Gentoo question. Will it blend... i mean run.

[luciusad2004]

Ok, I know i have asked tons of linux questions by now but i wanted to get the opinions of some of the peolple here who i think are very helpful.

I will start of with the problem. I have an old Ibook.


600 MHz PowerPC G3 processor
384 MB SDRAM


Yes, its is slow. I know that the best upgrade i could give this thing would be a shallow grave, but at the moment thats not an option. Besides, it's my first mod so it has sentimental value. It runs os x version 10.3.9 at about the speed that a turtle crosses the highway. At first i could deal with it, but now it is starting to get to me. So i ask my question to you.

Do you think gentoo will run respectably on my system? All i use it for is


Web browsing
Chat
Music


I chose gentoo because from what i hear it runs well on low end hardware and finding distrobutions for the power pc architecture is actually sort of difficult. I know i can get ubuntu but i dont know how well that would run.

Thanks for the help guys. I really appreciate it.

Lucius xoxo

Edit: I got some sort of wierd error when i posted this. It flashed by really quick so i couldn't read it all. All i cought was something about duplicate threads so if this is on here multiple times, Sorry

[Airbozo]

As far as a distro that would be tuned to run on the powerpc, gentoo is the way to go. Make sure you have plenty of time and a good connection since on that system it will take forever to load and compile the bits.

[.Maleficus.]

Yeah, Gentoo will run fine on that, but the install is tricky if you don't read the directions carefully. Most of it is just typing the right commands at the right time, but you'll also be editing config files and you'll need to learn what USE flags you need, what they are, and how they affect your system, and you need to know what hardware you have (pretty specifically). That's only if you compile the kernel yourself, but if you have genkernel make a vanilla kernel for you, don't worry about it.

That will all make more sense during the install.

[xmastree]

<cough>xubunbu</cough>

[Airbozo]

<cough>xubunbu</cough>

<cough>bloated kernel</cough>

[Luke122]

Hehe.. I'm a fan of DSL. DAMN SMALL LINUX. 50mb for a full OS, including a bunch of apps. Not sure if it would work for you though.. I suppose I could google that.

[xmastree]

If we're going for small distros, I recommend puppy (http://www.puppylinux.com).

[Airbozo]

The main difference in Gentoo is how it actually gets installed. Most distro's provide a base kernel that is modified for the hardware found. Depending on the distro, some drivers are loaded as modules (slow), and some are built into the kernel (fast). The way gentoo builds the kernel is from scratch (if you choose to), so that ONLY the drivers for the hardware installed on your system are compiled into the kernel and nothing else. Other distro's try to add common drivers into the kernel and build on top of that, or just create loadable modules. That is one of the reasons that gentoo installs take so long. A stage 1 install can take days to make happen and most of that time is waiting for the software to be compiled. It takes more front end time, but your system will run faster and be more stable. I usually go with the stage2 install and have only done the stage1 a couple of times. Stage3 install is the fastest, but last time I used that one the kernel was 30% bigger. I know they have modified some things recently so I may have another go at it.

[luciusad2004]

The main difference in Gentoo is how it actually gets installed. Most distro's provide a base kernel that is modified for the hardware found. Depending on the distro, some drivers are loaded as modules (slow), and some are built into the kernel (fast). The way gentoo builds the kernel is from scratch (if you choose to), so that ONLY the drivers for the hardware installed on your system are compiled into the kernel and nothing else. Other distro's try to add common drivers into the kernel and build on top of that, or just create loadable modules. That is one of the reasons that gentoo installs take so long. A stage 1 install can take days to make happen and most of that time is waiting for the software to be compiled. It takes more front end time, but your system will run faster and be more stable. I usually go with the stage2 install and have only done the stage1 a couple of times. Stage3 install is the fastest, but last time I used that one the kernel was 30% bigger. I know they have modified some things recently so I may have another go at it.

If the kernal or drivers are tuned to my specific hardware will that make hardware upgrades more dificult? I can't see it happening but, it is theoretically possible that i may want to add more ram and if the prices ever drop and old school airport card. Would that pose a problem?

