¿What is Gentoo?
It’s a classic Linux distro as Slackware, Debian, Arch, Fedora, Mandriva and Ubuntu.
Usually people say it is very hard to install, so they think that it is for experts and just worth to learn. Actually this is not true since the main aim of Gentoo is being comfortable while still being extremely customizable
Wordnet Lexical database says that “Efficient” means:
S: (adj) effective, efficient (able to accomplish a purpose; functioning effectively)
Gentoo is sopported by
But CHECK IT!!! Gentoo is still a community distro!
The Gentoo Foundation manages and legally represents to Gentoo in all the USA. Gentoo foundation’s president is very well known on the forum, a magnificent person and very well knowledgeable that loves to help and even I have received suggestions from him.
Gentoo is comfortableness. Get it?
Comfortableness? Really?
In fact, Gentoo is more friendly and comfortable than what the most of people think, e.g, there is a lot of tools for everything
Portage works similar to pacman, yaourt and ABS at the same time (you will not concerte anymore about hand compiling =) )
It’s very easy to add repos: layman -a NAME
It’s available a tool for compiling external modules
So you have another tool for compiling the kernel
You can install only the security updates and it is not need to update everything
¿So … is Gentoo easy?
Not exactly but it cost as much as to learn Spanish or Playing Music is, just a simple comparison ^^, so there are people that feels that learning English is easier than learining another thinks and so the other way around.
Despite of it a lot of professionals in informatics or college students are still considering that Gentoo is hard, but well, it is also true that a lot of “savvy” people are using it, so it’s normal to be considered a respectable achievement.
And maybe it is but please notice that some Ubuntu users have installed Gentoo, please read a lot! You will definitively need to read before installing it! By myself I think is indeed easy, just it’s different. To tell you the truth there are a lot of thinks I’d like to say, maybe another day ^^.
Was Gentoo difficult for me?
When I tried to install mplayer I even didn’t know what a USE means , then I learned that the equery command shows what each USE does. A lot of USEs are repeated, for example GTK, QT4 blutooth and are very straightforward.
By the other hand the kernel compiling took me around 3 days, I think there should be a manual for kernel compiling since it could be the hardest in the Gentoo installation, everything have to be just right!
Having dependences conflicts while upgrading Gentoo the firsts days is really discouraging, but then you realize that it is normal and also that searching and asking you will learn a lot, so one day it would be really easy for you… but it’s just matter of you to keep on. 😉 you can!!!
My Gentoo
Well, at the startup Gentoo with the KDE Plasma Desktop uses 217MB of RAM which is pretty good and comparable to Mate, but yeah! 😀 , it uses just the half of RAM than Cinnamon does!!
I had never intended to intall KDE (neither I didn’t know if I were able to do so) until one day I went to School and in the back Gentoo was already installed!!!
This Gentoo instalation was my first and I learned a lot, I took me 5 months to get it as it is.
2013/09/15 – base system
2013/12/26-27 – compiling a working kernel
2013/12/27 – installed Xorg, settup network and install Openbox
2014/02/17 – installed KDE
it was like a Christmas present ^-^
Winters helps it keeping cool while compiling!!!
I believed that I weren’t able to achieve it, I had created a monster in my head but then I started to be confident when I surprisingly noticed that Arch was easy for me ^o^
I just wanted to motive people to be more confident!!!
Desktop:
Vertical Bar Windows Decoration:( Bespin) Not using the KDE panels it’s a good idea to save RAM, bottom panel: bmpanel2 (ice theme)
