|
Gentoo is the DIY of distros. There are a few more hairshirt still if you really, really want the DIY equivalent of winding iron, wrapping caps and smelting copper for wire. Gentoo's the best solution if you need something the other distros can't provide. At the time I built my server on a software raid platform it was the only distro that clarified the steps well enough for me to make it work, and had the added benefit of allowing a system build with only the hooks required for the task (no optimizations for sound, Quicktime, etc., for example.) The degree of configuration possible is unmatched by the more packaged distros. My old P2-233 Gentoo notebook could play movies full screen across a 10 mbit network without stuttering. Win 2K choked on the same task.
Oh my, starting to sound like the stereotypical Gentoo zealot. For me though it's not worth the bother any longer. Linux hardware support reached the point of no longer having to jump hoops to get a device working and fast systems are dirt cheap. Nor do I miss software builds which take a full evening. Staid old Debian does it for me these days.
|
Gentoo for poets
