I started using Linux distributions as desktop operating systems around 2010. Up until then I only ever used Windows. I debuted with Ubuntu, motivated by the advertised "ease of use". I used it sporadically until 2012 then moved to Debian. One year after this move to Debian I achieved 50/50 use-time of Windows and Linux distributions. Then, in 2014, I made the choice to only use Linux distributions for all desktop-related stuff but gaming. In 2015, a friend of mine talked about Gentoo, and I got interested by the source-based distribution model that I didn't know about until then. I made a risky switch to Gentoo and used it up until now. Risky, because I didn't know anything about what Linux really was. What part it played in "Linux distributions", what was the "bare minimum" a distribution had to offer, etc. I remember bootstrapping Gentoo from the Debian installation I used as my main OS. I never regret my choice. Using Gentoo allowed me to understand what was the deal about Linux distributions quickly and in details. I also slowly but steadily learnt a lot about the kernel, partly thanks to the fact I had to build it by myself (I always avoided genkernel). In a nutshell, Gentoo was my best discovery in the "Linux" world, and a serious distribution for desktop use.
Some things that are great about Gentoo are:
- Portage
And how it is able to keep the system clean across a lot of packages installs and uninstalls compared to the apt suite of Debian. - The official ebuild repository
It never failed me. Never. Even Debian failed me quite some times although it is a "stable" distribution. But it may due to the fact that I didn't know what to expect from a Linux distribution, maybe I tried some hacky things at the time I didn't even know were hacky. It might not happen from now on.
Huge thanks to the official ebuild repository maintainers. Keep up with the good work. news were actually helpful and could allow me to never have to browse the internet to update in some tricky situations, or to find alternatives for packages that were deprecated. I did four successful profiles migrations, one being from desktop/systemd to desktop (I could reboot into Gentoo the first try, without having to use a recovery disk (I'm proud). I can't count how many times I had to use a recovery disk when I used Ubuntu/Debian). - OpenRC
Although I don't like this init "paradigm" anymore since I discovered systemd and s6, OpenRC is the best implementation of all the SysV style init systems I had read the source code. And it actually allowed me to understand how the traditional init system was working. - The community
Thanks you.
Alhough I rarely had to talk with other users of Gentoo, every discussion I had was a nice one. People are actually helpful, and I never encountered someone full of themselves. Maybe I got lucky :p
In any case, thanks you Gentoo, I'd love to use you again sometime. Thanks to all of the maintainers and contributors. Keep it up !
Kindly,
Léo
PS: It feels like a rant against Ubuntu/Debian, but it isn't. Most of the bad stuff that happened to me is probably due to my inexperience from the time.
