techTuesday, July 26, 2005
Why Gentoo
There is no shortage of linux distributions to choose from, so why do I prefer Gentoo Linux?
My linux experience started with a RedHat 5 cd that someone gave me. I managed to get it installed on some old PC I had. I was installed, I managed to log in, and sat staring at the command prompt with absolutely no idea what to do next or what this system was capable of. I tried a few DOS commands (I learned to use a computer in the DOS/Win3.x days), realized that this was a totally different animal, and finally figured a few things out. I don't remember exaclty what I got it to do, but I don't think I had any GUI. I did figure out the shutdown command and I didn't wait too long before installing Windows 98 back onto the drive.
A while later, I read the Linux User's Guide, a bunch of other linux documentation on the internet, and bought the Debian GNU/Linux Bible. So I got Debian installed and running on an old pc from the Good Will. I learned a lot with this setup, but didn't have the resources/interrest to push it to the limit - I didn't run any server software, it wasn't networked to anything, dial-up internet only.
Then I tried a bunch of other big-name distros - Redhat, Suse, Slackware, etc. I didn't find one that I really liked and when I would find something I liked in one, it wouldn't be in the others - also the setup/configuration procedures varied quite a bit from one to the other.
One day I stumbled upon the linux-from-scratch webpage and was mystified. I did it. I installed linux on my computer entirely from scratch - everything was compiled from the source code. This means that everything is custom-tailored to my system and needs. I liked the idea and eventually had a nice GUI and everything. But without a nice package management system, installing and updating sofware was a bit of a pain - broken dependencies and all.
Then I found Gentoo - Gentoo compiles everything from source just like LFS and it has a very nice package management system that installs new software from source and updates existing software. It was amazing. It takes a bit longer to install stuff because it has to be compiled from the source, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It also supports Athlon64, so when I built my Athlon64 system, I compiled everything from source to 64-bit code. My operating system runs natively at 64 bit, which Windows XP is unable to do. Up to now, I've been dual-booting linux and Windows XP in the same box, but the Athlon64 is a pure linux box. I only use Windows junk when I'm working on someone else's computer.
My linux experience started with a RedHat 5 cd that someone gave me. I managed to get it installed on some old PC I had. I was installed, I managed to log in, and sat staring at the command prompt with absolutely no idea what to do next or what this system was capable of. I tried a few DOS commands (I learned to use a computer in the DOS/Win3.x days), realized that this was a totally different animal, and finally figured a few things out. I don't remember exaclty what I got it to do, but I don't think I had any GUI. I did figure out the shutdown command and I didn't wait too long before installing Windows 98 back onto the drive.
A while later, I read the Linux User's Guide, a bunch of other linux documentation on the internet, and bought the Debian GNU/Linux Bible. So I got Debian installed and running on an old pc from the Good Will. I learned a lot with this setup, but didn't have the resources/interrest to push it to the limit - I didn't run any server software, it wasn't networked to anything, dial-up internet only.
Then I tried a bunch of other big-name distros - Redhat, Suse, Slackware, etc. I didn't find one that I really liked and when I would find something I liked in one, it wouldn't be in the others - also the setup/configuration procedures varied quite a bit from one to the other.
One day I stumbled upon the linux-from-scratch webpage and was mystified. I did it. I installed linux on my computer entirely from scratch - everything was compiled from the source code. This means that everything is custom-tailored to my system and needs. I liked the idea and eventually had a nice GUI and everything. But without a nice package management system, installing and updating sofware was a bit of a pain - broken dependencies and all.
Then I found Gentoo - Gentoo compiles everything from source just like LFS and it has a very nice package management system that installs new software from source and updates existing software. It was amazing. It takes a bit longer to install stuff because it has to be compiled from the source, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It also supports Athlon64, so when I built my Athlon64 system, I compiled everything from source to 64-bit code. My operating system runs natively at 64 bit, which Windows XP is unable to do. Up to now, I've been dual-booting linux and Windows XP in the same box, but the Athlon64 is a pure linux box. I only use Windows junk when I'm working on someone else's computer.
Some new (to me) linux distros
I've been looking at a few linux distributions that I'd like to try out. I really like Gentoo for my primary desktop installation, and KNOPPIX is really great - I can't wait to try out the Knoppix 4.0 DVD when it's finally available for download.
However, I've been reading about a few other distro's that look like they could be pretty usefull.
DSL - Damn Small Linux: It's another liveCD linux with a few advantages over knoppix for some uses - it's smaller, can fit on a USB flash drive, it's easier to customize, etc.
Puppy Linux - It's a lot like DSL. It's supposed to offer a lot of software in a very small space (under 64Mb)
GeeXboX - This is a very small liveCD designed for the sole purpose of media playback (Divx,etc).
Underground Desktop - This is a Desktop distribution based on Debian, but with a nice graphical installer - may be good for the curious newcomer to unix/linux.
I haven't used any of these distros yet, but I'm downloading them to try out. I'll post my reviews of each as I use them.
However, I've been reading about a few other distro's that look like they could be pretty usefull.
DSL - Damn Small Linux: It's another liveCD linux with a few advantages over knoppix for some uses - it's smaller, can fit on a USB flash drive, it's easier to customize, etc.
Puppy Linux - It's a lot like DSL. It's supposed to offer a lot of software in a very small space (under 64Mb)
GeeXboX - This is a very small liveCD designed for the sole purpose of media playback (Divx,etc).
Underground Desktop - This is a Desktop distribution based on Debian, but with a nice graphical installer - may be good for the curious newcomer to unix/linux.
I haven't used any of these distros yet, but I'm downloading them to try out. I'll post my reviews of each as I use them.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Linux Rocks
Linux Rocks. I miss it. I'm using Bob's Laptop with Windows XP and I really miss my linux machine.
Reading ReiserFS in Windows
I left my PC in MN, but I did bring one of the harddrives to WA. It has lots of entertaining data on it, but there is a problem. The harddrive is formatted with a reiserFS file system which I use for most of my linux partitions - it has a number of advantages over most conventional filesystems.
MS Windows takes one look at the rieserFS partition and says "I don't know what that is - it's greek to me." (Windows only recognizes 2 types of filesystems - FAT32/16 and NTFS - both designed by Microsoft - big surprise there -- They have never shown any effort to support any other type of filesystem)
I found some software called rfstool to allow you to copy stuff from a reiserfs partition in windows. It pretty much just lets you list the contents and copy files one by one (also directories recursively). You can't access a file directly from reiserfs - it would be nice, but I haven't found a tool to do that yet.
MS Windows takes one look at the rieserFS partition and says "I don't know what that is - it's greek to me." (Windows only recognizes 2 types of filesystems - FAT32/16 and NTFS - both designed by Microsoft - big surprise there -- They have never shown any effort to support any other type of filesystem)
I found some software called rfstool to allow you to copy stuff from a reiserfs partition in windows. It pretty much just lets you list the contents and copy files one by one (also directories recursively). You can't access a file directly from reiserfs - it would be nice, but I haven't found a tool to do that yet.
Away from my box
While I'm in Tacoma, I will be away from my Athlon64 box because I didn't want to pack it on the plane. I will probably bring it with me on the next part of my vacation to Desert Lake, Ontario because we're driving and stopping at my place in Minnesota on the way.