gentoo in 1Ghz 12'' or 17'' powerbook

mutron · n00b Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 2

Hello

I have used in the past quite extensively Debian (for personal use)
and RedHat (for work purposes).

I just purchased and wait for a new powerbook 17''. It is my
first non Intel and non Alpha hardware.
I was thinking of installing Debian
in the begining but I would like to try gentoo
(again to be honest I am not sure how much optimization
you can get by compiling from scratch. ~10%?)

My big drawback is the probability of long waiting compilation times.
How long does it takes for a make world for a "standard" desktop configuration (Xfree, gnome2, gimp, evolution etc)?
In my old old laptop it takes three to four hours (or more?)
to just compile gnome2 (garnome)

Also are there any binary ports (like in the FreeBSD) for software
someone won;t use that often...

I 'll have 1GB or Ram....

Thanks!

zojas · Posted: Wed May 07, 2003 10:18 pm Post subject:

Compile times don't bother me on my 700MHz ibook. I start it going, turn the screen off, go to bed, and it's usually done in the morning. I also don't 'emerge rsync && emerge -puv world' every day. I'm selective about upgrading.

I can tell you that xfree+kde took around 24 hours to compile though.

BUT, let me tell you, it is definitely worth it. I used redhat for 3 years before jumping to gentoo with all my computers. the system boots so much faster in gentoo, it's unbelievable. everything is a bit faster, and noticeable. one of the biggest things I noticed was how much less time there was between launching an xterm and having it actually show up with a prompt. (granted it went from half a second to instantaneous but still, it was NOTICEABLY faster).

on redhat, I never considered using KDE, it was just too slow. but in gentoo, KDE is now my main desktop environment. it really is that much faster.

try it on one of your systems, you'll be shocked.

mutron · n00b Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 2

hi,

sorry for playing the devil's advocate (spelling???) here...
but what about debian?

I have used debian extensively in both alpha
and intel architectures and I have only good
things to say. Why should I make everything from scratch?

is the perfomance that much of a difference?

Thanks!

zojas · Posted: Wed May 07, 2003 10:42 pm Post subject:

yes, the performance is that much different, in my experience.

another bonus to me is that the code is at your fingertips. with one command you get a complete, patched source tree that you can then tweak the code. then one more command configures, compiles, and installs it, with all the features turned on you want. (USE flags) and you never have to get your hands dirty with the configure script.

it's also usually quite easy to create a new ebuild for those rare things that aren't in portage yet.