Gentoo GUI'S

cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

What options for GUI's does gentoo come with the basic installation? Or is it strictly prompt until you set up a GUI to use?

jho · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:15 pm Post subject: Re: Gentoo GUI'S

cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

By GUI I ment graphical user interface. I assumed that GUI and desktop evnironment were synonymous.

jrtayloriv · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:48 am Post subject:

A GUI is just a graphical interface to an application that might also have a command line utility. So no, they are not synonymous -- a desktop is a type of GUI, but not all GUIs are desktops..

But anyhow, there are several options -- some of the more popular choices are KDE, Gnome, Fluxbox, and XFCE. A quick search of these forums and Google will help you become familiar with the pros/cons of each of them.

Personally, I use Fluxbox, because it doesn't eat up as much memory/CPU as KDE/Gnome ... but that's a personal preference, and I use a lot of older hardware. If you've got 6 gigs of ram and a quad-core CPU, KDE/Gnome won't even put a dent into your resources ... and they do have some very nifty features.

The "Desktop Documentation" section at www.gentoo.org has instructions for installing each of them, by the way ...

Hope this helps,
J. Taylor
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cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

Yea I got an older laptop from one of my friends, its a panasonic cf 28. 1Ghz cpu, 30gb hard drive, and like 256mb of ram so I would like something that will be easy on the system. Does flux come with the gentoo install?

tatotato · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:16 am Post subject:

Gnome and KDE should also run on those specs with no trouble, but Fluxbox would probably be notably quicker and make things run that little bit lighter.

You should check out the websites and see what suits you best.

http://gnome.org
http://kde.org
http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net
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cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

Yea I have decided to go with fluxbox, now I just have to figure out how to install in without a cd rom drive

tatotato · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:38 am Post subject:

fluxbox is very sexy with a bit of customistaion.

I'm pretty sure you could boot it via network or off some sort of USB medium. Or just go to your local auction site or second-hand store and pick up a cheap CDROM for a couple of bucks.
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cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

Yea I saw some amazing screenshots, though I didn't see a version for gentoo they had the files for like suse, fedora, debian and some others, atleast for the binaries files. Does it need any special work to run on gentoo?

tatotato · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:49 am Post subject:

There should be an ebuild for it.

Just emerge fluxbox and and it should be good to go.

I don't know how to make it go though. I assume it will show up in your session selector in your login manager if you use one.
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cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

I probably will use one, still got to get things up and running first im just kind of trying to figure out how to do the install. The usb key might be my best bet seeing as its a laptop so I think the cd rom drives would be harder to find just anywhere.

tatotato · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:56 am Post subject:

It takes a fair bit of hacking about to get gentoo to boot from a USB medium from what I've heard.

I recommend you load a minimal installer onto one and do the install thataway, so you can customise the hell out of your system.
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jrtayloriv · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:58 am Post subject:

cynosure --

Here ya go:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/fluxbox-config.xml
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Fluxbox

That should be all you need.
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[URL="http://www.sporecollective.org"]The Spore Collective[/URL] -- surveillance, torture, genocide ... anarchist theory and social justice struggle ... peasant revolutions, and wealthy industrialists ... oh my what a mix!

cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

How well do network installs work with it? What program would I need to boot from my floppy drive to connect to my desktops cd-rom and run it from there? I can still use the minimal cd with that route, i just am curious what would do the trick?

tatotato · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:06 am Post subject:

Network installs have been recommended to me as the way to go for any gentoo installation.

http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk/network/
the above may help you boot via network if the CD you want to boot off is in a windows box (I think).

The minimal CD would probably be your best bet, you just need to know what you want.
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cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

Yea it is off windows, I use my desktop mainly for gaming and just surfing the web and shit. So I figured i'd put linux on my laptop

. That program you showed me, that goes on the laptop to connect to the desktop with the cd rom? Or vis versa?

tatotato · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:15 am Post subject:

cynosure · n00b Joined: 25 Apr 2008 Posts: 26

Nice lol. i'll give it a go tomorrow im gonna let the livecd files download over night. For now im going to bed, thanks for the help man i'll post again with my progress tomorrow.

tatotato · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:22 am Post subject:

No problem, good luck.
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