TechieMoe.com

Introduction:

Let me say that in the past when I was an unemployed college student and had unlimited free high-speed internet through my college, Gentoo was a wonderful, easy to maintain (if not at all easy to install) distribution that I laughed and played with for days (since it took that long to get working).

For as long as Gentoo has been around there have been a great deal of people extolling the virtues of it. I won't go into those here. One of the bigger complaints a lot of people (myself included) have is that the text-based installer takes a very long time to run through. There has always been two groups in the Gentoo community: those who clamored for a quicker, graphical way to install it, and those who thought the text installer was sufficient (even preferable). This second group was made of up two more groups: those who wanted all to use the text installer ("sadists") and those who simply liked the text install and found it a rewarding experience ("masochists").

Now that I have a real job, other adult priorities, and a distinct lack of broadband internet, my taste in operating systems has fundamentally changed. When I heard the news that Gentoo finally had a graphical installer that *might* reduce the amount of time it takes to get a system up and running, I was.... cautiously optimistic. It's times like these when I realize why most of the time I'm a pessimist. If you underestimate, you'll never be disappointed.

Install:

Unlike previous "Universal CDs" I've downloaded in the past, the 2006 LiveCD of Gentoo boots you to a graphical (Gnome) desktop rather than a framebuffer. This is a fresh change for folks like me, even if I don't care for Gnome particularly. On the desktop you're given two shortcuts: "Gentoo Linux Installer" and "Gentoo Linux Installer (Command Line)". Do not get the "command line" confused with "traditional pound-you-in-the-rear Gentoo installation". The command line installer is simply an ncurses-based version of the GUI installer. To install the traditional way, you need to open up a terminal and do it yourself.

I downloaded this particular release for the sole purpose of trying out the new graphical installer which in my opinion has been many years long overdue for a distribution with as much mainstream popularity (if not mainstream acceptance) as this. The opening screen says that the purpose of the graphical installer is "not to make the installation easier, just make it faster." This is my main gripe with Gentoo. The manual, text-based install process is not difficult, just obscenely time-consuming.

The Gentoo team wasn't kidding when they said it wouldn't be any easier. In some cases, the GUI installer was actually harder than the text one because you aren't given any recommendations or examples by which to base any of the answers to the questions it asks you. Nevertheless, I took all the supplied defaults and was through the initial configuration in roughly 5 minutes. Then the real waiting began as the system generated everything it needed to install.

The installer told me it was going to generate things. Ok. I waited. It sat there. I waited some more. It still sat there. I finally checked my CPU light (idle), checked my running processes with "top", and even put my ear to the side of my case and listened for any type of activity at all. Nothing. I closed the installer and tried again. Once again I'm left with the installer doing nothing.

I try the "Gentoo Installer FAQ" link on the desktop. It points to a remote file which requires an internet connection. At this point I am supremely annoyed. It's quite apparent to me that the "anti-GUI installer" crowd in the gentoo camp made damn sure that their point would be proven by making the graphical installer functionally useless.

I decided then to try the ncurses-based command-line installer. The screens were occasionally littered with nonsensical error text that made the menus unreadable, and when I got to the point where the installer itself was supposed to, you know, do its JOB and install the OS, it crashed, closing the window and returning me to the desktop. Color me unimpressed. I did not take the time to install Gentoo the traditional way, because although I am perfectly *capable*, I am most certainly not *willing*. I downloaded this version of Gentoo to test their automated installer. It failed. I am therefore done.

Software Selection:

I really can't say. If the installer actually worked perhaps I could have told you what sorts of packages get installed by default. Since it didn't, I have no idea.

Most Annoying Feature:

To put this plainly: the new installer does not work AT ALL. It didn't even have the common decency to *try* installing, it just crapped out before anything had even been written to my harddrive. That my dear readers is the definition of a quitter. Do *you* want an OS that's a quitter? I didn't think so.

Who's it best for?

In all fairness, the Gentoo LiveCD does actually function just fine as a LiveCD. It comes with the usual set of Gnome programs, web browsers, small games, etc. If you're looking for a LiveCD, however, there is no real reason to choose Gentoo over Knoppix, Mepis, or any other one out there.

No doubt those of you who have the time, patience and broadband to install Gentoo the traditional (read: time-consuming) way will have no trouble doing so with this release. However well-intentioned the installer was, it's fails miserably to pull Gentoo out of the fringe of the uber-geek. In fact, it fails miserably at everything, including the one thing that you would expect an INSTALLER to do: install. Move along. This is not the OS you're looking for.