Gentoo Advanced or Basic

GentooMasterBuilder · n00b Joined: 18 Apr 2004 Posts: 14

opinions on weather gentoo is for advanced users rather then new users. Just so everyone knows I do alot of bug report shit. I have allowed chris to close two bug reports when he gets around so Gentoo is a walk in park for me, this is refering to a completely new person to linux in General I would send them to slackware to get the basics before the come on up to gentoo.

acasto · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:18 am Post subject:

Is this speaking of Gentoo already setup and configured? Or do they have to install? Because any distro with a command line install could probably be considered advanced, when comparatively talking about a windows user.

- Adam
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Nard` · Apprentice Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 250

I would say gentoo can be advanced or simple. It depends more on a persons personality than experience.

When I installed gentoo I wouldn't consider myself advanced nor would I consider myself a begginer (as in, I wasn't scared of command line). But I still ran into a lot of problems, which is how you learn. Most windows users would stop on the first problem they ran into.

but as someone already said, are you talking about installing or using? If it's using then it can be as complex or as simple as you choose.
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ninjabadger · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 11:46 am Post subject:

I went for advanced, not that is overly hard, just that you need some knowledge of what you are doing. Gentoo is by no means the super hard alternative to LFS that some people seem to think but many home users who are used to popping in the windows CD and clickin "install" would not be able to do it.

imho the basic users linux that could entice windows users are SuSE and Mandrake (I have only really used the former). But the that whole argument is irrelevent since windows does what most people want, run their games, paint and office programs with a point and click install. Untill linux gets the software that these people use (and not just alternatives like gimp or Open Office that they ahve to re-learn but ports of the actual programs) then the cost and security aspects of linux will not be able to usurp windows dominance.

krolden · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 11:57 am Post subject:

Depends on the person's determination.

Red Nalie · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:11 pm Post subject:

Depends on the person's ability to read (Handbooks, Howto's, FAQ's, etc.).
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miscz · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:03 pm Post subject:

Pink · Veteran Joined: 24 Jul 2003 Posts: 1062

Depends on so much, but mainly the users' expereince and time.

I would recommend it to some windows users and not others.

The command line is 'easy' but it is too much for some people. Most of us forget how computer illiterate most people are and there is no need for them to be any thing but 'click and go' users (but obviously not the Linspire type!).

So it does depend on the person in question. My Mum has Suse and she has no interest in learning anything else. Good for her. I also have friends who have Gentoo. Good for them.

John-Boy · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:59 pm Post subject:

Depends, not all Windows users are totally newbies around PC's - for somebody that's reasonably savvy, but never used a Linux distro before Gentoo is great.

Flammie · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:47 pm Post subject:

Well, back in the good old days in times before the light, gentoo was considered solely as an expert distro for tweakers and experts alike (or, as the popular new hateword goes: "ricers"). Nowadays gentoo seemingly has attracted all kinds of people, but judging from all the flaming threads sent to fora and different @gentoo.org addresses, it still requires some skill, patience and lot of time to spend reading carefully the instructions needed.

electrofreak · l33t Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 713 Location: Ohio, USA

Install: Since its a command line install it is advanced. When I first installed it, I was fairly familiar with linux and I still ran into problems. Now, I can install it without the guidebook.

Using: This depends on what all the user has done to get it all setup. If they don't know how to... automate things or make things all work together nicely, then it could be kinda advanced to use. But I've seen people install gentoo for thier parents, in which case using COULD be pretty basic.

Riftwing · Apprentice Joined: 06 Oct 2002 Posts: 293

I would say basic because of how easy it is to do things such as keeping your system up to date. However, if you are afraid of the command line, you might have some issues.
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GentooMasterBuilder · n00b Joined: 18 Apr 2004 Posts: 14

Just so everyone knows I am far from a n00b I just dont post to the forums much you can find my name anarch@penguin-geek.com splattered all over bugzilla if you look hard enough.

duralinux · n00b Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 36 Location: Minnesota

I don't think Gentoo is too advanced for someone new to linux to install or to use. I mean really... Gentoo has the best documentation I've seen for installation, configuration of a installed system, and also for trouble-shooting.

