[gentoo-dev] newbie advice

[gentoo-dev] newbie advice

[Robert Abel]

What do you think the odds are a linux newbie can successfully install and 
configure gentoo?  I have an old machine I am considering playing around 
with but, some reveiws on the net I have read say my chances of succeeding 
are horrible.  What is your opinion?

-Robert



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Re: [gentoo-dev] newbie advice

[Francisco Gimeno]

> What do you think the odds are a linux newbie can successfully install and 
> configure gentoo?  I have an old machine I am considering playing around 
> with but, some reveiws on the net I have read say my chances of succeeding 
> are horrible.  What is your opinion?

umm, what proccessor do you have?

Do you know how many time is compiling a full system?

About newbie or not... the install doc is marvellous... if you have some
experience with linux, you won't have any problem.

Slt!
Happy Gentooing!

KikoV

Re: [gentoo-dev] newbie advice

[Damien]

Le jeu 13/06/2002 à 16:51, Robert Abel a écrit :
> What do you think the odds are a linux newbie can successfully install and 
> configure gentoo?  I have an old machine I am considering playing around 
> with but, some reveiws on the net I have read say my chances of succeeding 
> are horrible.  What is your opinion?

Go and do it !!! I think that's the best way to learn. Maybe you'll have
to learn a lot of things to be able to configure correctly your system,
but if you have some time, then, after this, you'll surely know a lot
more about Linux.

Just don't forget to read the gentoo docs and in case of trouble:
http://www.tldp.org/ for checking the howto's wich are also a great
ressource when you have problem configuring something.

Hope you'll enjoy your time installing gentoo ;)

Damien

[gentoo-dev] Re: newbie advice

[Mark Gordon]

On Thu, 13 Jun 2002 10:51:11 -0400, "Robert Abel"
<robert__a82@hotmail.com> wrote:

>What do you think the odds are a linux newbie can successfully install and 
>configure gentoo?  I have an old machine I am considering playing around 
>with but, some reveiws on the net I have read say my chances of succeeding 
>are horrible.  What is your opinion?

If you are prepared to actually read the documentation and research
anything you don't understand you can probably do it. If you expect to
just press a few buttons and by magic have everything working, not a
chance. So read the installation guide and give it a go, the worst
that will happen is you have to re-format the HD and install a
different OS.
-- 
Mark Gordon

Re: [gentoo-dev] newbie advice

[Paul de Vrieze]

On Thursday 13 June 2002 17:18, Damien wrote:
> Le jeu 13/06/2002 à 16:51, Robert Abel a écrit :
> > What do you think the odds are a linux newbie can successfully install
> > and configure gentoo?  I have an old machine I am considering playing
> > around with but, some reveiws on the net I have read say my chances of
> > succeeding are horrible.  What is your opinion?
>
> Go and do it !!! I think that's the best way to learn. Maybe you'll have
> to learn a lot of things to be able to configure correctly your system,
> but if you have some time, then, after this, you'll surely know a lot
> more about Linux.
>

I agree, installing gentoo shouldn't be too difficult. Take care to carefully 
read (follow) the install docs. Some steps are essential, and thinks will not 
work until you do them. You cannot really destroy things though.

Paul

-- 
Paul de Vrieze
Junior Researcher
Mail: pauldv@cs.kun.nl
Homepage: http://www.devrieze.net

Re: [gentoo-dev] newbie advice

[Jean-Michel Smith]

On Thursday 13 June 2002 10:02 am, Francisco Gimeno wrote:
> > What do you think the odds are a linux newbie can successfully install
> > and configure gentoo?  I have an old machine I am considering playing
> > around with but, some reveiws on the net I have read say my chances of
> > succeeding are horrible.  What is your opinion?
>
> umm, what proccessor do you have?
>
> Do you know how many time is compiling a full system?
>
> About newbie or not... the install doc is marvellous... if you have some
> experience with linux, you won't have any problem.

I agree.  If you don't mind reading the instructions and getting your hands 
dirty, you'll do fine even as a newbie.

When I was a newbie the Linux kernel was at 0.48e or something, there weren't 
any distros out yet (though I think slackware was forming), and to use SCSI 
you had to hex edit a couple of bytes in the kernel.

All of which was much harder than installing Gentoo, so if you enjoy doing 
things by hand and don't mind going out for a cup of coffee while big 
packages compile, you'll have a great time and learn a lot.

Jean.