[Tfug] Thinking linux

erich erich1 at copper.net
Wed Feb 7 13:05:58 MST 2007 

How fast is your machine?
        There's something in Gentoo called a stage3 tarball.
That's approximately equivalent to the Big Bang that starts the universe
:-). It took the better part of a day for my 233MHz
alpha to build that.

                                                  Erich

christopher floess wrote:

>Wow, lots of help. Thanks. I kind of figured it would go this way, and am
>glad it did. Options are good. As far as the headless thing goes, when I did
>it in freebsd, it worked, but I ran into some probs. Some of the things like
>backspace, insert, etc, didn't work, they gave weird characters. It was over
>a null modem cable (is that the same as a crossover serial cable?). So I
>would want to connect some other way. I guess telnet, or ssh would be an
>option. I guess it would be nice to become proficient enough to have the
>linux machine act as a gateway or file server, and have the fbsd machine be
>something else. I'm sure you don't want one machine
>acting as a file server and router. I can't imagine that being a safe setup.
>
>I looked into Gentoo a little, and it seems alright. So maybe I'll go that
>way. By established distro, I mean one of the *major* ones. I know that's
>relative, but there always seem to be new ones popping up, and since I
>decided to leave windows a while back, there have been certain ones that
>seem to have been consistent: debian, slack,
>suse, mandrake, redhat, etc., with ubuntu seeming
>to be the new comer with strength, but again, it's based on debian any way,
>right?
>
>
>On 2/4/07, Stephen Hooper <stephen.hooper at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>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
>>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>>Tucson Free Unix Group - tfug at tfug.org
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>>>>>
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>Tucson Free Unix Group - tfug at tfug.org
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>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>I worry about viruses like I worry about terrorists
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>Tucson Free Unix Group - tfug at tfug.org
>>>Subscription Options:
>>>http://www.tfug.org/mailman/listinfo/tfug_tfug.org
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Tucson Free Unix Group - tfug at tfug.org
>>Subscription Options:
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>>
>>    
>>
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