Screenshot of QEMU VM showing an ASCII Gentoo Logo + system info

I followed Mental Outlaw’s 2019 guide and followed the official handbook to get up-to-date instructions and tailored instructions for my system, the process took about 4 hours however I did go out for a nice walk while my kernel was compiling. Overall I enjoyed the process and learnt a lot about the Linux kernel while doing it.

I’m planning on installing it to my hardware soon, this was to get a feel for the process in a non-destructive way.

    • khannie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      3 years ago

      Agreed. It’s such a great learning process. I ultimately gave up on Gentoo but learned a lot by using it for about 2 years way back in around 2005.

      Linux From Scratch brings a huge leap in understanding too.

      • fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works
        2·
        3 years ago

        Linux from Scratch is also an immensely powerful tool for deployment of secure software. Rebuilding the entire infrastructure between releases ensures threat actors can’t stay resident for long if the compromise production systems.

      • DryTomatoes4@lemm.ee
        1·
        3 years ago

        I found Gentoo more helpful than LFS because with LFS you compile about 80 packages from source one at a time but you don’t learn too much about the packages.

        LFS gave me much more awareness of what packages actually come with a Linux install but Gentoo taught me more about configuring and booting a Linux system.

        Although I’d definitely recommend both to anyone wanting to learn. I’d do Gentoo first then LFS.

        Edit: LFS is also a masterclass in cross compiling so if that’s something you’re curious about LFS is the way to go.

    • floppydisk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      3 years ago

      I had considered trying it at one point. Unfortunately one specific user on discord kept telling me to install it to the point of dming me “gentoo” almost every day, at which point I blocked them and vowed never to install gentoo

      • H2207@lemmy.worldOP
        1·
        3 years ago

        It is good fun if you’re really into Linux, I practically jumped out my seat when I crossed my fingers, rebooted and GRUB came up with Gentoo listed.

    • auth@lemmy.ml
      16·
      3 years ago

      Arch teaches you the most important stuff without wasting too much on time… Not a Gentoo fan

      • H2207@lemmy.worldOP
        3·
        3 years ago

        I use Arch on my host machine, the stuff I learnt when doing Gentoo today was wayyy deeper than Arch has ever gotten near. I agree that Arch teaches what most people should know, but Gentoo fully teaches what most people should have at least a small understanding of.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.caEnglish
    6·
    3 years ago

    I installed Gentoo once. ever. I use Ubuntu now.

    This was in the mid 2000’s and I went so far as to compile the kernel myself and build out all the packages. I was so exhausted at the end of it all, that I’m pretty sure I put away that system and never looked back. It’s quite the achievement, but I don’t wish to repeat that experience.

  • REdOG@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    3 years ago

    My first Gentoo install took a weekend and about a week later I had a desktop. KDE took me like 2 days to compile. p3 800mhz Toshiba with maybe 256MB RAM I forget actually…version was 1.2 alpha I wrote 1.too on the CD

  • spagnod@lemmy.world
    1·
    3 years ago

    Hehe… I installed Gentoo last year and I was thrown in the deepest of deep ends after having to set up a custom initramfs for my LUKS setup… took about a week to get it running…

    • H2207@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      3 years ago

      No it wasn’t bad actually with the hand-holding a long the way, I mainly followed the handbook but if I didn’t understand anything then I went back to the MO video to see what he did. Compiling from source is definitely what took the longest but that’s to be expected with Gentoo. The overall install process felt like a bit more involved Arch install.