Long time Gentoo-ers

[Ateo]

What's up.

I'm wondering how other Gentoo users came about using Ubuntu.

1. If you have switched, why did you switch?
2. Do you still use Gentoo?
3. What is your overall comparison of the 2?
4. Do you still recommend Gentoo?
5. How long have you used Gentoo?

I became frustrated the day baselayout broke my wifi connection (beginning of April). I ran an ~x86 laptop so I did expect breakage on occasion. Unfortunately, that breakage came at a time where I just didn't have time to troubleshoot. So, I made my way over here and downloaded Feisty beta and have used it ever since (on my laptop). I have only switched the distro preference that I use for my laptop. I have switched because Ubuntu installs in 30 minutes and I can be working within the hour. In a nutshell, everything 'just worked'.

I still use Gentoo. In fact, I only use it for servers. I am currently testing out Ubuntu server edition but it's just not the same. I really do prefer a source based distro for servers since you have 100% control of how a particular service is installed and with what support. In the end, as long as Gentoo exists, I will use it. Same applies to Ubuntu.

While Ubuntu is bloated, it must be if it is to attract people from the windows world. I don't mind the bloat to be honest since it doesn't slow my system down. I have plenty of hard drive space and 2 gigs of ram. No issues here.

I would only recommend Gentoo to experienced users.

I started using Gentoo November of 2002 with the 1.2 LiveCD. It took me nearly 2 months to get the hang of Gentoo but luckily, I was unemployed at the time and had LOTS of time to invest into learning it..

[zaratustra]

1. I switched from ubuntu to gentoo, but never reverse
2. I do
3. Can't compare distros which target different groups of users
4. I do, especially for learning linux
5. I use it for 8 months, but I must add, that I use linux for 10 months, these first two I used fedora and ubuntu, but it wasn't what i wanted:)

[mkoby]

I've used both.

In fact a couple of years ago I was entirely Gentoo, both at home and on my office workstation (using VMware to do .Net development).

I am currently using Ubuntu at home. The reason for my installing Ubuntu at home on my PC is because I was already running on my wife's PC. I put Ubuntu on my wife's PC because of the notable "it just works" side of Ubuntu. I decided since my wife was running Ubuntu and I had no experience in it, that it would be a good idea to run it as well.

Advantages to Ubuntu Include
-Quick up and running (30-60 minutes depending on machine)
-Easy/Quick install of additional applications

Disadvantages to Ubuntu:
-Poor development support. I think there should be a meta package for developers that will install all the dev libraries of the default applications. Also there should be an option in apt-get or synaptic to install -dev DEBS when they are available for a package.

Advantages to Gentoo:
-Ability to have a completely customized system from the ground up. I have done the benchmarks and have seen the proof first hand that compiling from a stage 1 install in Gentoo results in a faster system (albeit it's marginal most of the time)
-Dev libraries installed along with packages (this is a result of compiling the applications from scratch)

Disadvantages to Gentoo:
-Length of time to getting a fulling working PC (complete with GUI and equivalent to Ubuntu) takes almost 5-10 times as long depending on the system
-Lots of terminal activity to get up and running. This scares most new users, however this can also be an advantage in that it helps newbies become familiar and less frightened of the command line.

Overall, now that I have figured out how to install the dev libraries, I've come to like Ubuntu for it's easy to get up and go. However, I will probably eventually end up back on a Gentoo system within the next year or so.

[dead_end]

1. I tryed gentoo because a friend recommended that I try it

2. not currently

3. I love portage over apt-get howver I had so much trouble geting a xserver going that I gave up in dispair. Gentoo is a great OS, especially as a learnig expeariance, however is difficult to setup. Ubuntu is great iff you just need an operating system that just works but is not optimized for you system

4. yes

5. 5 weeks


I plan to try getting a gentoo sytem up and running again whe I finnally have the cash to replace the desktop I have now.

