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rail5
n00b
Joined: 24 Oct 2020
Posts: 1
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 Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 6:40 pm Post subject: Switching from Debian |
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I've been using Debian for about 10 years, but I'm a control freak so I've been thinking about switching to Gentoo.
Anyone with a similar experience? Rough transition? How long until you & your machine were going smoothly again? |
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Buffoon
Veteran
Joined: 17 Jun 2015
Posts: 1369
Location: EU or US
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| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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Welcome to Gentoo and forums!
Your first question is too tough. 
How long? It depends on too many factors. You can install Gentoo from Debian. This way you have all the time to mess with it and learn Gentoo without putting your computer out of use. |
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CaptainBlood
Advocate
Joined: 24 Jan 2010
Posts: 3864
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| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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+1 @Buffoon
Because gentoo is source based, low RAM amount is likely to slow you down when compiling.
Thus 8Gb minimum, 16 Gb recommended imho (4 Gb here) + build duration wise learning how have building directory stored on HD instead of ram for big packages, where fast storage, e.g. SSD, would be a +.
Thks 4 ur attention, interest & support.
_________________
USE="-* ..." in /etc/portage/make.conf here, i.e. a countermeasure to portage implicit braces, belt & diaper paradigm
LT: "I've been doing a passable imitation of the Fontana di Trevi, except my medium is mucus. Sooo much mucus. "
Last edited by CaptainBlood on Sat Oct 24, 2020 11:43 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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NeddySeagoon
Administrator
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 54578
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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rail5,
Gentoo is not a distro. It a set of tools that you use to build your own distro to your taste.
You don't like Debians build of LibreOffice?
You can choose one of about 2^20 different builds (over 1,000,000) on Gentoo.
Gentoo is more like LFS with a package manager than any binary distro.
All gentoo installs are different.
I'll go with the advice of others, install from Debian and dual boot so you dip a toe into Gentoo without jumping in and finding that you can't swim.
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Regards,
NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail. |
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duane
Apprentice
Joined: 03 Jun 2002
Posts: 193
Location: Oklahoma City
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| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 10:50 pm Post subject: Re: Switching from Debian |
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| rail5 wrote: | | Anyone with a similar experience? Rough transition? How long until you & your machine were going smoothly again? |
Long, long ago, I switched from debian to gentoo, with very little real knowledge of linux. It took me about two days to get up and running. The hardest part was compiling my own kernel -- I advise people to use the gentoo-kernel package (or genkernel) now, at least until they've got a working system.
However, there are caveats to that. I was newish to linux, so I didn't have a lot of expectations -- the default settings (use flags and kernel configuration) were fine for me. It was only later that I started to stress about getting everything set up just right.
Also, I didn't know enough about linux to make any assumptions -- I followed the installation instructions to the letter, and had very few problems with most of the process. Much of my trouble with gentoo since has involved glossing over important points in the documentation.
Lastly, I've always been very command-line oriented, so it didn't bother me that I rebooted with no gui available at first. Although I seem to remember having another computer on hand to read the xorg installation instructions -- I didn't know how to use lynx at the time. (I installed from my previous debian installation, rather than use a livecd.) |
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ff11
l33t
Joined: 10 Mar 2014
Posts: 664
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| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 10:59 pm Post subject: Re: Switching from Debian |
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| duane wrote: | ...
Lastly, I've always been very command-line oriented, so it didn't bother me that I rebooted with no gui available at first. Although I seem to remember having another computer on hand to read the xorg installation instructions -- I didn't know how to use lynx at the time. (I installed from my previous debian installation, rather than use a livecd.) |
Today they have these desktop profiles selectable via "eselect profile". I never used any of them, but it seems to me that they already have everything ready to use at the end of the installation.
I wouldn't find it strange if someone used an automated installer to get started on Gentoo recently.
_________________
| Proverbs 26:12 |
| There is more hope for a fool than for a wise man that are wise in his own eyes. |
* AlphaGo - The Movie - Full Documentary "I want to apologize for being so powerless" - Lee |
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figueroa
Advocate
Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 3005
Location: Edge of marsh USA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 2:27 am Post subject: |
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Circa 2004, I printed out the handbook on a dot matrix printer, and took about three days to have a running system on a relatively low-end machine for the time, and a very slow DSL connection. I may have been running Debian at the time, but Red Hat before that, and Slackware before that. Since then, I've never run anything but Gentoo on my main machine, and have deployed Gentoo to servers and the desktop in small enterprise situations (never more than 12 total machines).
Welcome to Gentoo. You sound like a good candidate user.
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Andy Figueroa
hp pavilion hpe h8-1260t/2AB5; spinning rust x3
i7-2600 @ 3.40GHz; 16 gb; Radeon HD 7570
amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop (stable), OpenRC, -systemd -pulseaudio -uefi |
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389292
Guru
Joined: 26 Mar 2019
Posts: 504
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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| It depends. You can make your Gentoo very unorthodox, this will result in less documentation and support, which in turn drastically increase the time needed for polishing it up. If you pick standard install (desktop profile, no encryption, no btrfs or zfs), then it can be as little as 2 days for initial install, and up to a week to figure out the package manager and main USE flags. |
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Zucca
Moderator
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Posts: 3703
Location: Rasi, Finland
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 12:54 pm Post subject: ++ for gentoo-kernel to get running system quickly up |
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| duane wrote: | | I advise people to use the gentoo-kernel package (or genkernel) now, at least until they've got a working system. |
++
I did this with my last Gentoo install on a new convertible laptop. I even could have used gentoo-kernel-bin. Because some tests indicate that building your kernel with optimized compiler flags don't yield much better performance. It's the configuration itself that can lead to it.
All in all. I'd install gentoo-kernel or (gentoo-kernel-bin for even faster install) at first. Then maybe later start to tweak your kernel via using savedconfig USE-flag for gentoo-kernel or by switching to gentoo-sources.
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..: Zucca :..
| My gentoo installs: | init=/sbin/openrc-init
-systemd -logind -elogind seatd |
| Quote: | | I am NaN! I am a man! |
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CaptainBlood
Advocate
Joined: 24 Jan 2010
Posts: 3864
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 10:53 pm Post subject: Re: ++ for gentoo-kernel to get running system quickly up |
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| Zucca wrote: | | building your kernel with optimized compiler flags don't yield much better performance. |
Off-topic: Right, what about optimized compiler flags effects on kernel size? Smaller? Bigger?
Thks 4 ur attention, interest & support.
_________________
USE="-* ..." in /etc/portage/make.conf here, i.e. a countermeasure to portage implicit braces, belt & diaper paradigm
LT: "I've been doing a passable imitation of the Fontana di Trevi, except my medium is mucus. Sooo much mucus. " |
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