S-s-should I do it, Anons?

Used Gentoo for 15 years. Dropped it for NixOS 3 months ago, and not going back.
They were fun times though, not many regrets.

youtube videos are for fags, read the handbook you fucking nigger.

What if I can't read?

Gentoo's only workable with decent hardware, otherwise the compile times make it virtually unusable.
I did an install on a Core 2 Duo with 4GB DDR2 RAM for bantz and it took literal days to get to a basic desktop.

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Good to know friend.
I would have done it on my old PC

You can read 4 Chan comments

>3d logo
flat niggers btfo

gentoo or arch?

Sure, works fine.

I also have a 10 year old Core 2 Duo laptop, and it takes maybe half a day to get to my preferred desktop from stage3. Did you install Chromium and Firefox or something?

I'm using nix on Gentoo. I don't think I'll be switching to Nix soon.

The Nix CLI is a quite annoying and the package count not that high. Guix is a bit better, but it has an even lower package count. And on the sauce code building side, both aren't quite as easy as dealing with ebuilds.

Depends on what you want? Maybe Arch if you have to ask.

No don't do it. Install NetBSD if you want to actually learn about unix systems

Can you please be a bit more specific, as why I should prefer netBSD?

The netBSD install manual tells you everything you want to know about unix. Man pages like intro, afterboot, postinstall, hier aren't present on gentoo and give you a lot of info about basic unix administration. the pkgsrc is platform independent and doesn't rely on any central repo or anything. once the distfiles are installed in /usr/pkgsrc you basically have all the 30k+ packages available on your system, you can make install everything from now on without even worrying about dependencies. It also instructs you about how a bootloader works and how to setup the bootloader (or at least it tells you this in the netbsd/macppc handbook). It really depends on your needs: If you want the fastest distro possible for an old laptop dont bother with gentoo and just install a binary-based distro like arch or debian or something) If you want to learn about ho a unix system works, gentoo iw great but you'll learn even more with netBSD

Is Gentoo okay for low or mid powered hardware, or will the compile times kill you? Does everyone use the precompiled packages of Chromium/Firefox, or should you still build those yourself?

Based user. Thanks.
You convinced me to go for BSD now, since it seems that you know what you're talking about.
My main goal is indeed to really get the hang of UNIX and not get the most Performance out of an old PC

please consider taking your time before jumping in netbsd. Maybe you want to take a look at freeBSD or OpenBSD first.

Install it using another distro livecd tho.

I have gentoo on two 10 years old laptops. Compiling will take it's time, I usually leave them updating overnight. Not a problem tho and it feels the fastest distro so far.

Do you use any bin packages?

No, it’s not. It won’t tell you exactly what type of file systems to format your drives with, for one. So someone with probably zero knowledge like OP will maybe get past compiling the kernel just to find out it doesn’t fit in anything because the handbook is vague.

OP, it’s a meme OS. Truly for the absolutely most autistic. If this sounds like you, and you like having a computer that doesn’t do what you want it to do, install gentoo. It’s fun. In a slap bet kind of way.

Compiled kernel on my thinkpad x201 in about an hour. With genkernel all. Your hardware must literally be defective

Like most things, it's a good learning tool that should be put away once you understand what other tools just do for you.

You will get nowhere with netBSD if you are on the fence about a gentoo install. Do Arch and then move on

Have been using Gentoo for half a year already.
It is really fucking nice and comfortable. Yet i am getting somewhat annoyed with update cycles lately. Having to spend 2+ hours on trying to find which unchecked USE flags prevent me from running virtualbox or getting Valgrind to work because glibc needs debug symbols doesn't help either.

Are there any other highly customizable but less 'hardcore' distros?
I am thinking of returning to Debian with headless install but i don't want to return to systemd.
Is Devuan any good?

Pls no arch

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>virtualbox
Why would you do such a thing to yourself? Just run Qemu like everyone else.

Nope. On my main rig I have ryzen 1700 and the laptops are dual core intels. I've set up distcc so the poor laptops won't be tortured so much. It's much faster that way.

exherbo

>distcc
Thanks for response. This seems like a good solution.

it's not for everybody but it is stable and still has fairly recent packages. also I suggest using a window manager or a lightweight desktop with it just because they're not a headache to deal with. you can use gnome or KDE on it but the installation process is very long and the updates will be huge but again they run well and are solid

GNU/Linux*
linux is just a kernel

Ah, thank you. Looks like i got them mixed up.
Any site where i can read more on that?

No, Richard, it's 'Linux', not 'GNU/Linux'. The most important contributions that the FSF made to Linux were the creation of the GPL and the GCC compiler. Those are fine and inspired products. GCC is a monumental achievement and has earned you, RMS, and the Free Software Foundation countless kudos and much appreciation.

Following are some reasons for you to mull over, including some already answered in your FAQ.

One guy, Linus Torvalds, used GCC to make his operating system (yes, Linux is an OS -- more on this later). He named it 'Linux' with a little help from his friends. Why doesn't he call it GNU/Linux? Because he wrote it, with more help from his friends, not you. You named your stuff, I named my stuff -- including the software I wrote using GCC -- and Linus named his stuff. The proper name is Linux because Linus Torvalds says so. Linus has spoken. Accept his authority. To do otherwise is to become a nag. You don't want to be known as a nag, do you?

