Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 10:07:10 -0700 From: Garrett Cooper <youshi10@u.washington.edu> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Linux distro with ports/package type system? Message-ID: <4468B53E.1080303@u.washington.edu> In-Reply-To: <DCF87AC5-A440-41B8-8101-520AA8033586@sklinks.com> References: <ef10de9a0605150215h55131ac8id8c04db51b720558@mail.gmail.com> <DCF87AC5-A440-41B8-8101-520AA8033586@sklinks.com>
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vayu wrote: > > On May 15, 2006, at 2:15 AM, Nikolas Britton wrote: > >> I have an older 440MX based laptop that I'm fairly sure FreeBSD won't >> like, I don't want to run windows on this box... so I'm looking for a >> Linux distro that has a ports like system. >> >> I need KDE, X.org, and a 2.6 kernel installed by default... dammit... >> I don't want to #$%! with Linux, maybe I'll give FreeBSD another try >> first, anyways, thanks for the suggestions guys. >> >> > > > I've heard that Gentoo's package management system "Portage" is > inspired by FreeBSDs ports, but I believe it's a bit of work to > install and compile a working system. > > I've been using Debian based Kubuntu on my laptop, and find the > package management excellent. The installation and maintenance is > easy. It's my choice when I want to install and go. That would be in fact Gentoo Linux. It's the only Linux distro I know that has a collection of files which describe the packages to install, sources, etc like FreeBSD's ports makefiles (they call them ebuilds), and compiles programs based on a local distfiles repository, like FreeBSD. The thing that's different about Gentoo than most OSes though is that it is a Linux distro where EVERYTHING (unless you specify a location to find binary packages) compiles and installs from scratch. So I'm not sure if you want to go that route, and I'm not saying it's a perfect system by any means, but in the event that Windows breaks (or I get tired of Windows (;..) I always have something to go back to, Unix wise, that has a lot of software functionality and is pretty stable. The best piece of advice regarding Gentoo that I can give is don't go for the hype, but rather for the options (software options that is), because you have the ability to greater customize your OS-for better or for worse-depending on what compile options you choose and the software you install. -Garrett
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