Gentoo Linux 2008.0

[deanjo]

They do recommend that for a reason, openSUSE tend to break when upgrading to a new release. You can upgrade to a new release from the DVD but even that is discouraged by the devs.

Done properly, it goes smooth as silk. After personally doing 300+ upgrades to machines using 10.3 to 11.0 I can state that as fact. Proper preparation is the key.

[Joe Sixpack]

Huh? Maybe I don't understand you correctly, or maybe you really read to fast, but there's a whole lot of documentation on http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/index.xml . And pretty much everything you don't find there you'll find on http://gentoo-wiki.com/ .

Maybe you've never actually USED the wiki. It's completely outdated - so much it causes more harm than good (try using it for radeon drivers or (lm_sensors). My first experience with Gentoo was a few days ago. I personally love the distro, but I must be honest: Between FreeBSD, Slackware, and other "expert" distros, Gentoo has by far the worst documentation. It's scattered all over hell, and most known issues aren't centralized, but rather found by google showing you some random forum page where one user helped another.

Having said all that, I will be going right back to Gentoo as soon as I can install it.

(Currently the LiveCD installer is broken, which is yet again ANOTHER issue. You would think they would have tested it seeing how the installer for beta2 was broken as well.)

[sundown]

I bet I'm riding the wave of the bleeding edginess better on Sidux than you guys on Gentoo

[Forge]

I bet I'm riding the wave of the bleeding edginess better on Sidux than you guys on Gentoo

A Debian Sid LiveCD is bleeding edge? I think perhaps this word does not mean what you think it means.

[sundown]

A Debian Sid LiveCD is bleeding edge? I think perhaps this word does not mean what you think it means.

It's called a livecd but you install it, of course and constantly update against sid in a safe and most sweetest way. It's a lot more easier then going through any compiling headaches, so yeah, I call that bleeding edge given that packages in sid are developed very fast.

Most people don't need to run the latest RC kernels anyways, so it bleeds enough for me

[jeffro-tull]

Normal Gentoo ("arch") is damn stable. From my previous experiences, I'd put it with Etch.

Gentoo testing ("~arch") is, by and large, comparable to Lenny.

That's about where the straight comparisons end. You can mix "arch" with "~arch" on a per-package basis. You can unmask packages that would be perfectly suited in Sid. You can run *-9999 ebuilds that grab current-to-the-day source code snapshots.

Gentoo bleeds as much as it's root is crazy. And I love it for that. But an AthlonXP 2600+ is not the place for it (upgrade coming hopefully this fall).

[tulcod]

Maybe you've never actually USED the wiki. It's completely outdated - so much it causes more harm than good (try using it for radeon drivers or (lm_sensors). My first experience with Gentoo was a few days ago. I personally love the distro, but I must be honest: Between FreeBSD, Slackware, and other "expert" distros, Gentoo has by far the worst documentation. It's scattered all over hell, and most known issues aren't centralized, but rather found by google showing you some random forum page where one user helped another.

Having said all that, I will be going right back to Gentoo as soon as I can install it.

(Currently the LiveCD installer is broken, which is yet again ANOTHER issue. You would think they would have tested it seeing how the installer for beta2 was broken as well.)

first of all, i have actively maintained several parts of the wiki, and i must say i don't agree with your opinion about the outdatedness. Sure, the wiki has some (a lot of) articles which need updating. But most work without updating, or contain obvious outdated facts which the geeks which gentoo is intended for can easily spot and fix.
Secondly, the guide on both radeon and lm_sensors is, in my experience, up to date.
Thirdly, it's not like other linux distros have better documentation, considering the target users of gentoo. I found debian's and ubuntu's to be way, WAY more outdated and broken back when i used them (respectively 2 and 1 years ago). Ubuntu's wiki is indeed slowly fixing this, but I don't think gentoo is "by far" worse than ubuntu or slackware.

Finally, it's not like the installer is actually supposed to work. If you need an installer, don't use gentoo. Gentoo is to be installed manually, period. The installer is broken and it should be.

[jeffro-tull]

Finally, it's not like the installer is actually supposed to work. If you need an installer, don't use gentoo. Gentoo is to be installed manually, period. The installer is broken and it should be.

Amen to that!

[Vighy]

But an AthlonXP 2600+ is not the place for it (upgrade coming hopefully this fall).

I run Gentoo on it! It's incredibly fast! Boot in 22 seconds, shutdown in 5 seconds, and Apps are all fast enough. I just compile when I don't use it!

You cannot play games with it... except Warcraft3 and Diablo2 the only ones I used to play

An AthlonXP 2600+ is still a good choice for a linux box, even (or maybe "in particular"?) for gentoo

And what about distcc? with it even older machines can run gentoo, maybe running enlightenment. I can bet it!

[Joe Sixpack]

first of all, i have actively maintained several parts of the wiki, and i must say i don't agree with your opinion about the outdatedness. Sure, the wiki has some (a lot of) articles which need updating. But most work without updating, or contain obvious outdated facts which the geeks which gentoo is intended for can easily spot and fix.

First of all, I'm far from a newbie. The problem is, a lot of linux users think being for experts means not needing any proper documentation, or not being expected to function properly

Secondly, the guide on both radeon and lm_sensors is, in my experience, up to date.
Thirdly, it's not like other linux distros have better documentation, considering the target users of gentoo. I found debian's and ubuntu's to be way, WAY more outdated and broken back when i used them (respectively 2 and 1 years ago). Ubuntu's wiki is indeed slowly fixing this, but I don't think gentoo is "by far" worse than ubuntu or slackware.

Key phrase: to your experience. The problem with a lot of Linux users in general is they never actually attempt to follow something from beginning to end before they tell you it's nothing wrong with it's functionality. I tend do do this quite often (in numerous distros), and I ask myself if I didn't already know most of how something work would the documentation be useful. Go back, do a clean install, and attempt to do it by only following the directions. You'll find yourself wandering around in circles.

Finally, it's not like the installer is actually supposed to work. If you need an installer, don't use gentoo. Gentoo is to be installed manually, period. The installer is broken and it should be.

While I understand your perspective, that last statement is just downright ridiculous. If it's not supposed to work, then why go tthrough the trouble of creating it? You don't think you're being a little fanatical? The installer may not be FOR YOU, but it's there for a reason. Many people like myself use Gentoo for the packaging system. That's not uncommon, as it's the same reason many people use FreeBSD or Debian. To be honest, you sound elitest and closed minded, and your attitude is the exact image a lot of OSS projects are trying to distance themselves from (at least publically)