I heard someone say "Gentoo is just a meme"

get52 · n00b Joined: 04 Oct 2019 Posts: 6

I heard someone say "Gentoo is just a meme", what did they mean by this?
I know it's a Gen Z / Millennial phrasing but I can't wrap my head around whether something being a meme is a good or bad thing, it seems to be interchangeable.

So I guess my question this, if Gentoo is a meme like she said than what is it that makes it a meme and is it a bad thing that it is a meme if so?

-get52

LemurFromTheId · n00b Joined: 22 Apr 2005 Posts: 64 Location: Finland

I don't know if it's good or bad, but I know that computers are just a meme, eating is just a meme, left-handed scissors are just a meme, history is just a meme and replying to someone on discussion forums is just a meme.

Ant P. · Watchman Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 6920

Sounds like you've been hanging around some very shallow people.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 9:41 am Post subject:

Ant P.,

As a first post, it looks like a spammer in waiting but I'm old and cynical :)
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get52 · n00b Joined: 04 Oct 2019 Posts: 6

Jaglover · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 7:12 pm Post subject:

May I recommend to use your own head. That's what I'm doing. Once you get into habit you'll notice it does not matter any more what others think.
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Naib · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 8:29 pm Post subject:

This must be a troll...

For starters does it really matter what people think? if I listened to my colleagues and friends I would be running OSX or Win10. Likewise it has never been established whether something is a meme is a positive or a negative. ANYTHING can be expressed or taken as a positive or a negative. Lets take the stance that stating something is a meme is a negative, what does that even mean for the meme culture? Arch is a meme, arch are renowned in doing stuff that breaks stuff when every other distro is fine #archProblem is a hashtag for a reason. Debian is a meme in being the ancient library distro. Ubuntu became a meme when they planned to drop 32bit support and valve went "ok then we will move"

All of this is a classic case of Contempt Culture as it is easier to rag on that outside of your context boundary than accept what is not right within your context boundary. What makes Gentoo a "meme" in the linux world is (almost) everything is compiled from source and the "lulz" come from that the other distro's just install. But then you flip it around where Debian-based distro's patch the fk out of everything so while the end user doesn't have to compile, what they get is... who knows.
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get52 · n00b Joined: 04 Oct 2019 Posts: 6

get52
-------------------

Naib · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:45 am Post subject:

I wouldn't say "stupid" as a meme is something that can be related to as in there is something about a phase/picture/place/thing/ which is understood without having to discuss it. It can be negative, it can be positive AND this is why it comes down to on what context was it used

So the unspoken context of Gentoo being a meme is more than likely "going out of the way to compile packages, when others do not have to bother"

In short, don't worry about it, you will have a deeper understanding of how a distro works and more recent packages for a bit of compile time
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#define HelloWorld int
#define Int main()
#define Return printf
#define Print return
#include <stdio>
HelloWorld Int {
Return("Hello, world!\n");
Print 0;

Ant P. · Watchman Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 6920

Fitzcarraldo · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:34 am Post subject:

Richard Dawkins coined the word 'meme'.

https://www.richarddawkins.net/2014/02/whats-in-a-meme/

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:56 am Post subject:

get52,

We can laugh at ourselves too. See -funroll-loops.
The original is long gone but mirrors keep popping up.

How many other distros provide all to tools you need to do say,

ulenrich · Veteran Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 1483

Gentoo is the most powerful meme for me. So I voted YES
I cannot understand the most of the Gentoo fans here on this forum voted NO
:cry:

The poll question is
"Is Gentoo a meme ?"
Please adjust the title of this thread, it is not "just" a meme polled.

John R. Graham · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 2:36 pm Post subject:

I wouldn't be inclined to adjust the title. See the supporting text reproduced below. It appears that it's the poll text that's excessively abbreviated. Most people appear to have gotten that.

sitquietly

eccerr0r · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:19 pm Post subject:

Gentoo is not a meme.

funroll-loops is, however.
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Naib · Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:31 pm Post subject:

Hund · Apprentice Joined: 18 Jul 2016 Posts: 218 Location: Sweden

Gentoo is considered to be a "meme"[1] because it's also considered to be one of the hardest and most difficult Linux distributions to install (and use?) by the general audience of those who—I assume—didn't even read the manual. That's why it has become some kind of challenge to install it, display some screenshot of it (with anime or manga) and then being able to collect large amounts of Internet points from your fellow friends on the Internet.

1. If we use the meaning of "meme" used by the younger people on the Internet.
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get52 · n00b Joined: 04 Oct 2019 Posts: 6

John R. Graham · Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 12:29 am Post subject:

@get52, Excellent! Welcome to Gentoo!

- John
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arnvidr · l33t Joined: 19 Aug 2004 Posts: 629 Location: Oslo, Norway

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:34 pm Post subject:

get52,

You are hooked now :)
That's the attitude to make Gentoo work for you.

arnvidr has pointed to the sets page, which is what I had in mind.

You could also write an ebuild like say, kde-meta, that lists other packages.
Sets are just lists of packages.
ebuilds allow you to define versions and USE flags too.
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Computer users fall into two groups:-
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Proinsias · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2019 8:53 am Post subject:

Not sure about Gentoo but "Install Gentoo" as an answer to any computer related question is a meme, a bit like "have you tried turning it off and on again?".
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/install-gentoo

ChrisJumper · Advocate Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 2400 Location: Germany

Proinsias
Thank for that Meme-Page Link. Just do not visit it without uMatrix Plugin or another Addblocker.

I like the Example: "How do I keep my iphone from running out of battery so quickly? A: Install Gentoo" :)

Naib · Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:06 pm Post subject:

Gentoo isn't hard to install anyway... it only takes Three commands
_________________
#define HelloWorld int
#define Int main()
#define Return printf
#define Print return
#include <stdio>
HelloWorld Int {
Return("Hello, world!\n");
Print 0;