[ale] Gentoo?

Jeff Hubbs hbbs at attbi.com
Thu May 23 17:18:21 EDT 2002


I managed to get an AMD K6-2+/500 with 512MB RAM running Gentoo with X. 

I think Gentoo is interesting in that it's as much a software management
model as it is an OS distribution.  I think it would be worthwhile for
any situation where you need a computer to serve in a role in which
speed - that is, every last bit of speed - matters.  It's hard to beat
having every module, every driver, every library, and every app compiled
-O2 (IIRC) for your particular CPU.

It goes without saying that a Gentoo installation takes a while,
especially if you're also installing X.  The instructions recommend that
you take a nice nap at one juncture.  If you've ever thought about
water-cooling and overclocking, right before a Gentoo install might be a
good time.  

It helps a lot if you create a local Gentoo mirror for yourself before
you get started, especially if you think you might be doing the
installation more than once (either on purpose or because you screwed up
the first time badly, like I did :-) ).  I'd hate to try an install over
a modem connection.  

Remember that you can help compilation along by judicious use of the "-j
n" parameter of make.  Overdo it, though, and you will throw the machine
into paroxysms of swapping the likes of which you've never seen.  If you
just want to see what it's like for a Linux system to fly off into the
weeds, use "-j" with no parameter (unlimited simultaneous instances of
gcc).  I tried that once on a kernel compile on the aforementioned K6-2+
and the machine actually lived.  

- Jeff

On Thu, 2002-05-23 at 13:44, Mark Angeli wrote:
> Is anyone in the LUG running Gentoo?
> 
> Just curious to know your opinions of it....
> 
> Mark
> http://www.tinyminds.org
> 
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