I think that if someone can read, they can install and use Gentoo. Sure... some of the admin tools can get complicated... as can troublle-shooting a problem with GCC or libtools or the like.. But as long as the new user knows about the tools and documentation that's available to him, I see no reason why a complete n00b to linux can't install and use Gentoo with alot of success.
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mem7 · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:35 pm Post subject:

Doesn't matter. I've seen an advanced computer user fail miserably at installing Gentoo and gave up, while some else one who knew a lot less just took their time and made it work. Its more of a matter of a willingness to learn with an open mind and a little bit of patience.
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Archangel1 · Veteran Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Posts: 1212 Location: Work

Yes, it's for an advanced user. That doesn't mean they necessarily have to be an advanced user to begin with; hell, I hadn't used much other than Knoppix before Gentoo. But they will get bored or frustrated and leave if they don't make an effort to advance themselves. Trying to use Gentoo as a clueless luser isn't the best idea ever.

Mostly it requires a reasonable degree of intelligence (anyone whose vocabulary consists exclusively of OMG, WTF and LOL isn't going to qualify), which is all you actually need to follow the manual. It does tell you exactly what to do, so I don't really think it's that difficult.
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blackhorse · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:36 pm Post subject:

I was a complete and total illiterate person when it came to computers, but I installed it in less that a month, kde and everything. Now I am using fvwm and finally figured out how to get upgrade my kernel with out so many problems. I vote for basic, even though you have to learn and be willing to learn.
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darkfolk · n00b Joined: 30 Jan 2005 Posts: 32

For advanced.
But really, it depends more on your determination to read various things and ask questions.

Flammie · Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:27 pm Post subject:

96140 · Retired Dev Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 1324

Antimatter · Guru Joined: 11 Aug 2003 Posts: 463

nightmorph: that's almost the same story as me here, but shorter span, about i would say 10-12 years on windows, but majority of my childhood was playing around on old DOS or apple, programing in basic and creating websites, then later on limited degree of c++

so it might had been simpler for me because i had some programing background and now am into my second/third year of software engineering.

but gentoo was my third linux distro i ever installed, first was some unnamed linux distro i downloaded from ftp from one of those huge ftp site. that was a pain to get working but it worked then lost interest because of lack of document and fact that i was probably still too young to adequatly understand it, installed that thing around 5th grade so yeah....

then forgot all about linux untill i arrived to college and had no computer so i grab an old 366mhz dell laptop, and tried windows xp on it, was sluggish and got infected within 5 min, so i said screw this and got a copy of red hat 9, installed, removed kde and replaced w/ fluxbox and was happy for a long while then later i tried some wierd hp distro but end up screwing it and somehow ran over gentoo and thought umm might as well give this a shot, and been stuck here ever sience.

now dual booting gentoo on this big tower computer. so i would say if i could install an no-named linux from some random ftp site w/ minimal amount of document, i would probably classify gentoo as basic/immendate because of the heaps of document, all you got to do is read the document and it will take you though it step by step.

Uncle_Psychosis · Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2004 Posts: 387

I would say "advanced". However, I learned far more about linux installing Gentoo than just from using any other distro- Xandros, Debian, and Knoppix

Sam

addeman · Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 7:12 pm Post subject:

Gentoo is my only linux experience so far. Beforehand i had a 2 hour lecture about unix

But i say that though timeconsuming installationprocess it is actually _easier_ than than windows, which has a tendency to not obey you... It is certanly more well documented, and thx to these lovley forums you can't go wrong.

My first gentoo install was on a p2 233 Mhz, took some time to go from stage 1 to fully working kde 3... Now that box serves as my local server/router.

Best regards
addeman

Arkham · Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 7:26 pm Post subject:

There are those who can read a manual..
and the "computer impaired" people No matter what OS!!

Gentoo just UNLOCKS the "learning" feature of persons

?

djpharoah · Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:39 pm Post subject:

it all really depends on the persons background. if they have some knowledge of unix/linux then installing gentoo is considered basic by me, cuz all u have to do is read the freakin manual.

but if u take someone who is straight from the windows group, then i would consider gentoo advanced

im a computer engineering student (2nd) who installed gentoo on his second try (first got fsked by hdd dying)...so like i said..totally depends on the persons background and inclination