From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon May 15 17:07:13 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C445B16B14A for ; Mon, 15 May 2006 17:07:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from mxout1.cac.washington.edu (mxout1.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.134]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 79E3E43D78 for ; Mon, 15 May 2006 17:07:08 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from smtp.washington.edu (smtp.washington.edu [140.142.33.9]) by mxout1.cac.washington.edu (8.13.6+UW06.03/8.13.6+UW06.03) with ESMTP id k4FH77T2023423 for ; Mon, 15 May 2006 10:07:08 -0700 X-Auth-Received: from [192.168.0.50] (dsl254-013-145.sea1.dsl.speakeasy.net [216.254.13.145]) (authenticated authid=youshi10) by smtp.washington.edu (8.13.6+UW06.03/8.13.6+UW06.03) with ESMTP id k4FH74hf020774 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT) for ; Mon, 15 May 2006 10:07:07 -0700 Message-ID: <4468B53E.1080303@u.washington.edu> Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 10:07:10 -0700 From: Garrett Cooper User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.2 (Windows/20060308) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='__CP_MEDIA_2_BODY 0, __CT 0, __CTE 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __USER_AGENT 0' Subject: Re: Linux distro with ports/package type system? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 17:07:15 -0000 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