Gentoo Linux

Reader supplied reviews for Gentoo Linux Average rating 8.5 from 64 review(s) What are your thoughts on Gentoo Linux? Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system. Our FAQ page has tips on writing a good mini-review. Version: -- unstablestable20160514201408262012122112.112.011.211.010.12008.02007.02006.12006.02005.12005.02004.32004.22004.12004.01.41.21.1a1.0 Rating:    -- 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 out of 10 Your review (minimum 250 words): Past reviews - sort by: DateVotes Version: stable Rating:10 Date: 2024-05-26 Votes:9 Everything about this OS is amazing, the power you have to do what you want, the independence you have because you control the software, the freedom to control your system at it's max potential. Anything you want out of an OS you can make possible with Gentoo. The fact that to download a package it downloads the source code then compiles it, the OS assuming you're in control of everything, the power of it being able to run on anything. The privacy, the security, the compatibility. The speed, and the efficiency. You are in control. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: stable Rating:10 Date: 2024-05-20 Votes:8 I've had plenty of time to think about what I like and dislike about Gentoo, so I decided that a 'pros and cons' style list would be the best way to see why I chose Gentoo as a daily-driver. PROS: - Fast binaries: When you compile from source with specific use flags (-march=native, -O3/-O2, etc.) the compiler is fully allowed to use special assembly instructions that can greatly improve the performance of binaries. Many have said in the past that Gentoo's performance isn't the main selling-point anymore, but as compilers become more and more advanced with processor-intrinsic assembly, I find that difficult to fully agree with. The performance you get with native compilation is unmatched, and fantastic if you're managing a large system/database with a lot of data to sift through. - Incredible customization: A large part of Gentoo is its customization process. Ideally, you customize your kernel as well, taking away the functionality you don't need. This greatly limits overhead at the lowest level. Some people also like that it doesn't force you into using Systemd like Arch, although that is almost entirely opinion-based. Here's a list of things that are entirely your choice: Bootloader, init system, filesystem, partition-sizing, kernel (builtins and modules, along with the type of kernel). I genuinely could go on, but this section is already disproportionately long. - Amazing package manager: Aside from the basics that have already been stated, Portage is very intuitive with the way it handles packages. If you don't explicitly tell it to use bleeding-edge packages, it is ridiculously safe. There are many, many options to change its functionality, and default options can be specified easily in the `make.conf` file. There are also community-contributed repositories, similar to the AUR. - USE flags: Don't have or want bluetooth? Disable it. Do you use Wayland? Disable Xorg windowing for packages that don't need it. This goes for almost anything on your system and can be enabled/disabled globally or per-package. There are many, many USE flags. You don't have to pay for what you don't eat! CONS: - Slowww downloads: If you're constantly downloading software, Gentoo struggles. As everything is built from source, larger projects like Firefox can take about an hour to fully compile (although recently, in an effort to entirely remove this issue, Portage also allows you to download binary packages for select packages). I would personally agree that Arch is more user-friendly when it comes to mass package installation. - Requires technical knowledge: You're gonna have to get close to the machine if you want to use Gentoo. The installation process will take several hours at the minimum and is a very involved process. - Here be dragons: There won't be a lot of help if you break your system. Being arrogant with use flags (-Ofast, -ffast-math) can very easily produce binaries that simply do not work. Additionally, very few online tutorials will show Gentoo-specific instructions. Gentoo is absolutely a trial-by-fire, and you will be forced into learning many things alone. TL;DR -- Gentoo is for highly advanced users who want an extremely optimized system tailored to their specific needs. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: stable Rating:10 Date: 2024-05-16 Votes: 0 I've used Gentoo on and off for decades now, not in any coding or tech capacity, not even for work. I'm just your average older computer user with a love of Linux and a willingness to learn if there's a payoff. I use my computer for everyday things mainly - web browsing with Firefox (though I'll admit to using the Mozilla binary rather than compiling it) and lots of media consumption, including managing a gigantic music collection comprising 1.2TB and well over 200,000 files. Gentoo handles it all with fewer issues than most other distros. Over the years I've managed to bork my install a few times, mainly through neglect, but now I know more, stick with the stable branch and update regularly. It works if you care for it. It just needs more attention than most. Yes, the install/update process is much more involved than most distros, and it's easy to make mistakes. But the documentation is pretty great overall, if a little too detailed at times perhaps, and not always in a straight line. As with Arch, you need to know what you want ahead of time, then it's just a matter of putting the puzzle together. It'll take longer with Gentoo of course, because compiling everything takes time. There are ways to mitigate that however - though it's gonna take what it takes at first. I use the binary kernel in addition to Firefox, but aside from that, my Plasma setup and everything else is compiled, tuned to my hardware, which is actually noticeable. I timed Strawberry chugging through my Music partition when added on various distros and Gentoo won the race handily. Plasma 5 sits at around 390MB initial RAM use according to ksysguard (still available!), and everything just feels a bit more snappy. I know Gentoo doesn't get much attention these days, and it certainly isn't for everyone, but if you're looking to have even more fine-grained control over your system than most Linux already gives you, or if you want to squeeze the best performance out of your particular hardware it may be worth taking the plunge. Just be aware that there is work involved. If you can't update regularly, refuse to read notifications or do research, etc. it probably ain't for you. But if you're willing to learn and can follow instructions, you could soon be dazzled by walls of text fly by as gcc compiles itself. That one takes a while... Was this review helpful? Yes No See all 64 reader reviews of Gentoo Linux...