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List:       gentoo-user
Subject:    Re: [gentoo-user] maybe I am not ready for Gentoo
From:       jsmith () kcco ! com
Date:       2002-12-13 17:31:40
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Quoting Jon Ellis <jon.ellis@libertydistribution.com>:

> I'd say go for it!  The initial install is a bit of a pain, but the
> online documentation is great...  it walks you through everything step
> by step.  And if you ever run into problems, ask the list!  Good luck!

I agree.

If you are going to be compiling some things anyway (e.g. transcode, etc.=
) you
are far better off with Gentoo than any other distro (even Debian, which =
IMHO
with apt-get comes in at a respectable second).

I subscribe to the transcode list for example, and numerous people are ha=
ving
difficulty getting the software installed and working.  Rather than comba=
ting a
binary distro with configs placed in odd places, a quirky packaging syste=
m (RPM
is very quirky, DEB can be as well), being able to do an 'emerge
quicktime4linux; emerge transcode' is really, really nice.

I would save your XF86Config file from a working Red Hat/Mandrake/whateve=
r
install, so that you can cut and paste video card device and monitor entr=
ies
into a Gentoo-ized XF86Config (this will save a lot of time, as configuri=
ng X is
really the most difficult thing to do), and then go for it!

The install will be tedious, but upkeep and upgrades will be much easier =
than
with any other distro IMHO.  If you have the disk space, having two separ=
ate
root and boot partitions, so that you can have two independent distros
installed, makes even "risky" upgrades easy (you simply back up your work=
ing
setup to the other set of partitions before proceeding, and you've got an=
 easy
place to fall back to if something goes really wrong.  Great for libc and=
 gcc
upgrades).

e.g.

/dev/hda1  100MB
/dev/hda2  100MB
/dev/hda3  2048MB (swap)
/dev/hda4  extended
/dev/hda5  8000MB
/dev/hda6  8000MB
/dev/hda7  [remaining space] (or whatever, I often use this as /home,
/usr/video, /usr/ogg, or whatever, as you want it to survive over multipl=
e installs)

Then I have hda5, hda1 as one pair of partitions, hda6, hda2 as another p=
air,
and can have a fully redundant install to fall back on if I foobar things=
 really
badly.  This also facilitates using a Mandrake or Red Hat install to 'che=
at'
when configuring other things under Gentoo, like XFree. :-)

Best of luck, and don't be shy about searching and using the online fora,=
 the
archives of this list, or asking questions if you get stuck!

Jean.

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