[bmartin]

1. I switched from Ubuntu to Gentoo. I use Ubuntu on machines that I use occasionally and Gentoo on my PC, which I use most often.
2. Yep.
3. It's hard to compare the t wo. Ubuntu's good for a quick setup. Gentoo takes some dedication. You get out of Gentoo what you put into it; it's a learning experience, and if you put for the effort to learn, the dividends are terrific. Ubuntu gives you a great OS with little effort. I'm sure there's a binary distro out there that I'd like better than Ubuntu... but the dedication and vision of the Ubuntu team prevents me from switching. I've never tried using PCLinuxOS, but I believe it's on par with Ubuntu's usability. Gentoo will always be Gentoo, but Ubuntu is very dynamic. I'll keep using both of them as long as they suit my purposes.
4. Gentoo is only good if it does what you need it to. I wanted to learn more about Linux and Gentoo didn't disappoint me. The support Gentoo users provide is second to none. If you want to work a little closer to your operating system, Gentoo is a good place to start. Do an installation from a minimal CD. If you follow the step-by-step instructions, it's a cinch. You'll get a lean, fast Linux box, especially if you take the time to set your USE flags. Gentoo allows you to take it to the next level with customizing your computer's setup.
5. 2 years.

[bmartin]

(dupe)

[Foxmike]

1. I am not, I do not plan to switch, but I use them side by side.
2. Yes.
3. None. They seem to me to be total opposite, and that is what I like of having both.
4. Any time to anybody that has time to spend and that is willing to learn Linux. A great experience!
5. 4 months.

We have only one computer at home and it is use by me and my wife. She is a Linux illetrate so I have to be carefull when I make changes. That is why Ubuntu stays as the "Safe Base" Everything works and works well so I barely don't touch anything there. Gentoo is my playground, on a different partition, and I install it to test, play with settings, try other things without the worry that it will break the system. On an other hand, I want to build the system that will be as usable as my ubuntu install, and as optimized as I can bring it to be. Different tools for different purposes!:)

[southernman]

No long time gentoo-er here (linux neither for that fact), so I can't answer your questions. I just wanted some moral support as I am about to embark on doing the gentoo. Printing out the nandbook as I type this.

Many acquaintainces with my local LUG use gentoo. After reading a comment on a digg article (leading me to install gentoor) I feel like these people may have been laughing behind my back, being as I was sort of boastful about no longer using windows, but Ubuntu instead.

Hopefully, I will come out this fairly unscaved (sp) and will be better acquainted with linux as a whole. This just has to work for my own satisfaction and so I can report to my fellow LUG'ers of my experience.

Any pointers...? other than RTFM of course. Have been doing that for about 2 hours now, plus printing the handbook off.

I'd of posted on gentoo's boards, but they may be a little territorial with a fresh Ubuntu user stepping on their turf! ;)

Thank ya!

~Steve

[bmartin]

Ubuntu is a beginner's distro. Gentoo is much more advanced. You should be very comfortable with the terminal before trying Gentoo; if you're using the handbook and a minimal installation (which is what I recommend), you'll be using the terminal exclusively to install. The installation is very straightforward; read everything closely and type in what you're told to and you'll pull through just fine.

Set aside a whole day for your first Gentoo installation. The Stage 3 tarball is huge (but not too huge) and you'll have to sync with Portage, which takes a couple minutes. You'll also have to compile a lot of software before your system's usable at all. GNOME or KDE will take several hours to compile, so if you've used Fluxbox before or are willing to give it a try, it comes highly recommended so that you can get a decent WM up and running. You might as well be able to play with some programs while you're waiting for everything else to compile.

BEFORE YOU COMPILE ANYTHING (and when the installation first mentions that you can set them), set your USE flags and optimization flags. You can check what optimizations are supported by your processor by looking at the optimizations on the Swiftfox site for your architecture (http://www.swiftfox.com). Good machine-independent optimization flags are -O2 -pipe.

Gentoo's a big step from Ubuntu. It's going to take a lot of patience at first. Other than Portage, there aren't a lot of tools to help you out. My two suggestions are to read the instructions carefully and use the minimal install CD. If you've already burned a different installation CD (e.g. the Live CD), you can simply open a terminal on that and install from there. It's very helpful to have internet access on another PC or laptop during the installation so that you're not stranded on a brick, in case you mess up.

Oh yeah, and the genkernel program is the way to go, especially if this is the first kernel you've ever compiled (use the lspci program to see which modules you need). I wish you sincere good luck. It only took me one try. The instructions the Gentoo team provides are that good. If you ever have a problem, they're the best group of people to get tech support from.

[southernman]

Thank you for your time, bmartin! I dipped my toes in, for 18 hours roughly on two attempts. The first attempt was a busted grub install, so I took the easy way out (yeah right) and tried the whole thing again! The second attempt landed me on the grub splash screen, but soon landed with a bad file or bad filesystem error.

