Debian user considering switching.

shippy · n00b Joined: 29 Sep 2002 Posts: 9

Hi, I've been using Debian for about 1.5 years now and I'm started to become frustrated with it. Over awhile, my drive has filled up with cruft and I just hate how the packages are so old and slow. The only other alternative I see is Gentoo. I've heard so many great things about it. Before I switch though, I have a few questions:

1) What version of GCC is Gentoo currently using? Are there plans for a 3.x version or is it already in? I'm still using 2.95.4, but I've heard good things about the new GCC so I'd like to use it.

2) Is there a nice way to search the package list on the website?

3) How easy is it to do a major upgrade? Say, 2.0 comes out tomorrow. Is it possible to upgrade without having to completely reinstall?

4) I'm on a slow modem connection. It isn't even 56K. It'll be like this for me for the next several months until I graduate and move to a real city. If I am to install Gentoo, I would like to be able to go to our computer center and burn packages onto CDs, take them home, and then emerge from there. Is it possible to do this? I would like to start at stage 1, but not if it's going to take 2 years to download all of the packages and things I need.

I'm eager for your responses. Thanks a lot!
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Jeff Shipman
shippy@nmt.edu

zepar · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 28 Jul 2002 Posts: 107

1- gcc3.2

2-think so, you could also emerge -s kde, look in /usr/portage, use kportage etc..

3- emerge -u world --> its all it takes, distro version doest really matter in gentoo.

dufnutz · Apprentice Joined: 01 May 2002 Posts: 209

4) yup you can
emerge -f package
that will download the packag that you type in there but wont build it. then copy the .bz2 file to /usr/portage/distfiles
and portage will look there before trying to download it.

shippy · n00b Joined: 29 Sep 2002 Posts: 9

maxpower · n00b Joined: 07 Aug 2002 Posts: 65 Location: South Korea

You can get the bz2 files from the ibiiblio site, just follow the link on www.gentoo.org. You may need to do something else for bootstrap though.

mAx

shippy · n00b Joined: 29 Sep 2002 Posts: 9

maxpower · n00b Joined: 07 Aug 2002 Posts: 65 Location: South Korea

There should be only one file type per package, so either one is fine. One thing to remember is that some packages are not available on ibiblio so if you don't see it there check the ebuild file and it will give you an alternate download site. I mentioned the bootstrap because I am believe it requires some packages as well (gcc, glibc, et al?).
As far as 1.4 it really depends on what you use your system for; if it is just for fun then I would recommend 1.4. Otherwise you may run into some builds not compiling with gcc3.2 in 1.4. Search the forums for more info (java plugin comes to mind).

mAx

pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

You might also want to take a look at this thread.
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