(An operating system)!= (a distribution). Linux is an operating system. By my definition, an operating system is that software which provides and limits access to hardware resources on a computer. That definition applies whereever you see Linux in use. However, Linux is usually distributed with a collection of utilities and applications to make it easily configurable as a desktop system, a server, a development box, or a graphics workstation, or whatever the user needs. In such a configuration, we have a Linux (based) distribution. Therein lies your strongest argument for the unwieldy title 'GNU/Linux' (when said bundled software is largely from the FSF). Go bug the distribution makers on that one. Take your beef to Red Hat, Mandrake, and Slackware. At least there you have an argument. Linux alone is an operating system that can be used in various applications without any GNU software whatsoever. Embedded applications come to mind as an obvious example.

Next, even if we limit the GNU/Linux title to the GNU-based Linux distributions, we run into another obvious problem. XFree86 may well be more important to a particular Linux installation than the sum of all the GNU contributions. More properly, shouldn't the distribution be called XFree86/Linux? Or, at a minimum, XFree86/GNU/Linux? Of course, it would be rather arbitrary to draw the line there when many other fine contributions go unlisted. Yes, I know you've heard this one before. Get used to it. You'll keep hearing it until you can cleanly counter it.

You seem to like the lines-of-code metric. There are many lines of GNU code in a typical Linux distribution. You seem to suggest that (more LOC) == (more important). However, I submit to you that raw LOC numbers do not directly correlate with importance. I would suggest that clock cycles spent on code is a better metric. For example, if my system spends 90% of its time executing XFree86 code, XFree86 is probably the single most important collection of code on my system. Even if I loaded ten times as many lines of useless bloatware on my system and I never excuted that bloatware, it certainly isn't more important code than XFree86. Obviously, this metric isn't perfect either, but LOC really, really sucks. Please refrain from using it ever again in supporting any argument.

Last, I'd like to point out that we Linux and GNU users shouldn't be fighting among ourselves over naming other people's software. But what the heck, I'm in a bad mood now. I think I'm feeling sufficiently obnoxious to make the point that GCC is so very famous and, yes, so very useful only because Linux was developed. In a show of proper respect and gratitude, shouldn't you and everyone refer to GCC as 'the Linux compiler'? Or at least, 'Linux GCC'? Seriously, where would your masterpiece be without Linux? Languishing with the HURD?

If there is a moral buried in this rant, maybe it is this:

Be grateful for your abilities and your incredible success and your considerable fame. Continue to use that success and fame for good, not evil. Also, be especially grateful for Linux' huge contribution to that success. You, RMS, the Free Software Foundation, and GNU software have reached their current high profiles largely on the back of Linux. You have changed the world. Now, go forth and don't be a nag.

Thanks for listening.

If I've taken an OS class and wrote shit like a context switcher, serial driver, spinlock, etc. will that make installing gentoo easier

Jesus Christ. What should I do now?
If you guys tell me such things, then please be more specific.

Then how are you supposed to even install it?

couple of days* but yes

It's fun to get it working, but in the end it's just installing an OS. Learn the package manager. Read the handbook.

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tl;dr
linux is still a kernel, not an OS

Install gentoo.
It's totally not a meme.

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There is no reason unless you shitpost from a potato.
The main point of gentoo is to compile software with use flags so it is optimized for your hardware. Only problem is, that takes a long time and the performance benefit is hardly anything on a modern PC. Most programs just aren't that intensive
Imagine installing a browser and it takes 36 hours.
>but can't you just install binaries?
Yes, but that defeats the purpose of installing gentoo.

Daily reminder that GNU/Debian/kFreeBSD and GNU/Debian/HURD exist. Once HURD can handle the remaining 1/4 of Debian's supported packages, it'll take off.

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Damn son. I´ve taken an OS class as well. And it was all theory and some very simple exercises.
Seems like my college is a joke. Fuck this shit!

>The main point of gentoo is to compile software with use flags so it is optimized for your hardware.
no it fucking isn't. the main point of gentoo is to be able to customize literally everything on your system and remove anything that is unwanted/unnecessary.
>Imagine installing a browser and it takes 36 hours.
compiling firefox takes 10-15 minutes on my machine, try again.

Yeah, I understaood that now.
I thought I would do it to learn more about how Unix works and dive really deep into it.
But some other user recommended me netBSD for that now.
While another user says that makes no sense and I should go for Arch first and then more on.
Would you mind giving me your take on this as well?

>muh custom
Any other linux distro does this.
You should be using LFS for /MaXxX_KusToMzZz/ anyway.
And if you're using it with capable hardware, there again is no point because it provides only a marginal performance bonus. Gentoo is best used on shit hardware, where it paradoxically takes forever to set up.
There isn't a big difference between distros. Pick whatever you want. Arch has it's own quirks but really isn't hard to install or use. If you want to install it, find a youtube guide or something because the wiki includes outdated or flat out incorrect instructions.

not the guy you're replying to but here's my take on it:
>learn more about how Unix works and dive really deep into it.
LFS
>lightweight and customizable system
gentoo
>"just werks"
debian
>dumb redditor with a periodically broken system
arch

can't really say anything about netbsd, I have never used it.

>Any other linux distro does this.
you can't even use firefox without pulseaudio on any distro, do you even know what the fuck you are talking about?
and that's not even mentioning the whole systemd shitshow.
>You should be using LFS for /MaXxX_KusToMzZz/ anyway.
agreed, but there's an upper limit to my autism sadly