gentoo?

[bighomer]

I recently posted about an issue with netzero. This issue is still unresolved. The only way I can access the internet right now is through xp. If anyone currently has netzero running on ubuntu, please tell me how

Well, what I would like to know is, do any of you guys here have any experience with gentoo? Is it good? Easy to use? About a month ago I downloaded Fedora 8 (yes, over dialup, it took me literally a week and a half!) and it wouldn't install. I don't think it's a media issue, but...whatever. Downloaded Ubuntu and it worked fine. Anyway, I ordered Fedora 8 along with a few other distros I was curious about.

The main reason I want Linux is to expand on my very limited programming experience, and, ultimately, to replace winblows. Can anyone tell me what they think about Gentoo? Or recommend a distro? I plan on putting a third (I'm considering Fedora 8 also) among xp and kubuntu. Any input, much appreciated.

[Rocket2DMn]

Gentoo is not really for beginners unless you're looking to jump in up to your eyes. It can be a hassle to setup and requires you to compile a lot of things yourself including the kernel, X (the GUI), and GNOME (the most popular desktop manager). That's not to say it's not a good system, it's very powerful, just a lot of work to setup.
I convinced my roommate to try out linux and he went with gentoo - he likes it, but it took him a really long time to get it set up correctly, it's a very steep learning curve.
Ubuntu is great because its ease of use and large support community (us!). It's a great replacement for windows.
I don't hvae an answer for your netzero problem though, you should start a new thread about that specifically.

[emarkd]

Gentoo is generally considered appropriate for more advanced users. It would be a good choice if you want to get your hands a little dirty and learn a lot in the process, but it's not for the faint of heart.

Fedora is a good choice. It's of the Red Hat line as Ubuntu is of the Debian line. Knowing Fedora and Ubuntu gives you a good balance of Linux knowledge that is applicable to many other distros.

Ultimately, the distro you choose is a very personal choice. http://www.distrowatch.com can point you to many popular choices.

[p_quarles]

Moved to Gentoo sub-forum

[anemptygun]

gentoo = 1337 |-|4><

[Whiffle]

I disagree with the two posts above me. Gentoo is GREAT for beginners, IF... and only IF, they're truely up for spending some time to make it work. Using Gentoo was the first time I was really able to sink my teeth into Linux (and its the first time it stuck, I havn't used windows as my main OS since). I stopped using it because I got tired of waiting for things to compile, but other than that its great. Gentoo documentation is top notch, as is portage. I'd be reluctant to try it if dial-up were my only internet connection though, although it might be less internet dependent nowadays, I'm not sure.

[Rocket2DMn]

My roommate here says it's still internet dependent, a connection is pretty much required for the install. It is possible to install without the internet, but would certainly not be easy or fast.

[bighomer]

Thanks for the replies guys.

PS - Sorry for posting in the wrong thread.

[yabbadabbadont]

It isn't really feasible to install Gentoo without a net connection. Although I used dial-up with Gentoo for quite a while, I would not recommend it to anyone. (using it with dial-up that is) Stick to the binary distributions as you will have to download much less data than with Gentoo.

[ECPCLINUX]

Hello, I'm by no means an expert, please keep that in mind while reading this post. I felt the fact that I'm not an expert would be helpful as to finding an easy Distro. I have used Ubuntu 6.10 and 7.10, Xandros 3.02 OCE, Freespire 2.0. I found Ubuntu 7.10 by far the easiest, I even got my Netgear WG111 v1 wireless USB adapter to work with the current Ubuntu 7.10. Xandros is not a difficult just not as easy as Ubuntu 7.10. Freespire was very easy but it seems like I can find answers easier at the Ubuntu Forum. Using CNR in Freespire is great for new people. If your itching to try a new Distro and want it to be easy try Freespire however, something tells me you'll be back to Ubuntu. Recently, I downloaded a copy of Zabayon 3.4f and it did not work, it looked like it was loading but it got stuck. I checked and it was a bad copy. Did you check the Fendora ISO file with the corresponding MD5? It might prove to be a bad copy. Consider buying a copy of Zabayon 3.4f , even eBay has people selling copies very cheap. As for Zabayon 3.4f, I have not install it yet nevertheless, I have read great things about it. However, unless you download the Mini version you might be a month downloading the full version using dial up since it's around 4.2GB, Definitely, one that would be worth considering buying (since is such a large file). About Nezero, I don't know the answer to that, sorry. Finally, about Gentoo I have not download it again nor install it. I have read about Gentoo and it seems stable but difficult for new people as mentioned by others here. Hope this helps at least a little.