Does gentoo need an oil change?

[IamtheOne]

I heard some people had problems when updating to 1.4. I hope when 1.5 comes out they're won't be too many problems as far as emerging to 1.5 from 1.4.

This was because of the compiler change... 1.2 was based on gcc2.95 and 1.4 is gcc3.2. Software compiled with these different compilers are incompatable. So it was tricky business trying to keep the system going while changing compilers. Now, both can co-exist on a gentoo system thanks to gcc-config and upgrades are much easier.

There will not be a break in gcc compatability in the forseable future so you will not have to do anything special to "upgrade". Just the usual emerge sync && emerge -u world

[thegoalie]

i have noticed that with windows that after a while the registry does get fragmented and bloated. also after a while you must reinstall it because the registry also gets somewhat corrupted from all the installing and uninstalling of programs in the preceding months. i have had a gentoo linux installation for about 5 months now with no reinstall unless i want to just for the fun of it because i am a glutton for misery lol. in conclusion the only thing thats making me keep my windows is the stupid gaming community somewhat not porting there games to linux mind you cedega does a really good job but some games just refuse to work with it.

[electrofreak]

Well... with my current install of windows XP SP1a, I haven't reinstalled it in over a year and a half. Mostly because of firefox use and not IE. I tend to be a pretty good user which does lower the need to reinstall all the time.

I dual boot with Gentoo Linux, but, to be honest, I rarely boot into gentoo. When I do, there are usually so many updates and so many changes that'd it'd be a pain to ever try to keep up with it... So, I usually do just end up reinstalling when I get a chance. I start fresh and stuff. I would use gentoo all the time if game support was better. I'm hoping to be able to ditch windows completely on the computer I'll be building when I get some money. Then I'll be able to keep up with all the changes just fine.

[nephros]

All hail the Necromancers!

[ARC2300]

I've had the same Gentoo install for over 2 years now. My largest uptime on my deskie was 72 days, but due to me messing with the kernel timer in Wolk-Sources, it reset, so I lost count.

Anyways, my Gentoo is 2 years old. Installed on March of 2003 during a vacation from work. And out of all the stuff I've done to it, it's never had to be re-installed. Rebooted a few times to get things working, yes. But never re-installed.

And speaking of, I've noticed my laptop starting to die. THink I'm just going to blow WinXP Pro away and install Linux when I move. I'm hoping the new Uni I attend won't make using M$ mandatory like my present one.

[transienteagle]

From nephros

Linux assumes you're smart, so it's easy to do stupid things. Windows assumes you're stupid, therefore makes it hard to do smart things.

Nephros,

I'am going to plagarise this quote to the nth degree. Totally excellent

rgds

TE

[nephros]

Linux assumes you're smart, so it's easy to do stupid things. Windows assumes you're stupid, therefore makes it hard to do smart things.

I'am going to plagarise this quote to the nth degree. Totally excellent

Thanks.

But I will have to share the credit:

UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that
would also stop you from doing clever things.
-- Doug Gwyn

[Lechium]

First of all if you use Windows properly than there is no need to reinstall every 3 months. Most importantly -- dont run as Admin, like most people do! That's just as bad (if not worse) than running Linux as root. Very very common mistake, and actually is the source of most troubles surrounding windows security. Next I suggest using 2000, or, if you dont care for games, NT4.0. These are pretty decent O/S's -- solid, and secure if run properly. I still prefere Linux, but I have to admit that some of Microsoft systems, if ran properly, are not half bad at all.

As far as oil change for Gentoo goes... if you installed it properly, and use it properly (no running as root! lol) than you can have an uptime of 3 months no problem. Reason I've decided to stick with Gentoo is actually the ease of maintenance and stability.

[eerok]

Most importantly -- dont run as Admin, like most people do!

I thought running as non-admin was pretty much acknowledged as broken on windows. I admit I never used 2000 or nt4 ... I went from 98se to xp pro.

Anyway, I agree that you shouldn't have to reinstall windows every 3 months. My xp pro box has gone over a year with heavy use and is still not noticeably slower than when I installed it. However, I use a lot of non-ms software on it: emacs, MikTeX, xampp, firefox, thunderbird, xnews ... maybe that stuff is cleaner than the average windows app?

[Lechium]

Most importantly -- dont run as Admin, like most people do!

I thought running as non-admin was pretty much acknowledged as broken on windows.

I am using XP as a user at work and it is ok... the other day I was installing Oracle SQL 8.i and it asked me to give an admin password to proceed with installation *nix style. Most software doesn't have this option, I agree, but for most everyday things running as user is just fine, and safe.
XP is horrid, that's a given, but it is more secure than it seems. Most security problems come from users (well this is true everywhere, but XP has much higher amount of computer illeterate users, than *nix, and unlike Mac XP does not enforce security leaving it to the user) .

[NeoCORE]

First of all if you use Windows properly than there is no need to reinstall every 3 months. Most importantly -- dont run as Admin, like most people do! That's just as bad (if not worse) than running Linux as root. Very very common mistake, and actually is the source of most troubles surrounding windows security. Next I suggest using 2000, or, if you dont care for games, NT4.0. These are pretty decent O/S's -- solid, and secure if run properly. I still prefere Linux, but I have to admit that some of Microsoft systems, if ran properly, are not half bad at all.

