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____/ Homer on Wednesday 10 Aug 2011 11:00 : \____
> Verily I say unto thee that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>> ____/ Gregory Shearman on Wednesday 10 Aug 2011 00:23 : \____
>>> On 2011-08-09, Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>>> http://www.gentoo.org/news/20110807-livedvd.xml
>>>
>>> It should be noted that the LiveDVD project is a *completely*
>>> separate project to the regular Gentoo Installation Project.
>>
>> http://ostatic.com/blog/gentoo-releases-11-2-livedvd-to-crickets
>
> Here's my reply:
>
> [quote]
> You're not making any sense.
>
> You claim a Live DVD was not well received because ... it's based on a
> distro where you have to compile all the packages yourself.
>
> But, erm, this is a Live DVD. You don't have to compile anything.
>
> Then you point to someone having problems installing Gentoo, as a
> typical example of why it's not popular, but the person in question had
> problems because apparently he couldn't even follow simple instructions,
> instructions that are no more difficult than those for Ubuntu. No
> really, even my 8 year-old nephew could do it.
>
> You also seem to have missed the main point of Gentoo, which is
> configurability, not optimised binaries. I use Gentoo because it allows
> me to specify the exact dependencies I want for each package, such as
> adding experimental features, or removing support for things I don't
> need. This allows me to have a GNU/Linux install that's exactly tailored
> to my needs, far more than is possible on any binary-based distro.
> Switching to binary packages would completely defeat the whole purpose
> of Gentoo, although some are available for larger packages like
> LibreOffice, for example.
>
> The actual speed difference between a generic i386 package and an
> optimised package is only a couple of percent, so that was never any
> real advantage. Multiple cores, threading, SSE/MMX instructions, etc.
> provide real speed advantages, but not basic CPU optimisation.
>
> And the time taken to compile is irrelevant too, since it happens in the
> background on a idle CPU and I/O priority, so I really don't need to
> care how long it takes.
>
> The idea that "Gentoo is hard" is a myth. Once you get past the initial
> setup, and add the desired USE flags, the rest is pretty much automatic
> ... forever, since it's a rolling release.
>
> Which brings me to my penultimate point. Did you ever consider that
> perhaps the reason there's no fanfare for this latest release is the
> fact that Gentoo users don't actually need to use "upgrade" discs, they
> just "emerge --update" forever?
>
> It's just a Live DVD. They have their uses, of course, but it's not
> exactly the central purpose of Gentoo. However "popular" it is, or not,
> it has more than enough support to continue providing regular package
> updates, and that's good enough for me. What else matters?
> [/quote]
The author, Susan, is actually a GNU/Linux advocate and longtime
Gentoo user (e.g. on her server which runs a Linux news service).
That headline from her was surprising and unusual.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Dr. Roy S. Schestowitz (Ph.D. Medical Biophysics), Imaging Researcher
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux administration | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Editor @ http://techrights.org & Broadcaster @ http://bytesmedia.co.uk/
GPL-licensed 3-D Othello @ http://othellomaster.com
Non-profit search engine proposal @ http://iuron.com
Contact E-mail address (direct): s at schestowitz dot com
Contact Internet phone (SIP): schestowitz@xxxxxxxxx (24/7)
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