this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Gentoo install keeps coming up - what does it do ? What does it offer ?
Gentoo itself is "just" a very solid distro with lots of flexibility due to being source-based (most distros just deliver the resulting binaries), so if you're the kind of person that would customize the things Gentoo exposes, Gentoo makes it easier than it would be on Debian or Arch. If not, it's an added complexity for not much benefit.
The Gentoo installation guide famously doesn't shy away from explaining what needs to be done, it isn't just a series of step-by-step instructions. For this reason it's a great way to start learning this stuff. Even if it won't explain everything completely, it will surely point at the right direction.
The standout feature of Gentoo is its configurability; you can configure portage, the package manager, to enable and disable features of a package at build time.
Say you don't have Bluetooth. You can just exclude Bluetooth from every package by setting the use flag globally:
it can even manage dependencies, a good example is picking pipewire over pulse.
It's also easy to package software that isn't in the official repos - here's a post where I did just that.
The community is fantastic and supportive, and you can often get a near immediate response in IRC.
Finally the documentation is excellent, especually the handbook.
Thanks !
me, a Linux Mint user, reading that comment