[nylug-talk] I'm a Gentoo convert.

[Scott Robbins]

On Mon, Mar 05, 2007 at 04:36:10PM -0700, Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> I thought I'd add my opinion here...
> 
> I've used Gentoo, and the package system does do some nice tricks.
> But as is typical, Linux people completely overlook the dimension of
> support and community, which when compared to a major distro like
> Ubuntu has nothing more than a whiff of value.  If you are a hobbyist
> it may be attractive, but I would not recommend its use for business.
> 
> -jmz

I guess it's changed then.  Back then (y'know, when we walked barefoot
through snow--uphill both ways) the Gentoo community was another, IMHO,
reason for its quick increase in popularity.  

Of course, back then, it was something new, and we had the fervor of the
newly converted.  Their forums, docs and irc channel were really
newcomer friendly.  You mention Ubuntu (which unlike Gentoo, hasn't yet
fixed the known bug with MGA cards--sorry, had to mention that) and yes,
their forums also seem very supportive.  However....and I FREELY admit
this might be colored by nostalgia--back then, newcomer friendly forums
weren't as common as they are now.  I do remember Mr. Robbins changing
the docs--I think I mentioned how many of us, being tired by the time we
got there would blindly type hdaX in our /etc/fstab.  At any rate, as it
got more popular, the newcomers didn't realize that you weren't supposed
to type hdaX--we did and laughed at each other about it.  So, once
again, he took that effort with the docs and explained that one doesn't
type hdaX, type whatever your root partition might be, such as hda1.  

Anyway, at that time at least, their community, along with their docs,
were two major strong points of the distribution.


-- 

Scott Robbins

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