As far as oil change for Gentoo goes... if you installed it properly, and use it properly (no running as root! lol) than you can have an uptime of 3 months no problem. Reason I've decided to stick with Gentoo is actually the ease of maintenance and stability.

Lol, just looked this post up, after.... 2 years... At the time, XP was a teething OS in what I was doing, comparing to ME/98/2000 it was a good stab more stable, and probably does not require an oil change as often... but lets face it unlike gentoo, which I have found out for 2 years requires no oil change... a 3/4month reinstall is just good hygiene for XP... with adware, spyware, (of which is installed when I try some new software which does not announce clearly what it comes with) general registry bog down of trying software... we are the ones that do the most "dabbling" after all...

Yes, you can run XP, full out for a year... but, time your start-up, check your game fps... etc. etc. reinstall, and restore the setup the way you like it... and then do it again... you will notice quite a difference.

As for the Admin side of things and not always running as it... I see no difference in XP other than you will have restricted rights as a limited user. Maybe it will discourage you from installing the latest piece of fun software because you have to switch user... other than that, as long as you have basic knowledge of how to avoid unauthorised apps being installed without your knowledge... your grand

Just my POV, 2 years later

[platojones]

A gentoo firewall, such as shorewall, goes a long way. I first installed Gentoo on 2 boxen back at the end of 2002. I've never re-installed since. Both original distros are still on both and have worked without slowdown since. I sync daily and 'emerge -up --deep world' daily and despite some obvious cruft, have never suffered from either significan performance loss or breakage.
Having said that, my origninal XP (dual boot, XPGentoo) installation is also still in great shape. With my Gentoo firewalled router box, I filter most crap before it even touches XP. Further, on the dual-boot box, I spend most of my time (like right now) in Gentoo. No viruses or spy-ware yet. XP is nearly as clean as the day the box arrived at my door-step.
Now, based on what i just said, you can draw 2 conclusions. If you keep XP behind a Gentoo (firewall-enabled) router, you've got no worries. Second, in this configuration, Gentoo is pretty tough to beat on the front lines of the internet. I give much credit to shorewall). I live in absolute fear of putting any MS product on it's own in the internet wild. I have no such fears with a Gentoo box guarding the gates. For 3 years it has taken everything the HaXor's could throw at it and it's screwed them over every time. I know because snort never fails to tell me what they've tried.
Bottom line, If you run a fairly stable Gentoo box as a gateway, you don't have much of anything to worry about. If you think, however, that you can 'plug-n-play' your way through Gentoo, you are going be disappointed. All Gentoo really does is provide you with the tools to do what you want and the knowlege to make use of those tools. The rest is up to you. Don't expect anything else.


XP works great for games.

[FGA]

The main reason M$ stuff is really crappy (NTFS and such) is that M$ has NEVER written their own stuff. ALL of M$ programs are things they bought from other companies and slapped the M$ name on.

EX. WinNT and NTFS were purchased from Xerox labs. M$-DOS was stolen from IBM.

WinNT was a fork of OS/2, the operating system IBM and Microsoft were working together. NTFS was its filesystem.

Xerox has nothing to do here. But Apple stole its idea of a GUI and mouse device.

[NeoCORE]

But Apple stole its idea of a GUI and mouse device.

I thought apple released the GUI+mouse device setup first... it just never took off?

[djh-world]

I thought apple released the GUI+mouse device setup first... it just never took off?

Nope, they took it off Xerox.

[widremann]

I never had the dreaded Windows slowdown. I even used IE and all sorts of other MS products (didn't like Firefox, liked MS Word and I still do, *loved* Visual Studio and so forth). I guess I was careful enough to go into msconfig and turn off unneeded services. And to be fair, Fedora is almost worse because it has so many services on by default (not that Fedora == Linux). Anyways, my point is that is that I had no trouble keeping Windows running smoothly. I never got spyware or viruses. Well, once in a blue moon I would get one and quickly take care of it. I think some people just have this problem where they click on every popup that tries to install software and they run attachments without thinking, don't turn off unnecessary services and generally just do stupid things. But if you do stupid things, you get bad results, on Linux and on Windows.

[Kensai]

I never had the dreaded Windows slowdown. I even used IE and all sorts of other MS products (didn't like Firefox, liked MS Word and I still do, *loved* Visual Studio and so forth).

And you use Linux? Man I see so many strange things this days. I better take a pill.

[red-wolf76]

(...) a 3/4month reinstall is just good hygiene for XP... (...)

I read that as "three quarter month"... Makes it sound almost as annoying as menstruation... But maybe you are reinstalling XP according to the lunar calendar (reinstall after three weeks, take one week till you're where you started and round and round you go....)

I get it! Microshaft is a feminazi front and Windows a ploy to make men suffer (face it - the world of computers is sadly still dominated by the male nerd stereotype )...

Disclaimer: If you find sarcasm in the above post, feel free to keep, use or share it!

[yoshi314]

windows does not know how to handle itself. and it tries to keep things simpler than possible dumbing its users down into mindless clickers. that's the problem.

ignorant masses grow on windows, and that makes them unable to fix the simplest things. and they think other OS's are way harder to work with.

"corrupt memory is a pain. when your mouse stops working - a tragedy" - my view on a windows user ]:->

[Chaosite]

Nope, they took it off Xerox.

Yeah, but they were actually invited to that conference and Xerox licensed it to them.

Microsoft just ripped Apple off ^^

[Lechium]

Installing new kernel can be seen as an oil change =)