Re: [SLUG] Amusement for Gentoo nonenthusiasts

From: Bryan J. Smith (b.j.smith@ieee.org)
Date: Tue Dec 07 2004 - 05:38:01 EST


Levi Bard wrote:
> http://funroll-loops.org/
> For entertainment purposes only. No Gentoo users were harmed in the
> linking of this site.

Chad Perrin wrote:
> Pardon me. I only just now noticed this sitting in my inbox. I know
> I'm about a month and change late with this.
> That is HILARIOUS. I know just the Gentoo lover to send the link to:
> someone I've known since ninth grade, lo these many (many many) moods ago.
> s/moods/moons/
> I'm sure he'll have a cow.

It is the most _appropriate_ page I've ever seen.

We've had "ports" distros for years in da'Berks (BSDs). In fact, I'm
_glad_ we have a "ports" distro for Linux in Gentoo. If you read Daniel
Robbins (a very intelligent gentleman whom I hope to meet in person
someday) philosophy on the Gentoo page, it is _none_ of the non-sense
you see from countless Gentoo people:
  http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/philosophy.xml

"Ports" distros have their benefits. Especially for embedded and
small-footprint builds. With the creation of Gentoo, I have totally
eliminated any reason for using "Linux From Scratch" (LFS) when I need
to build an app-specific distro, or something with a small-footprint.

Unfortunately, some of the "kids" seem to come out of the woodwork.
They get all into it. The mod cars are a very _appropriate_ example in
comparison. Because it doesn't matter what anyone says, it's all about
the matching "attitude" they have.

An optimized, but stable "packages" distro like Fedora is like a
Corvette -- big, heavy, mainstream. Yeah, it's only built with "gcc
-O2". But packages are i486 ISA compatible, optimized for i686 (and P4
in FC3, which I do _not_ agree with, long story), and multimedia and
other apps are built with _all_ extensions. It's big, but it's got pure
torque.

Sure, the mod car is lighter and has all the bells and whistles. It's
built for street racing on a flat straight-away. But the Vette has got
the torque to do everything. And it's a lot more stable for the long
haul, built for any road, hill and drive.

-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                 b.j.smith@ieee.org 
------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Beware of advocates who justify their preference not in terms of
what they like about their "choice," but what they did not like
about another option.  Such advocacy is more hurtful than helpful.

----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Aug 01 2014 - 20:35:10 EDT