From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1RXG31-0004O9-Re for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:40:21 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id EEFE421C166; Sun, 4 Dec 2011 17:39:58 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-ww0-f53.google.com (mail-ww0-f53.google.com [74.125.82.53]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 90FFA21C023 for ; Sun, 4 Dec 2011 17:37:45 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wgbds1 with SMTP id ds1so5534460wgb.10 for ; Sun, 04 Dec 2011 09:37:44 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:organization :x-mailer:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=cbhTLwYuISv7iWubfi/U47Sj5kYFZkKBGbkGe3axwg8=; b=l6jkFBGglYUMauEBAHcvSarpH4WSCLlzeE/gNDLPW98VVhvMnnKCWIOjKHSKTHnsLr ohF8maO3aknS/OXNvGtHqA4ks/g3RMjkGndjBW2CH4ZcHpPWDPFEdO8b53Ve8MPEOvny KoXnFk1zmzf282cjxKotR4UvmvNI5Sh+1zQvw= Received: by 10.180.80.162 with SMTP id s2mr9019328wix.27.1323020264668; Sun, 04 Dec 2011 09:37:44 -0800 (PST) Received: from rohan.example.com ([196.215.144.97]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id ep13sm23381002wbb.8.2011.12.04.09.37.42 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sun, 04 Dec 2011 09:37:43 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2011 19:37:27 +0200 From: Alan McKinnon To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: can one tell me: gentoo vs opensuse Message-ID: <20111204193727.50e82444@rohan.example.com> In-Reply-To: <4EDBAAE3.10001@wonkology.org> References: <2313650.7AYt18jPXV@localhost> <8762hw1mf3.fsf@newsguy.com> <20111204135528.6def805e@digimed.co.uk> <20111204180709.640c013f@rohan.example.com> <4EDBA31E.7060404@gmail.com> <4EDBAAE3.10001@wonkology.org> Organization: Internet Solutions X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.7.8 (GTK+ 2.24.4; x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 17dc707d-2ba2-4271-ae9c-8627a6924f6d X-Archives-Hash: f9f243ad39272738ed2fd5035728590d On Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:16:19 +0100 Alex Schuster wrote: > > No flames from me. I agree. I wouldn't recommend Gentoo to > > someone who has no, or even very little, Linux experience. Looking > > back, I was one heck of a noob when I installed Gentoo. It had to > > be fools luck that I got it done. Then again, the docs were, and > > still are, really good. You can dang near copy and paste the > > commands. > > I know some people who had very few experience with Linux. But they > succeeded in installing Gentoo. And they learnt a lot by doing so. If > you installed Gentoo, you know Linux. I think we all know at least one person like that. Myself, I've trained more than just a few (the training salesperson had a knack for signing up people who had the smarts to cope with Gentoo). But for every one like that, there are at least 10 more that can't, and so often in this game I find that others are just not able to spot those 10. And worse, the 10 often give up and go back to Windows. So the question is not really "can the user do it?", it is rather "how will *this* person in front of me right now be best served?" An equally good question is "does this person right now asking me a question have what it takes to dive into Gentoo blindly, and swim?" The answers to those questions are what should guide you. > That's what I like about Gentoo. You know what you are doing, and many > integral parts are easier to understand than with another distro, > where things are hidden by GUI config tools. Precisely, which is why RedHat is great for a Windows sysadmin who really does want a plug-n-play distro. Debian is great for people who want to tinker safely - you get the plug-n-play of a binary distro and you also get build tools that don't explode in your face every time you try do something that is not exactly 100% TheTrueRedHatWay. > But if you just want to have a Linux to play around with, go with a > binary distro. You can install Gentoo later if you like, even while > using the Linux you already have. If you have some space onthe disk to > add other partitions. Did I mention yet that LVM is nice for this? Don't forget VirtualBox/VMWare/KVM/Xen and everything else like them :-) -- Alan McKinnnon alan.mckinnon@gmail.com