I don't mind waiting on Gnome, I am more comfortable with it.

The first time I *tried* to dl the stage3 tarball, the docs didn't make mention to push "d" for downloading it. I just hit enter and soon found out after reading ahead while waiting on it that I had pulled a I-D-10-T error! Great! I learnt something else the hard way!!! ;)

I opted to use for cfflags march=athlon-xp -03 -pipe. I'll probably just use the defaults this next time. For use flags, I just opted for what was suggested in the docs for an optimal gnome system. I'll have to pour back over the info page for other things that I'll be using I guess.

Did use the minimal cd. Really want to do a manual compilation of the kernel (though I did use genkernel the second round), but I have a whole lot of catching up to do for that task!

I won't quit now that I've started. Who in their right mind would let an inanimate object get the best of them?

[Foxmike]

Well, I've learned that other documents are a lot complementary to the Gentoo Handbook, as the ALSA how-to, Gensplash Howto and other... they mught give you some hints as well.

As of the USE flags, I went thru the whole list to see which ones I would like. It's a long process, but I guess that to get into it, there is a little work to do!;)

[bmartin]

I opted to use for cfflags march=athlon-xp -03 -pipe. I'll probably just use the defaults this next time. For use flags, I just opted for what was suggested in the docs for an optimal gnome system. I'll have to pour back over the info page for other things that I'll be using I guess.
That's probably a good start. -O3 is fine; most of your performance gain is due to the flags set by -O2; many -O3 binaries are slower than their -O2 counterparts and it takes the compiler longer to do its job with -O3... I doubt it's worth it. You'd see more gain by setting your hardware acceleration flags, like -mmmx -msse -m3dnow or whatever's appropriate for your architecture. See your architecture at this page (http://www.getswiftfox.com/releases.htm) for a list of flags that are appropriate for your processor.

Are you up-and-running with Gentoo now?

[dbodner]

I still use Gentoo. In fact, I only use it for servers. I am currently testing out Ubuntu server edition but it's just not the same. I really do prefer a source based distro for servers since you have 100% control of how a particular service is installed and with what support. In the end, as long as Gentoo exists, I will use it. Same applies to Ubuntu.

Hate bringing up a very old thread, but I think it's good for discussion. I'm pretty much in the same boat. Gentoo can be a little bit frustrating from an X/DE perspective, but I absolutely love the power of portage. I currently run Ubuntu (well, Xubuntu) on my desktop at home, and on my laptop. I run Gentoo on my workstation at work, and all my servers. Some people think it's odd that I use distros on complete opposite ends of the spectrum on an every day basis, but I think that's exactly what Linux is about. The right tool for the right job, and the flexibility to use what works best.

I find Gentoo a little cumbersome with X, a DE, and in a desktop environment. There's control, and then there's micromanagement. and I think sometimes on a desktop there's a little too much micromanagement. And in a desktop environment portage's failure to handle reverse dependencies becomes a little more problematic IMO. But I often times change my opinion on Gentoo in a desktop environment, so next week I may find it's great to have the control, and that it's not too much micromanagement ;)

In a server environment, I find portage an absolutely fantastic tool, to the point where when I work on binary systems it's frustrating. I have virtually never had to compile something by hand on a Gentoo server, and yet still get the customization to do anything I want. In fact, I find my installs have more junk in them then when I compile things manually by hand, as I spend more time looking at the available use flags than I do the compile time options in an INSTALL file. Sure, doing updates can be a cumbersome process if you have a large server fleet (running emerge -Du world blindly is scary, and compile times when doing things manually can take a while), but when you get it down, it's not too bad to manage. This (other than reverse dependency) is the only real downside to having a Gentoo server.

Oh, and the documentation and user communities are fantastic.

Gentoo and Ubuntu are definitely the two distributions that keep my interest the most currently. I like Arch as well, but it's not as mature as either of these. I also like to play around and test drive OpenBSD and Fedora (which has a lot of great development, even if I wouldn't want to use it on my desktop or in a production environment) just to see what's happening on those fronts.

[durrell]

I definitely agree about Portage. I absolutely love Portage, even though sometimes I have to manually unmask a package..it's just so awesome. It's by far the best package manager I have used.

