gentoo - wow!! - progress

[Collins]

On Sun, 30 Jun 2002 07:58:45 -0400 dep <dep at linuxandmain.com> wrote:
> begin  Ken Moffat's  quote:
> | dep wrote
> |
> | >redhat is not fhs-compliant. if it were, i'd be using it.

Sorry for the confusion, I really thought (my mistake) that Redhat was
the prime mover in this FHS stuff - a sort of end run on the other
distros.  Also, I though moving kde and gnome away from /opt used to
be a prime requirement of the FHS.  When did that change?

> |
> | What do you use?

[ snips ]
> 
> It's just two
> damn complicated to have a different distribution on every machine
> in the place. i'm therefore auditioning distributions, with
> performance an important issue 

> unlike some, i see no virtue in software that requires a 1-gig
> machine with 256 megs of memory for adequate performance. 

Since the current market for PCs is 1G+ (now pushing 2G+) with minimum
128Meg (often 256 Meg), it don't see this as a deal breaker.  Sorry,
I'm not interested in linux on a 486.  I got a lot of mileage out of a
K6/II 300Mz with 128M, but it sure was slow opening something like
Open/Star Office, not to speak of compiling the kernel.  For my own
tastes, 800Mz with 256M (what I'm running now) is the minimum entry
point.  With this fairly typical hardware, use of bloated (but perhaps
very funtional) packages like kde/gnome/oo is practical.  My own
tastes run to xfce.  I'm more interested in what the system can do for
me and for the clueless M$ consumers who can be lured away from the
monolith.

> It will, therefore, come as no surprise that a leading contender is
> slackware.

An excellent choice, especially if you run xfce.  The install is easy,
and it seems to be pretty stable.  I wasn't able to get my printer
working (invested 2+ days before signing off), but otherwise Slack was
AOK.  It's still my backup distro.  My big problem with Slack or
debian or anything that doesn't adhere to the Mandrake/Redhat/ELX RPM
framework is maintenance, and Slack (IMO) just doesn't have the
necessry depth in its upgrade offerings.

Here are my requirements:

1) Good performance (ELX, for example, is an excellent distro, but
it's slow as Christmas) even on currently available PCs..

2) Install it once, then upgrade to keep current with new development.
 The concept of reinstalling all software everytime you need the
latest features is basically flawed.  My much maligned (on this group,
at least) gentoo system has been continuously upgraded for 2 years. 
(I did choose to reinstall once just to verify the newer install
procedure, but there was no other reason to do this.  My system (in
place since about March 2000) is the full equivalent of a gentoo
system installed yesterday.)  I'll stand corrected if someone knows an
easier to use maintenance system.

3) Reasonably prompt delivery of stable new versions of important
packages.  I don't need to be on the bleeding edge.

4) Nominal but not slavish adherance to FHS standards.  Since I have
no need to mix and match multiple distros, I could care less about the
filesystem structure of the other distros.  I could also care less
whether a certain RPM will work on my system, since I have no need for
RPM.

5) Good documentation about how my system works and what I need to do
to customize it for my own use.  This used to be a bugbear for gentoo,
but they now provide excellent documentation.

6) A responsive support group and/or developer group.

7) Not mentioned before, but prompt response from the distro for
security patches is also important.  That would be more essential for
server users.

8) Did I mention free?

Enjoy,
-- 
Collins Richey - Denver Area - WWTLRD?
gentoo(since 01/01/01) 2.4.18+(ext3) xfce-sylpheed-mozilla