Should i do this?

alrave · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 11:34 am Post subject: Should i do this?

Hi, i started using linux some months ago, and sience then ive been using Mepis. I bought a notebook with and AMD64 processor this week, and i want to install a 64bit distro on it.
I was thinking on doing a Gentoo stage 1 install, because i think itll help me learn a lot of things about how linux works, id just like to know some Gentoo users opinions whether if they think its a good choice or if its more that i can handle...
Thanks in advance
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olger901 · l33t Joined: 17 Mar 2005 Posts: 625

Yup, you can learn alot from it indeed, the handbook only supports stage3 though, I'd reccomend doing a stage1 as it's faster and more optimized to my wishes if you ask me.

mark_alec · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 11:57 am Post subject:

alrave · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 2:32 pm Post subject:

if the handbook is for stage 3 i guess ill havet do a stage 3...
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pjp · Administrator Joined: 16 Apr 2002 Posts: 20067

Lastebil · n00b Joined: 07 Nov 2005 Posts: 33

While there's a push on from a lot of folks to get rid of stage 1 entirely, I don't agree. A Stage 1 install is a good experience for learning.

(I've heard that the current suggestion is to do a stage 3, then going back and doing everything you'd do on a stage 1 from the stage 1. This, to me, sounds like a kludge. And I believe, indeed, it is (: Rather than fixing some issues that exist in some stage 1 installs, going from stage 3 'fixes' these issues. Or so I hear. That's pretty much the definition of a kludge (: )

Now, you might say 'well if it's broken, why would I want to do it?' Because, quite frankly, if you learn from hands-on fixing, you're NOT going to learn as much from a straight-up-easy install. Something breaking WILL teach you more.

And, you already have a current system that is running, so this will NOT be as frustrating as having the ONLY box you have access to broken.

However, a stage 3 install is faster. But, to me, if you're going to do a stage 3 - you may as well install Ubuntu or some other pre-rolled system. For me, it's all about stage 1, and when we don't have a Gentoo stage 1, I'll do my own stage 1.

So, in a way, I'm saying yes, do a stage 1. In another way, I'm saying you may wish to do a linux from scratch install, entirely; Gentoo does seem to be moving away from a raw install to a semi-cooked install. While that is a perfectly valid choice, it does take away 100% of the benefit of rolling from scratch.

You want to learn? Do a stage 1, hit some stumbling blocks, learn from it. You want a system running fast? Stage 3, or another distro that's pre-rolled.

Gentoo is probably the best _COMPLETE_ LEARNING system there is, because there's a good, solid community who can help you figure out the problems. (That doens't mean that everyone agrees, or does things the same way, of course (: )

alrave · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 8:20 pm Post subject:

thanks a lot Lastebil, thats the exact reason that i was thinking on doing a stage 1, but now my question is if ill have documentation to do the stage 1, because all the installs ive done so far are from pre-installed packages, so im sure that if theres no documentation i wont know how to do it...
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djdunn · l33t Joined: 26 Dec 2004 Posts: 810

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-319349.html

theres some good documentation for you, doing fairly exactly what you want to do,
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