As far as Gentoo as a whole goes, I mainly use it as my "learning" or "hobby" distro. I've been using Ubuntu since May, and made the mistake of giving Gentoo a shot really early in my foray into Linux. I got really frustrated with things that didn't work, but looking back, it was all due to user error and lack of experience. Since then I have done pretty much everything, from compiling my own kernel to the full Gentoo command line install. The kernel was pretty awesome because it really showed me the advantage to having everything built in as opposed to having modules loaded. My boot time reduced by 13 seconds and I learned a lot about the kernel itself.

The best thing about Gentoo is it has given me a TON of confidence in the Terminal. After using Gentoo fairly often for about 2 months, I feel like as long as I have a terminal I can do pretty much anything I want from a Live CD or inside of an install. Honestly, I have gotten so used to using the Terminal that in Ubuntu now I use it for most everything I do. Specifically installing packages, mounting and unmounting partitions, etc. It's just so easy to have one term and be able to do anything.

The Gentoo documentation is first class, it really parallels Ubuntu. I currently dual boot Ubuntu 7.10 and Gentoo, but my main OS is Ubuntu. Mainly because I feel at home in Ubuntu and because I have several new users that look to me for advice concerning Ubuntu, so it's easiest for me to be able to be in Ubuntu as I'm helping them.

I've tried everything from Slack to Fedora, to Gentoo, Ubuntu, DSL, everything..and Ubuntu remains my favorite. But I still like to mess around in Gentoo fairly often because it's fun. :p

[shane2peru]

Hey this is an old thread but some good reading. I'm rather new to Gentoo, and have really enjoyed the learning experience that it has given me. I have completely installed it twice now. I wiped my first installation as I made the mistake of trying to learn a new Desktop Environment with a new, really different distro. I will have to say that Gentoo has the greatest documentation I have seen. I have tried Suse, Fedora, Ubuntu, Puppy Linux, Mandrake (Mandriva), PCLinuxOS, and Gentoo. I keep coming back to Ubuntu for it's ease of use, quick setup. I use Gentoo, because of the great learning experience, and I can log in and use partimage to backup my Ubuntu installation, and in Ubuntu I use partimage to backup my Gentoo installation, they scratch each other's back!


Shane

[felix_beatageist]

1. As the OP said it was the occasional fixes that had to be done after doing a sync that made me want to switch. Particularly the recent expat upgrade. Becomes frustrating over time.
2. I do not use Gentoo any more.
3. Gentoo is good for learning. Very flexible and you can basically
have what you want. Portage is the best package manager I've used in 7 years of Linux distros. Good docs, forum and wiki.
Ubuntu "just works" and is very impressive at installing and configuring your system.
4. Yes. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more
about how Linux works and anyone who wants a "custom tailored" OS. Came to Gentoo after doing Linux From Scratch (LFS) a few times. Now *that* is where you learn!
5. Used Gentoo for three years. Ran it on the same machine for over two years - a mixture of stable and unstable packages.

[happysmileman]

1. Curiosity mainly, and wanted to see whether the extra effort was worth the speed increase, it was
2. Yes, never looked back once I got KDE working
3. Gentoo is better for me, Ubuntu is better for most people I'd say, but for tech-savvy people or people interested in speed or learning
4. Yes, but not to most people, I'd never give my friends Gentoo, they'd get Ubuntu from me
5. Since August, but only as my main OS since September

[gasparov]

1) I'd liked the out-of-the box idea
2)YES
3)Ubuntu is fast to mantain and has the best community but is damn buggy (no hibernate on my laptop and no virtual consoles, the related bug was opened in october).However is very good for new ubuntu users
4)Generally I don't do that with any distro
5) since 2006

[trimeta]

