[Tfug] Thinking linux

[Stephen Hooper]

Slackware is a binary distibution... at least about 8 years ago.  The
packages are tarballs, and everything just kind of expands in place.

LFS, and Gentoo are similar except that LFS doesn't have the tools
that Gentoo does to manage source.  That is not necessarily a bad
thing depending on what you want to do with the machine. I

Gentoo has tools that help you resolve dependencies, etc.  It is kind
of like the BSD ports system,   but it does emphasize the compilation
of packages.

On any distribution you can run deb packages, or RPM packages.  I can
do both on my Gentoo system.  But I  seldom do have need to unless I
am being really lazy.

I don't know what you mean by "established distribution."  Gentoo does
not by default follow one of the two popular packaging formats, and it
does some things differently in regards to the configuration of the
machine.

If you are asking, it is not based on any other distribution.  Neither
is LFS.  LFS is really the closest you can come to not using a
distribution.

The headless thing is easy, unless you want to get at the BIOS over a
serial line... that's the same problem with FreeBSD though.  It is
still easy if you have hardware that supports it.

On 2/4/07, christopher floess <skeptikos at gmail.com> wrote:
> Interesting. Yeah, I was thinking LFS too. It could teach me a lot of
> things. If slackware is "source(ish)", what's with all the discs involved w/
> the distro? FreeBSD only uses one disc for the install, and you only need
> the second if you what to install any binary packages. Sources and stuff are
> on the install disc. Is gentoo based on an established distro like ubuntu is
> based on debian? Is anyone familiar with LFS?
>
> On 2/4/07, Jeremy D Rogers <jdrogers at northwestern.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I may be wrong, but from the point of view of someone very familiar
> > with another free unix, I would say the main difference in distro's
> > will just come down to package management. Since you are the type who
> > will be comfortable under the hood, the variation in fluff won't
> > matter much, so you can pretty much just choose between:
> > *.rpm based (ughh!!.. trust me, just stay away.)
> > *.deb based (debian, ubuntu, etc, etc.)
> > source(ish) based (slack, gentoo, linux from scratch)
> >
> > You would probably learn the most from LFS, but getting started might
> > take a while. Gentoo has pretty stellar documentation. The network
> > installers for debian or ubuntu are great (dowload 20-50MB iso, burn,
> > boot, and install everything you need from the net). I'm guessing
> > gentoo has something similar.
> >
> > On 2/4/07, christopher floess <skeptikos at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Ok, I have an extra computer at home, and would like to run linux on it.
> > I
> > > know this could turn into a long thread, so let me narrow the scope of
> > > discourse by giving you some background. Noob-friendly isn't really an
> > issue
> > > for me b/c I've been on FreeBSD for four years now. I basically want the
> > > best for getting to know the ins and outs of the linux environment. That
> > > having been said, I would think that the Ubuntu variants might not be
> > the
> > > best way to go because I don't want to spend a bunch of time trying to
> > > dismantle the user friendly veneer, just to get at the guts. I don't
> > know
> > > the distro that well, so maybe it's not such a big deal. Let me know. I
> > had
> > > a friend who was fond of slackware, but that was some years ago, and
> > > considering how many cd's it takes for the install, I think that the
> > > slackware of old might have had a different intended audience. Again,
> > this
> > > is simply speculation, so chime in. Is it worth it to pay for the
> > slackware
> > > dvd set? I've pretty much avoided the freebsd package system, and prefer
> > > something that has a good porting system. Doesn't debian fall into this
> > > category? Any way, the only reason I'm even looking is b/c I've enjoyed
> > my
> > > time w/ freebsd, and would like to expand my  horizons. That's it. fire
> > away
> > > with your opinions, everyone.... oh, one more thing. I would like the
> > two
> > > systems  to be networked, and after the install, the linux box will
> > probably
> > > have to funtion as a headless system.
> > >
> > > --
> > > I worry about viruses like I worry about terrorists
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>
>
>
> --
> I worry about viruses like I worry about terrorists
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