My initial attempts at running Linux as a daily threw me off. Had a couple Comp Sci friends in college recommend switching, but they led me to distros with pre-compiled binaries and installation wizards. I’d install, get dumped out at a desktop, then ask “And what do I do now?”. I had no idea how the filesystem was organized, etc.
I stumbled across LinuxFromScratch somehow. Took a few months and ran through the installation three times before I felt I had a good handle on what was going on. Then I tried to tackle compiling X.org and all its dependencies, learning exactly why a package manager is useful.
That lead me to Gentoo. I haven’t found a problem running it in the last ~20 years that I couldn’t solve, so I’ve stuck with it. Now it’s just comfortable. I’ve slapped other distributions on other boxes (Mint, Kubuntu, etc), and even on laptops for family members, but they don’t feel like home.
I’ve used Gentoo on my main desktop for decades.
Anything else in the house gets Kubuntu on it, 'cause ain’t nobody got time for that.
I’ve never considered Gentoo as an unironic daily driver on desktops - more like embedded systems/learning the ropes of Linux kinda thing.
What made you choose Gentoo in particular?
My initial attempts at running Linux as a daily threw me off. Had a couple Comp Sci friends in college recommend switching, but they led me to distros with pre-compiled binaries and installation wizards. I’d install, get dumped out at a desktop, then ask “And what do I do now?”. I had no idea how the filesystem was organized, etc.
I stumbled across LinuxFromScratch somehow. Took a few months and ran through the installation three times before I felt I had a good handle on what was going on. Then I tried to tackle compiling X.org and all its dependencies, learning exactly why a package manager is useful.
That lead me to Gentoo. I haven’t found a problem running it in the last ~20 years that I couldn’t solve, so I’ve stuck with it. Now it’s just comfortable. I’ve slapped other distributions on other boxes (Mint, Kubuntu, etc), and even on laptops for family members, but they don’t feel like home.
Interesting, and I see how other distros can feel foreign if you’ve spent so much time on Gentoo. Too much bloat, less control over your system etc.
Not OP, but it’s amazing to choose which parts of your software don’t enter compilation at all.
Also it’s rock solid, had fewer issues than Lubuntu, can use OpenRC or systemd.
But I haven’t learned as much about Linux as I hoped. The distro just works, and I love everything about it.
I see, thank you!