1. N/A; Gentoo was my first distro (aside from an abortive experiment with Red Hat back in 2002) and I still use it.
2. Yes
3. Gentoo is a "fun" distro to run; I enjoy tweaking it and trying carefully to install only the packages and dependencies I want. It's also a bit easier to modify packages. For example, if I want a new version of something, I usually just need to find the ebuild, rename it, and modify a few settings. Or if someone posts a patch, I can easily modify the ebuild to incorperate it. I also like the rolling update system, at least on a primary machine; I don't want to have to wait for the next KDE release before I get my new version of Firefox or the kernel.
That said, I don't know if it would remain fun to run Gentoo on more than one system, or on production servers where downtime means more than "oops, switch to a different computer for a while." For this reason, I've got Ubuntu Server on my servers, and have been very happy with it; I need only log in every few days and update && upgrade to make sure everything's working. I use Ubuntu as my "fire & forget" distro, and Gentoo when I want a more hands-on experience.
4. Frankly, I've stopped recommending Gentoo to all but the more technical of my friends. Getting a Gentoo system running for the first time without any previous experience with the distro is probably going to require help, either from a friend or the IRC channel, and I only recommend Gentoo to friends I think I can probably coach through the process. For everyone else, there's Ubuntu.
5. I've been using Gentoo since 2004.

[Anubis]

I used Gentoo when it first came out, with the Livecd with UT2002 on it, still have the disk. I did not leave Gentoo until Ubuntu came out, and have been with Gentoo ever since.

The differences between the two are strictly in peoples heads. They are both Linux Oses with different ways of doing the same thing. Most just use Gentoo because they like to gloat over other users. Once you get past that juvenile factor, your ready to just get to work, without staring at your screen watching Gnome compile. This is such a tired comparison.

And please stop with this "Ubuntu has bloat" nonsense. Define "bloat"? If bloat is applications you don't want or use installed, guess what? Don't install them? Install from the server cd and then pull down only what you want to use. But comparing apples to oranges is so silly, its all fruit from the same garden.:roll:

[deepclutch]

Isnt that many are claiming problems with Gnome-2.22??I mean it is very slow,resource usage shoots up opening nautilus etc :S not a distro specific problem though :-|
http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84565

[paulr]

>1. If you have switched, why did you switch?

For all Gentoo's strong points, it's hassle ; things break, they are semi-fixed, things break again. It is usually repairable via the forums. It just gets in the way of doing stuff sometimes.

>2. Do you still use Gentoo?

No.

>3. What is your overall comparison of the 2?

Ubuntu:
Pro : Stability, Up to date, Quick 'n' Easy Install, 64-bit significantly stabler, more solid "management" structures, good hardware detection, good eye candy, can generally be relied on to work.
Con: Slower (noticeable but not important), not set up for Dev-Libs easily, 32-bit still aimed at i386, occasional hassles over things like codecs

Gentoo:
Pro : Speed, Configurability (a little over-rated in reality), Low level Learning Experience, Forums excellent.
Con: Breaks regularly, updates are slow because of all the possible configurations, internal wrangling, full install takes 20+ hours, updates sometimes cause damage way beyond their actual significance.

>4. Do you still recommend Gentoo?

..... for tinkerers, yes, if you want a system up quick and working, no.

>5. How long have you used Gentoo?

Off and on 3 or 4 years.

[Growlizing]

1. Been using Ubuntu for a month now, after 4 years of gentoo. Changed from gentoo to Ubuntu on my laptop, as I had ended up with both gnome, kde 3.5, kde 4.0 and kde4-svn on my gentoo-install :p Was just too much for my old 1,7 GHz laptop. My root directory was up to a staggering 10 GB for just the system. Felt like I did nothing but compile in the end, and I didn't see myself actually cleaning it up. It's also been about 2 years since I seriously tried using another distro. Ubuntu caught me with this release, so now I'm wondering how long it will last ;) It might last a while though.

2. Still run gentoo on my server and mythtv-box, and they're staying :popcorn:

3. Each one has it's use. Gentoo if you actually need control over the box, though I never tried ubuntu server.

4. Tough one. Depends on the user. If it's someone I really believe can handle living with Gentoo, I certainly do my part of preaching from the good gentoo book ;) But for a normally interested person? No, I'd rather recommend Ubuntu or OpenSUSE (!).

5. Since 2004.0.

[gigatony]

1. If you have switched, why did you switch?
Not really switched, got a laptop from my work, needed an easy to use distro.

2. Do you still use Gentoo?
Yup, although less active since the machine is at my moms place.

3. What is your overall comparison of the 2?
Different distro's, hard to compare. Ubuntu is sure a breeze to install(I've also had to install Vista/XP last week), but I still do miss default developer applications. It's nice to see that everything just works although I'm eager to tweak here and there and wondering how everything is connected/working.

I'm also going to give Sabayon a try, curious if anyone compared them?

