[Techtalk] Intro and Gentoo

[Carla Schroder]

On Friday 01 November 2002 01:01, Seemant Kulleen wrote:
> Hi Linuxchix,
>
> I recently had the pleasure of meeting Jenn on the irc.openprojects.net
> #linuxchics channel which I help run at the moment.  Anyway, we got to
> talking, and I was wondering what people's impressions of gentoo linux
> were.  Note, this isn't an official survey or anything silly. It's just
> that for the past months since I've become part of the Gentoo team, I have
> had contact with mainly the developer base and the members of the user
> base who come into the #gentoo related channels on opn.  So this is more
> of a curiosity about "word on the street" as it were.  Comments,
> complaints, questions, etc? :)
>
> Thanks,

Hello Seemant,

I tinkered with it some a few months ago, it's an interesting project. There 
are two things that are a top priority for me as a harassed, overworked 
sysadmin. Well, I'm not overworked, nor even really harassed, but lots of my 
sysadmin friends are.

Anyway two important features:
-completely customizable install
-EZ updates and resolving dependencies

It is important mainly for security reasons to run a server as stripped-down 
as possible, installing only what is necessary, and no more. 

EZ updates are equally important, for maintenance and making changes. Don't 
know about you, I find resolving dependencies to be completely uninteresting 
and a waste of time. Portage looks promising for addressing both of these 
needs. A typical Red Hat-type system is a frustrating tangle of RPMs and 
source-built; they don't always cooperate.But it is impossible to stick 
completely with one or the other, due to wild variations in the quality of 
RPMs, and source tarballs.

( I don't want to hear 'apt-get'. I do not like Debian for purely irrational, 
emotional reasons.)

A third thing is peripherals and hardware detection. Another completely 
uninteresting chore- this should be completely automatic, except for 
fine-tuning and selecting features. Don't know how Gentoo can help with timid 
hardware vendors who refuse to support Linux. Maybe send goons to beat them 
up.

Anyway them's my two cents. Welcome to Linuxchix!
-- 
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Carla Schroder
Bratgrrl Computing
www.bratgrrl.com
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