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Possible Migration from Ubuntu to Gentoo Linux (Nope, Arch!)

Posted by jesse on Apr 30th, 2010 in Linux, Software, Technology | 1 comment

I have been giving it a lot of thought recently. I have been using Ubuntu for a couple years now and I think I am ready to move on. I haven’t tried Gentoo since college and I thought that tonight was a good night to check in on it. I was worried that it may be somewhat dead and that no one used it anymore so I decided to see if they had a chat room on irc.freenode.net – boy was I suprised! The channel was booming! I am currently installing a test drive VM right now. The installation process is so refreshing. Tonight made me realize that I have really let myself go since college. I am sick of Ubuntu and how it constantly wipes my ass for me, but fails sometimes anyway. I currently am running Ubuntu 9.10 with Gnome and the plan is to migrate to Gentoo and Xfce. The following information illustrates my reasons for wanting to switch. Ones that weigh more for me are in bold.

Ubuntu 9.10 Pros:
Just works
Apt package management is speedy
Well supported
Attractive
I know it

Ubuntu 9.10 Cons:
Does too much
Gnome is bloated
Deb package dependencies are crazy sometimes
Can be slow at times

Gentoo Pros:
Very trim and lightweight
Forces you to learn and maintain general linux knowledge
Very flexible

Gentoo Cons:
Takes FOREVER to compile packages and dependencies
Emerge can have issues
Not for lazy people (and im pretty lazy)

As I write this post I am on step 9/10 of the install. I will provide updates as time goes on.

Update 1:
I encountered three problems and got them all resolved. I am currently installing Xfce and xdm right now. The problems I faced:
1. Changed password for root user for install, not chrooted gentoo environment.
2. The install CD loads out of date drivers so hard drives show up as hda during install but sda during initial boot. This screwed up both GRUB and /etc/fstab.
3. I forgot to compile my network card drivers into the kernel so my eth0 device didn’t exist.

I also found this quite interesting and hilarious (click on it to read):

Update 2:
Gentoo compiles are taking WAY too long and the installation takes 4+ hours to complete. This is just not an option these days, especially for my work laptop. I decided to give Arch + Xfce a shot and it was a breeze. I still feel like I get way more control than I did in Ubuntu without all of the bloat. I am going to try this out for a while and see how I like it. If for whatever reason I dislike it, I will be switching to Xubuntu and call it a day.

Selling points on Arch:
The Arch Build System – Amazing!
The Arch User Repositories, for must haves like my beloved google-chrome!
Minimalistic approach

Kris I hope you are happy…