4. Do you still recommend Gentoo?
Yup, it's good to learn from and although I haven't tried Ubuntu server edition, I'd definitely recommend it for anyone building a server or using old hardware.

5. How long have you used Gentoo?

+/- 3 years. User gnu/linux overall about 6-8. Used SuSE first but got fed up with broken rpm's and no up-to-date repo.

[DigitalDuality]

I started with Ubuntu, but branched out to Fedora and Suse, and eventually Gentoo. Gentoo was an educational experience and I do like the distro a good bit and can see where it can be used.

Unfortunately, it's not a good distro for day to day productivity for home & work. If I need a new application to perform a task, I don't feel like wasting time compiling. I don't like spending days to get the system setup, rather than an hour.

For a server that performs a rather static function and just needs updates occassionally, sure, Gentoo would be great. But I doubt I'll use it as my desktop again.

[Frak]

I use Sabayon re-enabled to use portage. The reason I use Sabayon instead of regular Gentoo is just because of the need for a quickly installed, up-and-working system. I've always had problems with Gentoo for its broken-ness, even in the stable releases.

The reason why I use Sabayon/Gentoo though is purely just for cross-compiling purposes. I am not a fan of portage in the least, if at all, but it does have a very strong advantage in the cross-platforming field of other-archs/mobile devices.

My work depends on my office, so I use Windows XP. My work depends on my cross-platforming ability, so I use Sabayon/Gentoo. I depend on my own entertainment, for that I use Debian/Windows.

[handy]

I use Sabayon as opposed to Gentoo, because it is so easy. Though Sabayon 3.5 won't install on my hardware, whereas 3.4a, e & f handle my difficult box better than any other distro'.

When I attempted to install Gentoo, it would not install.

I use Arch for pleasure & the learning experience; I also prefer pacman to portage as it is quicker.

[regomodo]

I use Arch for pleasure & the learning experience; I also prefer pacman to portage as it is quicker.

Not a fair comparison. You mean installing binaries is quicker than compiling.

[handy]

Not a fair comparison. You mean installing binaries is quicker than compiling.

I don't know about how fair it is, I was just mentioning my personal preference.

I much prefer using pacman/yaourt/tupac to portage for a variety of reasons, including the speed of doing things, & the rolling release system of Arch, that pacman & co' are an integral part of.

I'm not attempting to start an Arch vs Gentoo flame war by the way. I think is more than great that we have so many choices. Sometime in the future I may choose to play with Gentoo & be wrapped in the experience... Who knows what the future holds?

[yabbadabbadont]

I don't know about how fair it is, I was just mentioning my personal preference.

I much prefer using pacman/yaourt/tupac to portage for a variety of reasons, including the speed of doing things, & the rolling release system of Arch, that pacman & co' are an integral part of.

I'm not attempting to start an Arch vs Gentoo flame war by the way. I think is more than great that we have so many choices. Sometime in the future I may choose to play with Gentoo & be wrapped in the experience... Who knows what the future holds?

The next time you decide to give gentoo a try, use any live CD/DVD other than the gentoo one... knoppix or systemrescuecd are good choices. Next, unless you aren't particularly fond of your existing partitions on all of your disks, avoid the automatic installer. In the long run, it is faster to do it manually. Finally, don't use a stage3 file from one of the official mirrors. They are already out of date and you'll have some very difficult upgrades to deal with if you do. Instead, get your stage3 file from Daniel Robbin's funtoo.org website. (he was the founder of gentoo) He has an automated system that builds up to date stage3 files every week.

Have fun.

[handy]

The next time you decide to give gentoo a try, use any live CD/DVD other than the gentoo one... knoppix or systemrescuecd are good choices. Next, unless you aren't particularly fond of your existing partitions on all of your disks, avoid the automatic installer. In the long run, it is faster to do it manually. Finally, don't use a stage3 file from one of the official mirrors. They are already out of date and you'll have some very difficult upgrades to deal with if you do. Instead, get your stage3 file from Daniel Robbin's funtoo.org website. (he was the founder of gentoo) He has an automated system that builds up to date stage3 files every week.

Have fun.

Thanks Yabbadabbadon't, I have bookmarked your post for future reference. Which may actually inspire me to PM you to see if anything has changed in the mean time, if & when the day comes that I feel inspired to have another go at Gentoo.

