Linux Question

[RvX]

Is there much difference with speed between Ubuntu 6.10 and Gentoo? I have 1GHz and 512 MB ram and want to know if Gentoo will be much faster than my current Xubuntu Edgy Eft... In Ubuntu I like repositories - I can install and upgrade applications very fast or uninstall them quickly if I have to...

[Kyougi]

Is there much difference with speed between Ubuntu 6.10 and Gentoo? I have 1GHz and 512 MB ram and want to know if Gentoo will be much faster than my current Xubuntu Edgy Eft... In Ubuntu I like repositories - I can install and upgrade applications very fast or uninstall them quickly if I have to...

Gentoo's system is faster because everything is compiled from source. However, if you wish to quickly install something, that's going to be a problem, especially with a 1GHz processor. Emerge is like the source equivilent of apt-get. It detects what dependencies you need and compiles them before it compiles the program. It takes a lot of time to install and upgrade, however, I believe the speed boost is worth it.

[Maxdamantus]

Actually.. I didn't find it taking too long to compile. Only about 40 minutes on a 2.4GHz P4.. Do other distribs take longer? Also, as I said before, it wasn't hard to install.. Just click the Install from Terminal on LiveCD (Couldn't get GUI installer working), pick a few options, and go.

[kalamarko92]

My best:

1. Ubuntu (order: shipit.ubuntu.com)

2. Kubuntu (order: shipit.kubuntu.com)

Linux kernel:

www.kernel.org

kalamarko92

[Kyougi]

Actually.. I didn't find it taking too long to compile. Only about 40 minutes on a 2.4GHz P4.. Do other distribs take longer? Also, as I said before, it wasn't hard to install.. Just click the Install from Terminal on LiveCD (Couldn't get GUI installer working), pick a few options, and go.

You realise that you have the world's record for Gentoo installation, right (exaggeration). Most people's Gentoo installation takes 3-4 hours, all the way up to a day. Forty minutes is blazing fast for Gentoo.

 

Unless you're talking about installing software, in which forty minutes is a long [bleeped!] time to install something. In nonsource-based distros (pretty much everything but Gentoo), it takes whatever time it takes to download a package from a repository, and somewhere between under a minute to a few minutes to install the software itself.

[RvX]

Is there much difference with speed between Ubuntu 6.10 and Gentoo? I have 1GHz and 512 MB ram and want to know if Gentoo will be much faster than my current Xubuntu Edgy Eft... In Ubuntu I like repositories - I can install and upgrade applications very fast or uninstall them quickly if I have to...

Gentoo's system is faster because everything is compiled from source. However, if you wish to quickly install something, that's going to be a problem, especially with a 1GHz processor. Emerge is like the source equivilent of apt-get. It detects what dependencies you need and compiles them before it compiles the program. It takes a lot of time to install and upgrade, however, I believe the speed boost is worth it.

I was trying to install Gentoo from minimal CD, stage3, but so far with no success. I have compiled the kernel but nothing more... Is installation from LIVE CD easier for such beginners as I am?

[Kyougi]

I was trying to install Gentoo from minimal CD, stage3, but so far with no success. I have compiled the kernel but nothing more... Is installation from LIVE CD easier for such beginners as I am?

Gentoo isn't for beginners, period.

[RvX]

Everyone was sometime a beginner. I have been using Linux (Ubuntu in my case) for 9 months, so I am not absolute beginner. I just wanted to ensure if installation from LIVE CD is easier.

[Kyougi]

Everyone was sometime a beginner. I have been using Linux (Ubuntu in my case) for 9 months, so I am not absolute beginner. I just wanted to ensure if installation from LIVE CD is easier.

Yes, I know I was once a beginner, but did I start with Gentoo when I was a beginner? No. I'll repeat myself again, Gentoo is not for beginners.

 

Just a side thing, I don't count Ubuntu as a Linux experience.

 

Using the Live CD is no different from using the text installer, unless you just hate the CLI interface. You still have to compile the kernel, modules, dependencies, xwindow, xwindow managers, programs, etc. You still have to edit xorg to boot XDM, GDM, or whatever you would like to use to boot by default if you want a graphical login and if you want certain control. You still have to make sure all of your drivers compile. You still have to edit your fstab to add in your drives. You get absolutely no bonus in using the graphical install, besides circumventing a text install, if you're scared of that.

[RvX]

Hello world!

I am now on Arch Linux, it's pretty cool. I chose it because of speed (it is built for i686 architecture), I don't need to compile anything, I just write "pacman -Sy application" and it installs what I want

[naynesh]

Are there any other things like windows any linux???

[Kelso]

Are there any other things like windows any linux???

 

Huh?

 

Do you mean "Are there any options for i686 cpus besides Linux"?

 

Yes. You can install (Open) Solaris, or a hacked version of OSX86 (Mac OS X for Intel). Of course, that's not exactly legal...

 

I use Ubuntu, just because its painless and you don't need to configure stuff. For blazing speed, use (Open) Solaris. It can run Java natively, if you can believe it!

[kasar]

But to get Gentoo running, all you need to do is boot up the LiveCD, and run the installer, where you choose a few options, and programs to pre-install, and it will do what it's meant to do..

 

Then, boot it up from where you installed it, and it includes Portage, which automatically installs most programs for you. For example, you can install Firefox by simply going:

emerge -av firefox

And it will ask you if you want to download the specific amount, and if you choose yes, it will download it, then compile it for you, as you sit back, and continue doing what you were doing. Gentoo is the first distro I have properly installed to Hard Disk, and it's easy to use and understand.

Ubuntu is a more user-friendly distro. Gentoo requires either some knowledge in Linux or time to figure everything out. Not only that, compiling the base from source takes a while, not something a new person to Linux wants to do.

For me the bests linux are MANDRIVA, OPENSUSE, SUSE and FEDORA

[Kelso]

I found that distros that use LiveCD's that run the OS itself are better that regular installer CDs because they are faster. The Ubuntu LiveCD is really nice because you can fix GRUB, download patches, and partition the boot partition without consequence (Unless you do something stupid). They also tend to be much smaller and therefore easier to download. Whereas in an installer DVDs, you have to download five CDs worth of ISOs. Ouch!

 

 

Whatever you go with, I tend to stick with LiveCDs whenever possible.

 

 

 

A side note: Most the differences in distros come in their package installers. Some, like Red Hat's (when I used it) tend to be a pain, and you have to download every package separately. YUM didn't exist back then. Debian/Ubuntu work great, just a sudo apt-get install packagename away. Most software can be converted from distro to distro (Think Alien), so installers are the only difference. The look and feel are all on http://www.gnome-look.org/ and http://www.kde-look.org/, so Look and Feel is the same. Compiz Fusion/XGL: Ditto.

 

What do you think?

[infinity]

Live CDs are only used by most people to troubleshoot, but I find it fun to play around with. Otherwise, I'll stick with a regular Linux OS.