[nflug] Building A Linux Box

[Josh Johnson]

On Sat, 22 Oct 2005, Robert F. Stockdale IV wrote:

> There are other issues with Gentoo. Some one has to create an ebuild for a 
> software package to be entered into portage. Therefore not everything is 
> cutting edge. Other programs are masked when there are bugs or unresolved 
> conflicts. Waiting for certain programs to get unmasked can be undesirable. 
> I'm still waiting for Mozilla-Sunbird to be unmasked. I love Gentoo none the 
> less. I would also like to try Sorcerer Linux as well as Linux from scratch 
> (LFS).

You can 'unmask' packages in your /etc/portage/package.keywords file. ex:
 	=dev-db/mtop-0.6.6 ~x86
 	=net-im/naim-0.11.7.3.1 ~x86
Just like all other distros, they are very wary before releasing a 
package/ebuild into the wild. The other nice thing is that if something 
isn't in the repository, it is very easy to either make an ebuild or build 
it from source, since most of the obscure libraries/dependencies are 
probably already present on your system. eg. I like dega (master system 
emulater) and qtjoystick, both of which aren't in portage.


> 	 I would suggest visiting Tom's Hardware Guide at
> 	 http://www.tomshardware.com/
> for information regarding what to use. Also visit http://www.linuxdevices.com 
> for issues that effect whether a device will work in Linux.
> Just my two bits.
> Bob
>
> nolf wrote:
>>  Hey Chris,
>>
>>  If you are building everything from scratch and want to understand the
>>  proper working at hardware
>>  level, I would say you go for  source compilation from **scratch** .
>>
>>  The distribution I would suggest is 'gentoo'
>>
>>  Now, debian installation as standalone is not very easy, unless of course
>>  you go for
>>  a debian based distro whether be ubuntu, knoppix, kubuntu....
>>
>>  portage is to gentoo what apt is to debian. So you would pretty much end
>>  up
>>  getting all the benefits of apt and also be able to compile everything fom
>>  source -  which of course would
>>  make the most efficient use of your cpu cycles.
>>
>>  I think that gentoo's repositories have much more stuff than the deb
>>  repositories (as you would have thought, you have to wait
>>  before someone deb compiles and puts in the repository)
>>
>>  However, gentoo  is source based, so you would get bleeeding edge packages
>>  pretty fast
>>  Rest, I would say to make sure the chipsets you are using are compatible,
>>  or else you would have to
>>  find something that works.
>>
>>  But here in lies the pitfall, installing gentoo from source would mean
>>  continous compilation from
>>  on a serious basis(considering you install gnome, kde, openoffice and
>>  other usual stuff) would take almost a week or so
>>
>>  Incase you dont wanna do that then gentoo binaries are also available.
>>
>>  So, the fields open and the choice is yours.
>>
>>  ---
>>  hope is the quintessential human illusion... simultaneously the source of
>>  your greatest strength
>>  and your greatest weakness
>>
>>  On 10/21/05, *Chris Crawford* <cpc5 at buffalo.edu <mailto:cpc5 at buffalo.edu>>
>>  wrote:
>>
>>      I would like to build a machine that would run Debian.  I have never
>>      put
>>      together my own machine before, much less try to build one that would
>>      support Linux reasonably well.
>>
>>      My main goals for putting together my own machine include a desire
>>      learn
>>      more about how computers work at the hardware level, a desire to learn
>>      how Linux works together with hardware, and the satisfaction of having
>>      put together my own machine.
>>
>>      Does anyone have advice that would help me to avoid the pitfalls of
>>      building a machine that supports Linux (specifically Debian)?
>>
>>      Are there any useful resources I should check out that will help me
>>      learn more about computer hardware and building my own machine?
>>
>>
>>      Thanks,
>>
>>
>>      --Chris
>>
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>>
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