how is gentoo compared to ubuntu

[izizzle]

hello.

I was wonder how gentoo is compared to ubuntu. although ubuntu picked up all my hardware flawlesly, I am wondering if gentoo can do a better job. how efficient is it? is it easy to set up? newbie friendle?

please reply,

thanks in advance,

-Imran

[jdong]

Gentoo is not as user-friendly as Ubuntu... It will pick up less hardware out of the box (but you can compile drivers by hand or through Portage to support more hardware, but it won't support much more than Ubuntu)

It uses a rolling-versions release cycle, meaning that new versions of software is added to the repositories as soon as they are available, as opposed to all-at-once every 6 months with Ubuntu. You may or may not like that release style better. It's good in the sense that you always get fresh new toys to play with, but bad in the sense that things are more likely to break unpredictably after a routine update.

Setup/installation takes patience and dedication on the user's side.

I would encourage you to read the Gentoo documentation on installation, or snoop around the Gentoo forums, or even try installing and using the distribution. Open Source is all about finding what YOU like, not what others force you to use


(I used to be an avid Gentoo user before Ubuntu)

[NeoLithium]

Well, at the risk of getting flamed; gentoo is not a newbie friendly distro. Ubuntu is easy on the installation for a great many people; but gentoo can be fairly daunting. But also keep in mind, it is efficient and a great distro on it's own, just different than ubuntu.

I haven't tried their newer GUI Installation, their last release (2006.1) it was broken and didn't do things right; and the command line install...WHOAH. Brew some coffee and get ready to use links with their forums searching; for the most part. That being said, I might consider trying their new release. As well, emerge is one outstanding creation that is probably the best package manager around.

I think they have a live CD that you can try though, to take a peek around without having to install over your current setup.

EDIT- Perhaps a moderator might want to move this to the Gentoo forum.

[chakkaradeep]

Gentoo - Long journey in making Linux your best mate

Ubuntu - The Easiest way to make your Linux your best mate

[wuzzerd]

Imran:

In Gentoo you have to build your own kernel and configure it yourself. It is a great experience if you want to learn a lot about linux and are not afraid of the command line. It can take quite a few days for a new user to get everything he wants installed. It is a good idea to read the handbook http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook before you try to install. Everything is compiled on your machine which takes quite a bit longer than installing a binary distribution like Ubuntu.

If you are new to Linux, I would suggest learning your way around Ubuntu first, then when you think you want to try Gentoo you can build it in a separate partition, keeping your Ubuntu install which can come in handy if you have to fix something.

Check out the forums http://forums.gentoo.org

Hope this helps.

[tchoklat]

interesting comments. I am unable to install any version of Ubuntu on my system. Sabayon Linux (Gentoo based) installed easily and detected everything. I also have windows XP on it and it wont detect my ethernet adapter.

Gentoo is good for me!

[stmiller]

I've used Gentoo in the past. It is quite nice, especially portage. But yes, you have to make your own configuration files. And compile your own kernel. So if you don't particularly know how to make an /etc/fstab and /etc/make.conf and so forth, it's probably not for you.

But there are excellent gentoo docs to walk you through an install on their site. I learned a lot by using Gentoo. And they have a very open/free etc philosophy which is great.

[jdhore]

this is kind of one of those situations where: "if you need to ask, you should not be using Gentoo", but here we go:
1. Gentoo detects less hardware out of the box and you're close to screwed if you need specific hardware to follow the steps for install. (ex: wifi to download a stage3 image, a portage image or to update portage).
2. The install is quite a bit more difficult than the Install for Ubuntu.
3. The install takes a while (if you know what you're going to be doing, 2-4 hours for a base install (no GUI))...add another 8 hours for Gnome or KDE and tack another 2 hours on top of that if you don't really know what you're doing.
4. It takes at least 2-3 times longer to install any package than it does on Ubuntu
5. one of the 2 huge advantages to Gentoo: FAST...on the same system i have Ubuntu on, Gnome opens in 1/4 the time on Gentoo and Firefox opens instantly as opposed to taking a few seconds on Ubuntu.
6. the other advantage to Gentoo: customizable...if you want a module/feature or don't want a module/feature from some package you can always add/remove it with USE flags.

Gentoo's great if you want to learn a lot about linux and have a sense of accomplishment. but if you're impatient, lazy, or not too good with the command-line, you'll be hating life with Gentoo. I thought i knew quite a bit about linux...but i learned easily 40 or 50 new things while installing Gentoo.

[wuzzerd]

Well Izzle's tagline says it all. When I was 13 you could heat the nieghborhood with a machine that couldn't run Donkey Kong, not even Fortran which came later.

[izizzle]

thank you sooooo much guys, youre a great help.

I believe i will give gentoo a shot, just to see how its like.....for myself

Thanks in advance,

- Imran