[carlwill]

I am very new to linux and have been using Fedora Core 2 for a few months...I like Fedora Core but you can read the following review & I feel the same exact same way...

I didn't care for this release. Fedora just isn't for me. I appreciate the work that the volunteers put into it, and I think they have put together a nice system. There is just too much that doesn't make sense to me. If I am going for ease of use, why do I have to work to get basic programs installed? If you are going to hold my hand, hold it the entire time. If you are giving me a crippled system for patent and licensing reasons, tell my why and how to easily get around it. Ultimately, it is a shame that a distribution is done so well, but lacking in basic functionality. Fedora should decide who they are aiming their distribution at. If it is novice users, then focus on them and their needs. If they want veteran users, take some of the hand holding away. I can easily install the programs I have complained about being missing. The point of Fedora, I thought, was that I could just use it and not have to think about those things. If I am compiling programs, why not just run Slackware? If I want easy package management with some configuration, why not learn Arch? If I want an easy distro with all of my multimedia needs taken care of, why not run Mandrake. I guess the bottom line for me is: Why should I run Fedora? The new release doesn't answer that question.

How drastic is a change to Gentoo Linux from Fedora being a newb? I like Gentoo from what I read and Slackware seems to complex for me...just wondered what you guys thought...

[stathisx]

i use slackware and i think that it's not so difficult to set up.the only think that u have to consider is what u expect from an o.s.if u want something difficult to set up gentoo maybe is the one ur looking for...the installation is very detailed so u must know basic knowledge about the things ur gonna do..if u try it ,have a good luck,setting it up.and remember...it's not fedora!

[sarumont]

Gentoo is fairly easy to setup IF you follow the installation guide. Once you have it running, there is somewhat of a steep learning curve, but you will understand Linux much better when you have it set up the way you like it. Give it a shot!

[big_k105]

ok here is my take on this

gentoo is harder and more complex to isntall as there is no installer and you put it all together my hand but they have a wonderful installation manual that walks you thru the whole process and then setting up X is alittle more difficult as you have to configure it yourself but again the manual walks you thru this and once you have a fully functional gentoo system it is really easy to keep uptodate with the portage system that is built into gento. it is wonderful and makes installing and uninstalling stuff easy

slackware has an installer so it is alot easier to install and set up it gets everything running for you but it isnt as easy as say fedora is. but still pretty easy to work with. once you have a working system you dont have the one command install thing with slackware like you do with gentoo. but there are a bunch of 3rd party apps that allow for this kind of thing like swaret witch is like apt-get for debian or yum for fedora. and then there is another (cant think of its name right now) which is like the portage system for gentoo, actually it is a port of the portage system that gets everything from the same mirrors that the portage system for gentoo does

i have always wondered do you think if i used the portage port for slackware and did an emerge world i would change my system from slackware to gentoo? just something i was wondering

edit: i am currently using slackware but have ran both and decided i like slackware better cause im to lazy to wait to get gentoo running cause it will take you some time to do not just a install in 2 hours type of thing like most distros

[carlwill]

I really like what I've read about Slackware - so you think I should just download and install this knowing not too much about Linux and very eager and patient to learn ...?

[variant]

I am in total agreement with big_k but I also think that gentoo has a slight edge over slack..

[loft306]

Well not much more to say except if you do do gentoo then be nice to us and follow all the instructions in the handbook!

[kkubasik]

the name of the port of portage is emerde, i have to say that while the gentoo install can be a bit tedious and frustrating at first, if you stick to the manual, then its really no that hard, in addition to the wonderful portage system, during the install you encounter the USE variable, possibly making for the easiest way to optimize your system.

[gnuageux]

One thing that I'd warn you about is compile times. Initially it does seem like installing packages and what not takes longer on gentoo b/c you compile everything from source, to help ease the times check out ccache and distcc.