info on switching from windows 2 linux gentoo

[oldmarinegeek]

hey all im a long time windows sufferer(user) and i want to make the move to linux,is gentoo fairly straight forward, do i need anti virus/trojan anti spyware and firewall, also the laptop i am thinking of buying has the option of 64bit is that needed...any things to enlighten me would be great thanks all cheers8)

[donjuan]

Use Gentoo as your first distro if you really want to get to know Linux. To get an idea for how your first week with Gentoo will be, look at the handbook: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/index.xml. That's how to install Gentoo. So honestly, I wouldn't call it "straight forward." Most people who use Gentoo used another distribuiton for a while, then wanted more control and options so they came to Gentoo. Lots of people like that learn more about Linux installing Gentoo than they did in the weeks/months using other distributions. So if you want to learn Linux, Gentoo's the distribuition you should use, but if you want something that installs in a couple of hours and "just works" you'll want to look elsewhere.

You do not need antivirus/trojan or antispyware with Linux. The last figure I heard was a total of 40 viruses for Linux, and all those are long gone. Due to the way Linux works I doubt any of them got very far. People do run antivirus software on Linux, but that's just on servers to protect Windows machines. I don't know of any adware or spyware for Linux right now.

You should always have some sort of firewall. There's how-tos around the forums on how to set those up. I don't bother since I'm behind a router and don't want to deal.

64bit is optional, just like running on any other architecture is optional (you can run Gentoo on an IBM Power5 server if you want), it is not necessary. Most people here still use x86. I use amd64 right now just because I think it's cool, but really there's not benefit to running amd64 right now. You still might as well get the 64bit option on the processor though, because in the future we will probably start seeing more uses for 64bit.
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Command-line ACCEPT_KEYWORDS is considered harmful, use the package.* files.

The Stage 1 on 3 Install

[oldmarinegeek]

thanks donjuan,that was a wealth of info cheers:P

[donjuan]

No problem, and good luck switching.
_________________
Command-line ACCEPT_KEYWORDS is considered harmful, use the package.* files.

The Stage 1 on 3 Install