Pentoo seems to have the solution to install Gentoo

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

Hello.

I love Gentoo and I respect their philosophy but also I think that maybe in order to reach new
users, Gentoo should have a very simple solution available, something like Sabayon Extra Spin
versions. Maybe Gentoo + XFCE would be great for instance.

There is a Gentoo derivative(live cd) called Pentoo which it is used for penetration testing. In their
blog was posted that they were able to do a hard drive installation by using their own script.
For more information go to http://pentoo.blogspot.com/2010/10/pentoo-installation-made-easy.html .

Maybe the community or developers could use the Pentoo installer to make a light version of Gentoo.
It would be nice to see if Gentoo might grow attracting new users and developers this way. I am a
professional IT analyst and we all love Gentoo at work and a lot of new developers asked me why
Gentoo did not have such a version like this. I responded that the Gentoo community did have a philosophy
and that was not their goal to produce such version. They all agreed that Gentoo should have one available
because they would switch in a heart beat. After that I did not what else to say.

Just my $.02 cents.

v/r

-REL

dragos240 · Apprentice Joined: 19 Apr 2009 Posts: 252

Ok. Well. Gentoo will most likely stay..... gentoo for a while..... There are other noob friendly distros out there....

Randy Andy · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:57 am Post subject: on

Hi rel124c41.

Actually there is a hot discussion about the pros and cons for a Gentoo-installer.

So if you are interested in knowing why it possibly never come, take a look at this post:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-847759-highlight-.html

Andy.
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John R. Graham · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:29 pm Post subject:

Moved from Installing Gentoo to Gentoo Chat. Not a support request so it fits better here.

- John
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couchbotato · n00b Joined: 07 Oct 2010 Posts: 45 Location: Finland

I agree. Gentoo should have GUI installer with QT and ncurses (?) support.

The basic stuff

- disk partitioning + grub
- setting USE flags
- setting dhcpd etc should be automatic too
- setting timezone and clock, it is still pain in the ass and confusing for everyone

thats it. Gentoo should be able to install with GUI at least to the shell and then the user would be free to emerge kde, or what ever he wants to emerge.

Someone said that because of USE flags this GUI thing would be impossible... eehhh why is that? Why cant I select USE flags with mouse, whats the difference?!

I just cannot see why this is so impossibe? It shouldnt be, because Gentoo would be the #1 distro and in the future propably the #1 OS in general if you nerds just would admit that this is something what the community NEEDS.

in 10 years, computers are so fast that whole Gentoo/KDE system compiles in avereage desktop computer in less than hour. And yes KDE is the best way to go.

I've been using Gentoo for 6 years now, and I'm not going to use any other distros seriously, but it would sure be nice if the installation was easier and not forced to manually tweek every single little thing from scratch. Its just stupid.

Muso · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:28 pm Post subject:

Chiitoo · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:41 pm Post subject:

Though I'm new to Gentoo and Linux itself, I can say that the first thing that the first post made me think of, was that how much I would be able to get from it when I did not learn certain things while installing Gentoo as it is.

Actually one of the reasons I did go for Gentoo probably was the GUI-less installation method which somehow appealed to me.
It teaches the Linux way of doing things a lot I think and all in all makes you learn the system.

I'm not absolutely against a GUI installation, of course not, but then might come the begs for more GUI etc. stuff to deal with Gentoo things.

Anyways, just my thoughts. ^^
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Kindest of regardses.

Kollin · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:56 pm Post subject:

GUI-less install teaches you how to manage your Gentoo system.
After 15 minutes with GUI installer you have a brand new Gentoo box... and then what?
Go into forums and ask: "How can i update my system, i can't find 'Windows Update' in the menu"?
I don't think so!

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couchbotato · n00b Joined: 07 Oct 2010 Posts: 45 Location: Finland

Kollin · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:10 pm Post subject:

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

I think that the Gentoo community has a lot of smart people that could get this done. There is nothing wrong to have 2 versions available: one core edition and the one with GUI installer. I am also a Slackware fan and I love its simple installer. It works like magic all the time.

I would like Gentoo to expand further...just my advice from what I gathered in the meeting. It is up to the community to provide direction and goals. I guess that they were just looking for a way to install Gentoo really have without getting into the details of it.

Thanks...

-t

Gusar · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:45 pm Post subject: Re: mission possible

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

Like I said...I respect the Gentoo community goals. If this is not one their goal then I would respect that.
-t

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

...but it would be nice to have editions...core and full isntallations! :-)

-t

Muso · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:50 pm Post subject:

Muso · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:53 pm Post subject:

Porthole!

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

I agree. It is always faster by using the command line. Also, simple commands are powerful and maybe it would be easy to have an installer like the one for Arch Linux.

Muso · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:56 pm Post subject: Re: terminal installation

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

it would be an option...but of course, power users would go for the manual installation.

I remembered now that a while back, the DVD edition provided a GUI installer but had a lot of flaws. Was it fixed?

-t

Muso · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:06 pm Post subject: Re: options

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

@ The Earth:

Thanks for your response. I think that Gentoo developers can achieve this.

By the way, I like your desktop. Nice black theme!

-t

Muso · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:14 pm Post subject: Re: nice GUI

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

Bad ass desktop theme that you have!....it reminds me the simplicity of NAIM! http://www.naimaudio.com/

-t

Chiitoo · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:57 pm Post subject: Re: on

Having a GUI for installing Gentoo, having a GUI for Portage, it all makes me think of the other distributions out there, like Ubuntu which is the only other one I have ever tried.

While I'm still very inexperienced what comes to Linux altogether, I can't help but to feel that some people want Gentoo with GUIs while there already are so many out there!
Of course, they are not Gentoo, heh.

What I mean is, is it that the distributions like Ubuntu and Arch which are from a rather wide edges of Linux distros I believe, do not provide enough customization? Or what is the prime reason to want more GUI for Gentoo, I just don't get it. Sure, you could go all GUI and still have all the custom-power but hm, I feel it's just excess junk over what I want to do!

Basically, why bee so angry for not having a GUI for Gentoo when there are other distros for that?
Bzzt.
I believe Arch is pretty close to what Gentoo is but not as "extreme" what comes to customization, haven't really looked into it but that's the picture I have in mind.

But anyways, just my thoughts and moreover, this is really starting to become very similar to the thread mentioned up there:

rel124c41 · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2010 Posts: 13

We have statistician and mathematicians that all they do is compiling programs and scripts and love what they can achieve with Gentoo but at the same time they don't want to spend time installing it. Why? I guess it is about personal taste. I am pretty sure we can go with another distro but I/we do not like what they offer.

There is always an easy way out but we don't to take it if we can stick with Gentoo. A lot of them would like to have them installed in their laptops so they can continue crunching numbers like there is no tomorrow.

For my part, I will be helping to install Gentoo in their laptops starting next week. I want them to keep Gentoo because that is what they want. More to come...

-t