Gentoo good for a ICS power user who has been burned with Linux once?

[magomago]

My friend has renewed interest in trying Linux, especially since he has a A64 and wants to try the 64 bit versions. Last year he tried it on his hold 1.8P4 and he did not like it and ended up wiping his HDD to remove it.

He is a ICS major with quite a bit of programming experience (and good grades might I add 😉 ) but aside from MAndrake 9.0 he hasn't tried anything. He said he did a little bit searching and the most STABLE 64bit OS was Gentoo, hence he chooses to try it out.

Is he making the correct decision? I wanted to naturally push him to a Debian based distro (Ubuntu 😉 since its so easy to setup and do things) but he isn't sure on the stablity of the 64bit versions of it.

Should he be trying gentoo from scratch (i told him to read those docs religiously) , or should I pressure him on more of a Debian based install?

I did a serach for 64 and really didn't find much 😉

The other key info was he has an ATI 9600pro videocard, so then the hard part is going to make sure those horrid ATI drivers can get installed...even if his video preformance will suffer

 

[n0cmonkey]

ICS?

He said he did a little bit searching and the most STABLE 64bit OS was Gentoo, hence he chooses to try it out.

What is the criteria for being classified as "stable?"

Let him try what he wants. You say he's getting good grades, reward him with a little trust and understanding. :light:

 

[sourceninja]

if he doesn't like it in 32bit, i doubt he will like it in 64bit where even less stuff works.

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
ICS?

He said he did a little bit searching and the most STABLE 64bit OS was Gentoo, hence he chooses to try it out.

What is the criteria for being classified as "stable?"

Let him try what he wants. You say he's getting good grades, reward him with a little trust and understanding. :light:

ICS= CS degree at our school with a less less programming and a lot more theory 😉 Information and Computer Systems IIRC.

As for "stability", the general usage of the term. Searching these forums Fedorce x86-64 seems to be pretty buggy at this stage. Suse I've HEARD good things from. But This stuff is just things I hear every once in a while and wouldn't stand by it.

And as for the trust...well why not 😉 I might as well go watch a gentoo install and see if I can learn anything 😀

Thanks n0cmonkey!

 

[n0cmonkey]

Gentoo wouldn't be my first choice, but it might be fun to watch someone else try it out. 🙂

Or, it'd be very frustrating. I get frustrated watching newbies do things sometimes, but that's because I have no patience. 😉

 

[nweaver]

I'm gentoo user (not 64 bit) but I hear Suse has the best 64 bit linux distro.

 

[hooflung]

Any 64bit OS is stable for the most part but to be honest you need to be an intermediate to advanced GNU person that understands what a chroot is to really fix a problem that might arise. If he is willing to learn the innards of Linux and GNU then gentoo is by far the best choice and will teach him as he gives birth to his install.

However, if he just wants to test drive Linux and GNU for the sake of doing it or indulging in the DVD ripping that is going the way of the dodo in Windows then he should rely on a 32bit version of a Distro. Ubuntu or Mandriva will probably do him right. Suse 9.3 lacks some features that put it on top. Debian is still a little more than a noob wants. I wouldn't touch Fedora Core with a 10 foot pole unless the paycheck was good. Also try a live CD of Knoppix which might be exactly what he needs to do anyway.

 

[TGS]

If you follow a stage 3 install, with the precompiled apps it's pretty hard to bone it up. The directions for a gentoo install are fairly long but very detailed.

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
if he doesn't like it in 32bit, i doubt he will like it in 64bit where even less stuff works.

In my limited 64-bit Linux experience, hardware support was pretty good. I had an nForce3 250Gb based system and all the hardware was detected and ran properly. At least when I was running it, Linux had better 64-bit driver support than Windows.

 

[Nothinman]

In my limited 64-bit Linux experience, hardware support was pretty good. I had an nForce3 250Gb based system and all the hardware was detected and ran properly. At least when I was running it, Linux had better 64-bit driver support than Windows.

No doubt, but things that don't have 64-bit ports won't work at all. Things like flash and windows codecs. I could definitely live without flash, but setting up 32-bit mplayer to be able to play WMV files would probably suck.

 

[doornail]

Originally posted by: magomago

... who has been burned with Linux ...

Originally posted by: magomago

... Last year he tried it on his hold 1.8P4 and he did not like it ...

Over dramatize much?

One time I got a vanilla shake and it wasn't as yummy as strawberry -- I will make those bastards pay dearly.

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: sourceninja
if he doesn't like it in 32bit, i doubt he will like it in 64bit where even less stuff works.

In my limited 64-bit Linux experience, hardware support was pretty good. I had an nForce3 250Gb based system and all the hardware was detected and ran properly. At least when I was running it, Linux had better 64-bit driver support than Windows.

All my hardware works just fine. Its having almost double the libararys between my 64 bit system and my chroot system so I can run 32bit apps (firefox, mplayer, a few games I play, etc) that gets to be a pain. I find a chroot a bad hack at best for running 32bit apps. But I'd say in a year or 2 everything should be just peachy. But for now that is why I still run gentoo 32 90% of hte time, with gentoo 64 just for testing and bug submission