Revised Gentoo 2004-2 ISO image out

bilbrey

Y'all know I'm a fan of Gentoo Linux. As I surfed past the home page today, I noticed that Gentoo has released a revision of the minimal installation x86 ISO, hopefully resolving problems some people have had with installing Gentoo due to some BIOS/ISO interaction problems. So if you've given Gentoo a shot in the last little while, and had a problem with the installation disk, even when the MD5SUM checks out, then you may want to go get this image. Please note the path through the experimental tree there, and that there are many mirrors for Gentoo Linux. Pair is just one of the many wonderful commercial enterprises who provide mirroring support for a wide variety of open source projects including full Linux distributions.
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Brian Bilbrey
http://www.orbdesigns.com
Linux: We own machines to build and test other people's software for free.

brianlane · Joined: 11 May 2002 Posts: 133 Location: Port Orchard, Wa

I gave Gentoo a try again a few weeks back, but as has always happened I gave up on it after about 10 hours or so of compiling and tweaking. I had been trying to do the 'binary install' that is talked about in some of the docs, but apparently I took a wrong turn somewhere and never hit the part that told how to use the binary install disc.

I like the concept of Gentoo. I like digging into the guts of my system, but I don't like spending all weekend getting a basic system working. It just seems like a total waste when I can have a decent Fedora Core 1 system up and runngin with GUI in 30 minutes. Give me another 15 to turn off unneeded services and lock down the system and then I can start tweaking things.

Do most Gentoo users have lots of time on their hands? Or quad Xeon's in their closet doing their compiles for them?

I am very impressed by their security team, that was one reason why I wanted to give it a try again. They come out with updates very quickly after exploits and bugs are announced -- something that can't be said for every distribution.

bcl
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bilbrey · Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:35 pm Post subject: Well ...

I run Xandros on the laptop as a work box. But Gentoo keeps my hands down well in the guts of Linux, which is a good thing, IMO. When I find it's time to install/reinstall Gentoo, I generally go through the first parts (all the way though the bootstrap and getting emerge system going before I go to bed. Then, the next day I do the rest of the install through to first reboot, add a user, make sure my USE flags are up to date, and type emerge kde (or gnome, or fluxbox - whatever's my GUI du jour...) and leave it running. It'll be done when it's done, and in the meantime I've got my data on the server and my laptop to do darn near anything I want.

Actually, with dual Athlons, even older ones, compiling is fast. But I did that install process on a 1Ghz P3 a while back, and it was fine. Time I've got, because I don't have to mind the box while it's compiling.
_________________
Brian Bilbrey
http://www.orbdesigns.com
Linux: We own machines to build and test other people's software for free.

brianlane · Joined: 11 May 2002 Posts: 133 Location: Port Orchard, Wa

I've also read that there is a compile farm setup that you can use as well, if you have enough spare machines around.

Brian
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Linux Software Developer

Dave Browning · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:14 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the information Brian. I started an install on a Gentoo system that just wouldn't boot from the CD, and remembered that you had written something relevant. And I came here, downloaded the file you linked to and I'm already on Stage 2. If not for your helpful post, I'd probably still be beating my head against a wall.