the longest-lived linuxes, isn't it?

elfprince

brent Yes, I think the first one. Debian came after.

brent

WetGeek legend has it (purely reading @ distrowatch; no independent research) that Gentoo is the most difficult and complex OS...I tip my hat to you, sir, you are always up for an adventure.

WetGeek

brent I tip my hat to you, sir, you are always up for an adventure.

Well, you can put your hat back on now. I just scanned the installation instructions -- eleven chapters worth. And that's just the beginning.

There's no reward that would make this worthwhile. It should be marked with the warning, "Serious assembly requiired."

brent

WetGeek 11 chapters of Gentoo love! That could be an exhausting day!

WetGeek

brent That could be an exhausting day!

Installing Gentoo
About the Gentoo Linux installation
This chapter introduces the installation approach documented in this handbook.
Choosing the right installation medium
It is possible to install Gentoo in many ways. This chapter explains how to install Gentoo using the minimal Installation CD.
Configuring the network
To be able to download the latest source code, networking will need to be configured.
Preparing the disks
Before Gentoo can be installed, the necessary partitions must be created. This chapter describes how to partition a disk.
Installing the Gentoo installation files
The basic Gentoo system is downloaded as a stage3 archive. This chapter explains how to download and extract the archive, and also how to configure Portage, Gentoo's package management program.
Installing the Gentoo base system
After installing and configuring the stage3, the base system is set up so that a minimal environment is available.
Configuring the Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is the core of every distribution. This chapter explains how to configure the kernel.
Configuring the system
Some important configuration files must be created. This chapter provides an overview of these files and explains how to tailor the configuration.
Installing system tools
In this chapter some important tools are selected and installed.
Configuring the bootloader
In this chapter the right bootloader is installed and configured.
Finalizing the installation
The installation is now almost done. The last finishing touches are documented in this chapter.
Working with Gentoo
A Portage introduction
This chapter explains simple steps readers must understand to maintain the software on their system.
USE flags
USE flags are a very important aspect of Gentoo. In this chapter, readers learn to work with USE flags and understand how USE flags interact with their system.
Portage features
Discover the features Portage has, such as support for distributed compiling, ccache, and more.
Init script system
Gentoo uses a special initscript format which, among other features, allows dependency-driven decisions and virtual initscripts. This chapter explains all these aspects and explains how to deal with these scripts.
Environment variables
Environment variables can be easily managed with Gentoo. This chapter explains how to do that, and also describes frequently used variables.
Working with Portage
Files and directories
To know Portage in-depth, first learn where it stores its files and data.
Variables
Portage is completely configurable, with several options that can be set in a configuration file, or as environment variables.
Mixing software branches
Gentoo provides software separated in several branches, depending on stability and architectural support. "Mixing Software Branches" explains how these branches can be configured and how to override this separation individually.
Additional tools
Portage comes with a few extra tools that might make the Gentoo experience even better. Read on to discover how to use dispatch-conf and other tools.
Custom package repository
This chapter gives some tips and tricks on how to use a custom package repository, how to synchronize only the required categories, how to inject packages, and more.
Advanced features
As time passes, Portage evolves and matures. New features are continually being added. Many of these are useful only to the more experienced user. This chapter explains some of Portage's newer features.

Gentoo network configuration
Getting started
A guide to quickly get the network interface up and running in most common environments.
Advanced configuration
Here we learn about how the configuration works - this is prerequisite knowledge before continuing with modular networking.
Modular networking
Learn how to choose different DHCP clients, setting up bonding, bridging, VLANs, and more.
Wireless
Configuring Gentoo for wireless networks
Adding functionality
Adventurous users can add their own functions to the networking tools.
Dynamic management
For laptop users or people who move their computer around different networks.

brent

WetGeek Installing Gentoo
About the Gentoo Linux installation

my eyes glazed over right about here...

WetGeek

brent my eyes glazed over right about here...

It's a frickin' Linux distro. I can't begin to imagine what kind of results would justify all that work. I'm guessing it would start with about three weeks of full-time study.

elfprince

WetGeek And you were complaining about FreeBSD being hard...... 😀

zmaint

WetGeek You could try Sabayon, Calculate, or Redcore. They've already done all the heavy lifting, lets you get right into testing it out.

zmaint

It's a little out of date, but here's a good one🙂 http://hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/

WetGeek

zmaint It's a little out of date, but here's a good one

Hannah Montana may be a little out of date, but she's still holding up pretty well.

WetGeek

zmaint here's a good one

Thanks. Based on your recommendation, I'll put that ahead of Gentoo on my waiting list. (May never get around to Gentoo at all, but I haven't deleted the .ISO file yet.)

WetGeek

zmaint It's a little out of date

Hanna Montana Linux
That's the biggest understatement I've heard in a long tme. It was published 23 years ago, fergoshsakes! It's download site has been removed, and it's now in an archive (from which I was able to retrieve it).

Unlike Gentoo, though, it' just the kind of challenge I like. It'll be interestinig to see what Linux was like before I got my first taste of it. And who, of the male persuasion, could possibly pass up Hannah Montana?

For anyone thinking about joining me on this expedition, the download was fast. The .ISO is only 695.5 MiB. This will probably end up as my smallest distro ever. Certainly the most interesting.

WetGeek

Hanna Montana Linux
This is the first really different launch I've seen in a long time. No "live," of course, so it launched straight into language selection (with a surprising number available), and now it's ready to install itself.

The installation was surprising like one from today's distros. Same questions, same order. The only difference is that it's created an ext3 file system. I don't expect that to cause any problems, as this is just a VM, but I'll need to be careful how I shut down. As I remember, it's not a journaling file system yet, and I don't want to leave any changes on the VM when I close it for a reboot.

Looks like KDE. I should be right at home here. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's Plasma yet, but I was still pleasantly surprised to see Dolphin. The launch was very slow overall. It wouldn't surprise me if this is a 16-bit application. I'll stop writing now for a while, and go play with my new toy. Later ...

WetGeek

Hannah Montana Linux
Unfortunately, this delightful distraction with Hannah may come to a premature end. I've found no System Settings, thus no Display settings, and way to change the resolution beyond postcard size. That's also where I'd expect to find a Terminal, and I haven't found that anywhere else, either.

And there doesn't seem to be any nfs support. Although the networking support claims to include SMB protocol, when I try to look for my NAS using Samba, it claims that there are no such servers on the network. It's probably trying to use a version of SMB that my NAS server doesn't understand, 23 years later.

I didn't expect to find any modern browsers here, but it does have an /etc directory, and /mnt. I was hoping to be able to connect with my NAS shares, which would have pleased me. But with no NAS, and no Terminal, l can't think of anything more to experiment with.

I'm going to keep investigating further after lunch, but if I can't get any farther into this distro, I'll reluctantly need to kiss Hannah goodbye. Stand by ...

elfprince

Don't expect modern features after 23 years. 😆

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