Considering installing....

[Wesley/g]

I tried once but i did bad I was wondering if people think it would be worth it to go from slackware to gentoo if i want even more speed and customizability, and less used disc space. Also is upgrading good (easy)? Is there any non-impossible way of a installation here that a 4-month linux user could manage?

[genesus]

I used slackware for a long time and recently switched to gentoo. It is wonderful and very fast. If you follow the handbook you will be able to do it, but you probably will have some problems...but we will be able to help you out with that. Slackware is very very fast, and so is gentoo...you may not notice much of a performance difference; however, while slackware is pretty vanilla, gentoo is the most customizeable distro immaginable. Nothing is installed unless you install it and compile it, with portage though this is a cinch.

you should definately give gentoo a go...read the handbook, dl and print a hard copy and go through it and make lots of notes...trust me, much easier than alt tabbing into another virtual terminal.

Another bonus: a single command updates portage, and a single command updates your entire system...how is that for ease

[uchihasasuke]

Installing Gentoo is easy while at the same time is an excellent learning opportunity. Installing Gentoo is a cake walk if your reading from the manual, as long as you have the basic knowledge of a *NIX operating system. I don't recommend Gentoo Linux to a brand new computer user or a long time Windows user, however, if you have read enough about *NIX or you have previous experience with a *NIX OS, then I would definitely recommend Gentoo Linux. There are a few tricky (NOT HARD) parts in the Gentoo installation, you will need to have general knowledge of your computer's hardware (processor type, sound & graphics chipsets, etc.), but the end results are a very fast, reliable, and easy to use Linux OS. Portage is an excellent feature of Gentoo that downloads, compiles, and installs software all automatically with one single command, and because Gentoo is enhanced for your specific hardware, all software compiles and runs faster (IMHO) than on any other OS ('cept for OS X).

[genesus]

Hell I think its alot faster to OSX...gentoo will run on what 32mb memory, while OSX tiger requires at least 256mb...I don't think an OS that runs with that requirement can come close to a gentoo compile...not to bash OSX though its much better than other commercial alternatives, bet a ppc with gentoo would outrun any osx though

[loft306]

Another bonus: a single command updates portage, and a single command updates your entire system...how is that for ease

then there are other commands for maintaining the health of the system but all in all it is a realy easy and cool distro to run...
and has been said you only get what you want so that is what makes it so fast......no bs that u dont need or want custom built everytime!

one command to install a package and it d/l's it's dep's, d/l's it, configres it, complies it, make's it & make install's it......then with a little config editing on some pkg's your ready to go!

[Wesley/g]

Can I view installed packages/sources whatever they are referred to in gentoo? Also, im having some trouble with tinkering around my own kernel modifications. Is there a way that I can I go from the vanilla kernel to my own modded one?