I read through a large chunk of the install manual i found on the gentoo wiki a while ago. The manual i read was for x86 architecture but it seems logical that the process is the same. Still, i would read through it again before i did this and i would read the powerpc manual at that. If i find a good walk through i have complete confidence that i can do this.

I still have some stuff i need to look in to before i decide if i want to go through with this but from what you guys are saying it sounds like a good choice.
Also does anyone have any recomendations for a good window manager/ desktop enviroment. I read that gnome and kde aren't the fastest. I was going to look in to openbox/fluxbox and xfce.

I'm going to download and print out the install manual tonight and read through it as time permits. It might be a little bit because i just started school so i've had a lot of reading to do.

Thanks for the help guys.

[calumc]

from what ive heard the newer versions of xfce arent much lighter than gnome or kde so you might want to look into an older one

[luciusad2004]

from what ive heard the newer versions of xfce arent much lighter than gnome or kde so you might want to look into an older one

Thanks for the heads up. I was actually wondering that as i browsed through some of the screen shots on the xfce website. Alot of the screen shots made it look like it might use more resources than i thought.

[Airbozo]

If the kernal or drivers are tuned to my specific hardware will that make hardware upgrades more dificult? I can't see it happening but, it is theoretically possible that i may want to add more ram and if the prices ever drop and old school airport card. Would that pose a problem?



Memory shouldn't be an issue at all since the driver controls the memory controller not the memory. The "airport card" may cause you a headache, trying to figure out what works best, the loadable module or built in driver, if there even is an option.

[.Maleficus.]

I would have something to say, but it would just reiterate AB's post.

As far as WMs go, Openbox/Fluxbox/Blackbox would be good, but look into FVWM as well. For DEs, the LQWiki says Enlightenment (which I think is BS), ROX, Xfce, and XPde are lightweight. Look into those. IMHO, XPde is disgusting. I wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole. It's an XP clone. Yuck. ROX wasn't too bad when I had it on my Gentoo install... Xfce is a pretty decent DE overall, but may be more bloated than you'd like. Enlightenment (E17 is what I used) focuses on eye-candy, and was a PITA for me.

I'd suggest ROX, and you can use that WM, or one of the ones I listed. That would be a good setup.


Edit: The FVWM site really doesn't show its potential. Check out this super sexy screen. (http://sonic969.deviantart.com/art/FVWM-simply-33319959) Damn is that a nice desktop!

[luciusad2004]

Memory shouldn't be an issue at all since the driver controls the memory controller not the memory. The "airport card" may cause you a headache, trying to figure out what works best, the loadable module or built in driver, if there even is an option.

I didn't look in to it but while reading some through some sites i found on Google I'm pretty sure i saw mention that the original airport is well supported but the newer airport extreme isn't. Problem is, last time i checked Airport cards cost $100 or more, quite a bit higher than the current more advanced technology. Anyway, The odds of me getting one are slim to none, when i get the money I'm buying a new laptop.


I would have something to say, but it would just reiterate AB's post.

As far as WMs go, Openbox/Fluxbox/Blackbox would be good, but look into FVWM as well. For DEs, the LQWiki says Enlightenment (which I think is BS), ROX, Xfce, and XPde are lightweight. Look into those. IMHO, XPde is disgusting. I wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole. It's an XP clone. Yuck. ROX wasn't too bad when I had it on my Gentoo install... Xfce is a pretty decent DE overall, but may be more bloated than you'd like. Enlightenment (E17 is what I used) focuses on eye-candy, and was a PITA for me.

I'd suggest ROX, and you can use that WM, or one of the ones I listed. That would be a good setup.


Edit: The FVWM site really doesn't show its potential. Check out this super sexy screen. (http://sonic969.deviantart.com/art/FVWM-simply-33319959) Damn is that a nice desktop!

I'll look in to all of those, Skimming through briefly i liked the look of Blackbox, but i didn't look in to any of the specifics of any of them just yet because i have some reading to do for school tonight.