Thanks again. :)

[regomodo]

I don't know about how fair it is, I was just mentioning my personal preference.

I much prefer using pacman/yaourt/tupac to portage for a variety of reasons, including the speed of doing things, & the rolling release system of Arch, that pacman & co' are an integral part of.

I'm not attempting to start an Arch vs Gentoo flame war by the way. I think is more than great that we have so many choices. Sometime in the future I may choose to play with Gentoo & be wrapped in the experience... Who knows what the future holds?
+1

That's what i did in the end, after a painful time sticking strictly to the gentoo handbook. Did mine through puppy linux.

[trimeta]

I much prefer using pacman/yaourt/tupac to portage for a variety of reasons, including the speed of doing things, & the rolling release system of Arch, that pacman & co' are an integral part of.

Portage is also a rolling release system, so this isn't an advantage of Arch over Gentoo. Though I'll be honest, there are some distinct advantages to a binary distro versus a source-based one, and I can definitely see a place for Arch.

[regomodo]

Though I'll be honest, there are some distinct advantages to a binary distro versus a source-based one, and I can definitely see a place for Arch.

Yeah. Arch is good if you want to build a custom system like Gentoo. I sued it for a while but the constant segfaults and things not working as they should annoyed me enough to go to Gentoo.

[handy]

Portage is also a rolling release system, so this isn't an advantage of Arch over Gentoo. Though I'll be honest, there are some distinct advantages to a binary distro versus a source-based one, and I can definitely see a place for Arch.

So what did you just say?

[trimeta]

So what did you just say?

When people describe Arch as a "rolling release" distro, this means that new updates to software are put in the repository as they happen, not on some fixed schedule. This contrasts with most distros (such as Ubuntu, SuSE, Red Hat, and Mandriva) which have periodic releases (every 6 months, in the case of Ubuntu). Thus, with an Ubuntu system some of your packages might be as much as 6 months out-of-date (though security fixes are backported), while on Arch, this will never happen. (And yes, I know about the backports repository, but if you know about that you already know what I'm saying.) Anyway, Gentoo (like Arch) is a rolling release distro; new ebuilds are published as soon as the relevant QA person has updated the old ebuild and verified that it still works with the new version. In fact, as has come up in this thread, the concept of "releases" is so peripheral to the Gentoo experience that one can install, update, and use Gentoo without ever using anything produced by Gentoo's Release Engineering team. So it doesn't make sense to say you prefer Arch to Gentoo because of Arch's rolling releases; Gentoo has those too.

My second sentence reflected that while rolling releases aren't a reason to prefer Arch over Gentoo, there do exist legitimate reasons for making that choice. You cite "the speed of doing things," and this is certainly a relevant concern: emerging a single package with Portage can take hours, while updating your whole system with Pacman should never take that long. I personally prefer the greater flexibility of Gentoo, along with the ease of creating new ebuilds as I desire, but most distros have their strengths, and if that strength is most important to you, you should use that distro.

[handy]

When people describe Arch as a "rolling release" distro, this means that new updates to software are put in the repository as they happen, not on some fixed schedule. This contrasts with most distros (such as Ubuntu, SuSE, Red Hat, and Mandriva) which have periodic releases (every 6 months, in the case of Ubuntu). Thus, with an Ubuntu system some of your packages might be as much as 6 months out-of-date (though security fixes are backported), while on Arch, this will never happen. (And yes, I know about the backports repository, but if you know about that you already know what I'm saying.) Anyway, Gentoo (like Arch) is a rolling release distro; new ebuilds are published as soon as the relevant QA person has updated the old ebuild and verified that it still works with the new version. In fact, as has come up in this thread, the concept of "releases" is so peripheral to the Gentoo experience that one can install, update, and use Gentoo without ever using anything produced by Gentoo's Release Engineering team. So it doesn't make sense to say you prefer Arch to Gentoo because of Arch's rolling releases; Gentoo has those too.

Yes, I agree.

Sabayon certainly does have releases, making Sabayon quite different to Gentoo in that regard, as well as the installation method of course.



My second sentence reflected that while rolling releases aren't a reason to prefer Arch over Gentoo, there do exist legitimate reasons for making that choice. You cite "the speed of doing things," and this is certainly a relevant concern: emerging a single package with Portage can take hours, while updating your whole system with Pacman should never take that long. I personally prefer the greater flexibility of Gentoo, along with the ease of creating new ebuilds as I desire, but most distros have their strengths, and if that strength is most important to you, you should use that distro.

