[Solved.] Should I run Gentoo?

[thedoctorwithoutaphd]

Hello,

I'm a current Arch/EndeavourOS user and I've been running Arch off and on because I keep distrohopping and I need something to stick.

I've tried to run Gentoo in the past but I've always chickened out because I get scared easily on what to do when an error pops up, I've been running Linux since late 2019 - early 2020.

I am a current High School Student, I have never taken a computer science, CIT, or any sort of courses like that. I'm someone who you could consider noobish when it comes to Linux. I believe I don't know a whole lot and I understand that (I don't even know a programming language since HS takes up most of my time, but I will try to find some time to fit learning Python, Rust, and C whenever I can).

And will Gentoo take up a lot of my free time? Configuring and modifications all things considered?

I want to get better at learning what a system is, I want to get into cybersecurity and I feel like it would be better for me to learn how to operate a GNU/Linux system to its fundamentals (as in what makes up a GNU/Linux system, operating it as a server, using the coreutils and the many different libraries to my advantage).

As I stated, I don't think I know a whole lot about Linux, GNU, what truly makes up a system, setting up my own personalized kernel, etc. Should I still run Gentoo regardless of everything?

[kernel_tux]

I've been using Gentoo for a little over a month. While I will not give a yes/no answer, I will give some contextual info that may help.

In terms of the overall process, there isn't much of a difference between installing Gentoo & vanilla Arch, the main differentiator is the compilation time. The error messages from Portage were a bit of an adjustment, but very helpful when I realized what they were instructing.

I'm pretty sure it's the way that my brain processes information, but I find it easier to get the info I need in the Gentoo Wiki than the Arch Wiki. I can't disagree with the quality & quantity of the info on the Arch Wiki, but the design of it just clashes with me. Also, the Gentoo Handbook is top-notch!

I've used Arch myself, and I've learned more about designing a stable system with Gentoo than I ever did with Arch because of the increased level of granular configuration.

If you do have any issues, the Gentoo community is VERY helpful!

Also, if you decide to move forward, use a live ISO that gives you a GUI, so you have access to a web-browser, it makes installing SO much easier. I personally use Calculate (based on Gentoo), but you can use any major Linux live ISO.

[figueroa]

Welcome to Gentoo.

You might consider installing Gentoo as a VirtualBox virtual machine. That will result in zero down time for your PC and give it as much time as you can spare. It's a computer; it will wait for you. Your Arch experience will server you well; more so if you really did install Arch the Arch way.

Once you have a Gentoo virtual machine set up to your satisfaction, weeks, months, even years later, you can copy it to a real hardware partition(s), make whatever tweaks are need to conform to the hardware vs virtual hardware, networking, and file system layout, and even let your Arch boot manager boot Gentoo for you. You will learn a lot along the way.

You don't need any experience with programming languages. The main thing is being able to meticulously follow instructions.

If you are serious about getting into cybersecurity, you should be taking as much computer science as possible in high school. You can't just parachute into it after high school without prior education and/or training.

[thedoctorwithoutaphd]

Welcome to Gentoo.

You might consider installing Gentoo as a VirtualBox virtual machine. That will result in zero down time for your PC and give it as much time as you can spare. It's a computer; it will wait for you. Your Arch experience will server you well; more so if you really did install Arch the Arch way.

Once you have a Gentoo virtual machine set up to your satisfaction, weeks, months, even years later, you can copy it to a real hardware partition(s), make whatever tweaks are need to conform to the hardware vs virtual hardware, networking, and file system layout, and even let your Arch boot manager boot Gentoo for you. You will learn a lot along the way.

You don't need any experience with programming languages. The main thing is being able to meticulously follow instructions.

If you are serious about getting into cybersecurity, you should be taking as much computer science as possible in high school. You can't just parachute into it after high school without prior education and/or training.

I thank you for your support, and overall advice on taking computer science classes. I won't be able to take them for a couple of years so I'll try to find anything else I can find online.

I haven't really thought about compiling within a VM mostly due to the performance I would lose if I rolled that way than on actual hardware (I'm on a 6-core 6-thread intel core i5-9400f) but I think I should be able to have patience to some degree (hopefully at least ) so I'll give it a shot.

[thedoctorwithoutaphd]

I've been using Gentoo for a little over a month. While I will not give a yes/no answer, I will give some contextual info that may help.

In terms of the overall process, there isn't much of a difference between installing Gentoo & vanilla Arch, the main differentiator is the compilation time. The error messages from Portage were a bit of an adjustment, but very helpful when I realized what they were instructing.

I'm pretty sure it's the way that my brain processes information, but I find it easier to get the info I need in the Gentoo Wiki than the Arch Wiki. I can't disagree with the quality & quantity of the info on the Arch Wiki, but the design of it just clashes with me. Also, the Gentoo Handbook is top-notch!

I've used Arch myself, and I've learned more about designing a stable system with Gentoo than I ever did with Arch because of the increased level of granular configuration.

If you do have any issues, the Gentoo community is VERY helpful!

Also, if you decide to move forward, use a live ISO that gives you a GUI, so you have access to a web-browser, it makes installing SO much easier. I personally use Calculate (based on Gentoo), but you can use any major Linux live ISO.

I've skimmed through the Gentoo install guide previously and got overloaded by the amount of detail.. I think that's a good thing.

I do want to thank you for not giving a yes-or-no answer but to really discuss some of the other things that's different than Arch and in Gentoo and going even as far as to the documentation itself I thank you for that.

I'm very glad I made this post and waited patiently for answers. I'll start running things in a VM and if anything goes wrong I'll be sure to post again.

Thank you all for your help! I'll be open to suggestions via DMs.

[NeddySeagoon]

thedoctorwithoutaphd,

Welcome to Gentoo.

I've never studied CS either. It wasn't invented at the time but don't let that put you off.
I started playing with computers and high school about the same time.

Gentoo divides itself into two main activities.
1. The install
2. Ongoing maintenance. You never need to reinstall.

The install is the hard part. Mostly because Gentoo is not a distro. Its a toolkit that you use to design and build your own Linux distro.
Keep that in mind. The design bit is the difficult bit.

There are some shortcuts. There is no need to build your own kernel. You can delay learning about the kernel as long as you want to.
Bigger packages have -bin versions. They come with constraints, in that the rest of your install needs to support the way they are made.

Lastly, there are no unsuccessful Gentoo installs, only varying degrees of success. :)

The general idea is to make it work first then build on what works.