current Kanotix/Debian user planning to try SabayonLinux

[HK47]

i've been using Kanotix (a distro fully compatible with Debian Sid) for a couple of months now, and i'm very, very happy with it. but i still can't resist the urge to try out new distros. i've always wanted to try gentoo, but the compile time scares me a bit. personally, i don't really mind waiting for everything to compile, but as we only have one pc in our house, not everyone around here can wait for that. then i recently found out about SabayonLinux. it sort of made me think that SabayonLinux is to Gentoo like Kanotix is to Debian, in that it makes improvements to its 'parent', while retaining full compatibility. another similarity is that both SabayonLinux and Kanotix have a small but extremely helpful and friendly community. i got really interested. so i'm going to take the plunge as soon as 3.0RC2 comes out. i'm really excited, but i still have a lot of questions.

1. what advice would you give a Debian user trying out a Gentoo-based distro for the first time? what differences should i expect?
2. is there a howto showing the equivalent commands between emerge/portage (which i've never used before) and apt?
3. is there a way to install debian binaries in SabayonLinux? (just in case)
4. one feature i'm really interested in is the reiser4 filesystem. should i have any concerns over using it?
5. my system is 64-bit capable but is a bit slow by today's standards (Sempron64 2600+, 256MB RAM, GeForce FX5500). which would you recommend, the 32-bit or 64-bit version?

thanks in advance!

[wolfden]

Gentoo sites has tons of documents - you can find almost anything ya need there.

Kanotix is a nice distro. The thing I find with sabayon is that things just work. I love the portage for package management. Similar to apt - emerge myprogram and you're up and installing

I would imagin the 32 bit is gonna be less of a mess than the 64 due to things just not working with the 64 like Flash, but I hear there is away around that with a firefox plugin. 32 bit always seems to get the stable packages faster than the 64 bit packages. I know Gentoo is making a plea for 64 bit people to supply packaging. I rebuilt my system and waiting for the RC 2 too. I will try the 64 bit version first and if it's a fight to use it for daily use than I will go to the 32 bit version.

Things I find confusing is the use of Flags

I never had any problems using the reiser4 system

I like gentoo, but far from a master of it that is for sure. I just use it and hope I don't break it.

[HK47]

wow, the gentoo site has a huge amount of info. i guess i should have read up first.

i've never used a 64-bit distro before, but i did hear about the plugin problems, particularly with flash and java. i guess i'm sticking with the 32-bit version for now, although i'll probably still try the 64 at some point. i can't wait for RC2!

thanks!

[wolfden]

yea me either, being stuck here in the windows world is no fun - I didn't want to install and than have to reinstall a week later tho.

I find that gentoo probably has the most documentation. All you have to do is punch-in "Gentoo Networking" or something like that into google and you will find the document ya need. The forum here and the gentoo forums are great too. The irc channel of gentoo always has tons of people in it and there is an IRC channel here for sabayon too. A little less active tho, people must be scared of IRC or something around here. I have found the IRC rooms helpful - just have to be patient and polite.

I'm going to try the 64bit first, I would like to run it if I can get my stuff to work. What bites is that Flash 7 is the highest version for linux. The new flash stuff is an issue, hope adobe can kick out a newer version of flash all together for linux soon.

[cvill64]

take a plunge into our 64 bit build, and you'll never go back

We use a jail to be able to run 32bit programs in the 64bit environment, so we have full multimedia function there. Another great website is gentoo-wiki.org, read them a lot...its my bible it seems.

Basically, you're apt-get/repositories is emerge/portage. You can add overlays as extra "repos" for more ebuilds (apt packages), except with ebuilds, everything is compiled from source for higher optimization. The USE flags either add or remove greater usability or cooperation between programs, its for a better, slimmer, and more optimized system.

I don't suggest #gentoo as its very hard to get a nice answer in that if you're question is off topic, they don't like it (even though its the general channel .... go figure). But I'm usually on IRC as much as possible, cvill64 so look me up and I'll be happy to chat, I'm on usually all during the work day. Its a small community, but we're building. Feel free to ask as many questions as needed, search through the wiki and forums, and I'll see you around. Congrats on making the gentoo plunge!