Yep.

Thanks for expanding. :)

[gasparov]

There are some releases in gentoo too but they are not about the packages , it should be something about supported flags by the devs or similar....probably this thing made confusion.

[flynnguy]

1. If you have switched, why did you switch?
Ubuntu is quicker to install, especially for a desktop environment.

2. Do you still use Gentoo?
Yes, I still use it and prefer it if I have the time to install and want to squeeze all the performance out of a machine.

3. What is your overall comparison of the 2?
I actually find Gentoo's portage system better than Ubuntu's deb system as I can configure things exactly the way I want and easily upgrade. (Rather than have to spend days trying to get the latest version of ffmpeg compiled right on ubuntu and never upgrade it again) I installed ubuntu at work for my primary desktop because I didn't want to do the lengthier install and ubuntu is pretty decent. (Probably second favorite distro)

4. Do you still recommend Gentoo?
Yes, see above.

5. How long have you used Gentoo?
I think 2-3 years but I've been using linux since about 1995.

[bfc]

1. If you have switched, why did you switch?

I really don't have time and/or desire to troubleshoot, maintain and configure a Gentoo install

2. Do you still use Gentoo?
No, but for some sick, twisted reason, I have a hankering to install it again.

3. What is your overall comparison of the 2?

There both Linux. They run the same software. Comparing Linux distributions IMHO is like comparing MS Vista to itself.

4. Do you still recommend Gentoo?

No

5. How long have you used Gentoo?

3 years on my desktop (2002 to 2005), 4 years on my server (2002 to 2006)

[damonVT]

1. If you have switched, why did you switch?
I figured compiling everything must use a lot more electricity than installing binaries. See also Q3.

2. Do you still use Gentoo?
No, but I may go back.

3. What is your overall comparison of the 2?
(K)ubuntu had features I didn't know about. e.g. there are a few ways to get automounting going, and last I had tried, I didn't find any satisfying, so I was doing it by hand. Well Kubuntu/KDE4 does it rather slick. I'm sure Gentoo could do this too, but users have to find out about stuff like that and set it up themselves. I don't feel like spending my time seeing if useful new features are available.

HOWEVER, for some reason I can't get my ATI RV350 to use flgrx under ubuntu so 3D apps like SketchUp crawl, and my ipw2200 wireless driver always crashes within an hour in ubuntu. These two major drivers worked fine for me under Gentoo but not ubuntu, and since ubuntu tries to manage everything with minimal user input, I find troubleshooting more difficult than under Gentoo.

Oh and one more thing I'm reminded of by the obnoxious animated smilies aside this post. The Gentoo forums are fantastic, and generally have the answer to whatever you may be asking. Ubuntu, on the other hand, has several places the answer might be, since my kubuntu questions are often really ubuntu questions, and there's other derivatives too. Furthermore there seems to be a decent amount of misinformation on the ubuntu forums and seemingly very few people who really understand the problems and solutions.

4. Do you still recommend Gentoo?
Yes, whether or not I'm using it, I would recommend it to people who want to know how their computer works. Regardless of my distribution of choice, I think blanket recommendations are irresponsible.

5. How long have you used Gentoo?
3 years I think, on two laptops sequentially.

[LinuxGuy1234]

1. I want to "start from scratch".
2. Yes.
3. Gentoo is more customizable but Ubuntu is "easy".
4. Yes, also with Linux from Scratch.
5. ~1 year now.

[gnomeuser]

What's up.

I'm wondering how other Gentoo users came about using Ubuntu.

1. If you have switched, why did you switch?
2. Do you still use Gentoo?
3. What is your overall comparison of the 2?
4. Do you still recommend Gentoo?
5. How long have you used Gentoo?


1. I switched to Fedora, basically it was as fast and there was no compiling. I could focus my time on more interesting areas of Linux than using gcc as a screensaver.
2. No, not at all
3. Gentoo is for people who have very specific use cases, if you need Gentoo you will know, if not stay away. Fedora however can be approached by everyone.
4. No
5. A couple of years

Some might know me as Lovechild or playfool on the Gentoo Forums, I used to be quite active there. I also maintained a kernel patchset called love-sources under Gentoo which got some popularity.