Simon Stelling - Latest comments on Support for Gentoo

In response to: Support for Gentoo

stefanie [Visitor] — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 21:44:09 +0000

you can never please 'em all i guess.

In response to: Support for Gentoo

Anthony [Visitor] — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 13:19:56 +0000

I have to agree w/ Matt. Let other distros make things super-easy. And there's always to some extent a feedback loop between different ways of approach. Automation plays a different role (and more interesting one to many) in Gentoo than in Ubuntu for example, but thinking about automation as such and its ways of being implemented informs and inspires diverse development efforts. Those of us who like to take things apart to see how they work will always be more at home with a Gentoo than a Linspire.

In response to: Support for Gentoo

Leon [Visitor] — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 12:36:20 +0000

I think Gentoo provides a wealth of 'support' options, probably more so than any other distribution and is one of the reason I settled on it.

The 'problem', if it is one, is that Windows users have it so easy. Insert disk, answer a couple of questions (with lots of help) and viola you have a 'working' operating system. I quote 'working' because they are lulled into a false sense of security that everything is working etc.

The problem with Gentoo (and Linux) 'support' is the fact that there are so many choices to make and channels to follow that it is exceedingly difficult for newbies, especially users brought up on Microsoft to find the 'right' path.

Maybe Gentoo and Linux users have too much choice?

Z

In response to: Support for Gentoo

John Nilsson [Visitor] — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 23:29:54 +0000

I say, just make Ubuntu the official "brother distro" and redirect all handholding development to them.

Or... we could spawn an Ubuntu inspired distro based on portage... that could be something... this way both projects could share development efforts.

In response to: Support for Gentoo

Matt [Visitor] — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 21:47:06 +0000

Installing without the installation handbook is of course very, very difficult if not impossible - especially for those not entirely familiar with Linux and Gentoo in particular.

With the handbook I've always found it pretty easy. It's certainly not for novices though - and I'm not sure that much effort should really be put into making it so. Let other distributions concentrate on that and do it well, let Gentoo concentrate on being Gentoo, and do it exceptionally.

In response to: Support for Gentoo

Tom Martin [Visitor] — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 20:22:42 +0000

Here's what I'd reply with:

"""
There is an IRC client on the livecd with which you can connect to the #gentoo IRC channel and people should be willing to help you. Also, there are mailing lists, web forums, wikis, et cetera. A complete and concise handbook is also provided on www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook. The statement that support in Gentoo is non-existant is simply false.

As for the way Gentoo is installed -- this gives users a lot of flexibility and saves developer resources on working on an installer. However, many distributions do provide an installer and are very user friendly as well as free. You could try Fedora, or Ubuntu for example.
"""

I must admit I feel sorry for him too, but he is seems just a little bit disgruntled with the way things are, and is probably overreacting after a bad experience.

In response to: Support for Gentoo

Kenyon [Visitor] — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 20:19:03 +0000

A PhD to install these things? Gimme a break! I started using Linux when I was a freshman in HIGH SCHOOL, with Slackware and like kernel 2.0.29. Linux has come so far since then, it is amazing.

This guy is just a moron, he'd probably have trouble installing ANY software.

In response to: Support for Gentoo

Benjamin Schindler [Visitor] — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 19:28:52 +0000

In my view - as a project grows, the more people will like it - and in the same way - many more people are going to dislike it. Look at what happened with the flamewar between Tanenbaum and Torvalds and so on. I'm not particularly concerned about these guys - they come with wrong expectations and get disappointed and start to whine. This guy didn't tell us what the problem is. This guy obviously didn't even look on what kind of support we do provide. He didn't find what he expected and starts to scream. Saying that every linux-distro is the same just tells me how much he knows about other distros.
And no - they'll probably not help us fix bugs. The only help I can expect from these guys is some publicity - like telling a friend "Hey, I've just installed something really cool. You gotta see that!". And that's something invaluable a big succesful distro needs too.

I also look on to the other side... how many people said: Windows doesn't work: I just tried this and it wouldn't do it. Most of the time, it's the user who did something wrong, not the OS (Even if that particular OS might be a little different there, but that's not the poing). How much bad publicity does MS get for someting, they are not guilty of?
Just a few thoughts ;-)