Gentoo!!!

[NoBonus]

Wow, I have just started working with Gentoo and it is great! WOW!  I see Zinc and Advancemame are available, what are some other good emus or arcade-like games for Gentoo?

NoBonus

[Floyd10]

Dont know, but good job choosing Gentoo. What I use on my desktop is Suse, its really all jsut preference.

[NoBonus]

I got some guidance from some other BYOAC members.  Thanks and props to them, yo.

[SirPoonga]

LiveCD or install?  I tried the install but lost patience since it compiles everything as it installs.

[NoBonus]

I am currently doing a stage 3 live cd with the products cd as well.  I know it's not THAT cool to do it that way, but this will be my first Linux experience, so I do not want it to be THAT hard.

NoBonus

[SirPoonga]

Gentoo has your first linux experience, wow. Usually it is Redhat (Fedora) or Mandrake now adays.  My first linux that I installed was debian in like 1996.

[Spaced Invader]

Here's the Unix/Linux section of Zophar's Domain...tons of stuff that should work for ya...

http://www.zophar.net/unix/unix.phtml

Hope that helps...

[GadgetGeek]

emerge -s game
I think that will search for all games in the portage tree.  If game doesn't give you enough, try mame, mess, emu, etc
Also, WINE might let you play some windows based games.

[NoBonus]

I know about Mame and Mess, but what's emu?

[SirPoonga]

short for emulator.  He just said try those with an etc so come up with other search ideas.

[NoBonus]

Ahhh, I see.  Zinc works in Gentoo and that is cool for me. I love Zinc.  I notice Modeler has a Linux distribution, but not listed as a gentoo package.  Any thoughts on why? Can I use Modeler in Gentoo?

[GadgetGeek]

Don't know if Modeler will work or not.  Looks like it is a binary distribution on the website.  Might be able to just drop it in and it will work.  I'm at work so I can't see what files are in the bz2 download, but I would hope the readme gives some clues.  Good luck and enjoy

[barvaz]

Check out the Gentoo Online package database for a complete list of Gentoo packages, you can even perform a search there.

The games-emulation category contains 79 entries, I assume that most of the known stuff is there.

Once I discovered Gentoo, I can't imagine myself going to any other Linux distro. It simply rocks.

- barvaz

[NoBonus]

It seems cool, but I am still struggling with the installation process...  All I want to do is a stage 3 genkernel install... why is it so difficult??  Of course, this is my first experience with Linux and Gentoo is not designed as a beginner's distribution.  I think I need to re-install portage, so that will take up another night.  I must stay focused, though, as I really want Gentoo!

[SirPoonga]

I was confused for awhile too.  You should read the entire installadion process BEFORE you do anything.  To me that file is not written in the best of order.

[NoBonus]

I'm actually considering giving up and switching to SuSE.  I have been struggling with Gentoo for too long.  Is SuSE the best next choice? or is there another?

[Alucard90]

i would say try slackware one of the oldest distros and hasn't been "corporationized" also a lot of windows emus are out for lnux such as wine and winex to emulate windows programs

[NoBonus]

Okay, maybe SuSE is not for me; they do not offer a .iso install for free and since I am running a 56k modem (I can download the .iso at work on the DSL ), installing through yast seems a bit illogical and would take the entire rest of my life.  I guess I am just going to have to use Gentoo unless someone knows of another Linux distribution that is cool and won't get me mocked.

[SirPoonga]

For a beginner linux I'd suggest Mandrake or Fedora.  Redhat's up2date system is pretty cool, I've been running fedora for awhile.

The thing about mandrake and fedora is they are good all around distrobutions.  Good for the beginner and the experienced.

SuSE is pretty good too.  I haven't used that in years though so I won't comment on it.

[NoBonus]

How was Fedora to install?  Mandrake claims to be really easy, but I like Fedora's freeware approach.

[Alucard90]

Fedora Core ive heard has alot of trouble working right with video drivers, sound, etc. Mandrake is good  alot of packages but its on 4 cds  
slackware does have a really good installer except its not one of the prettiest but easy to understand and only 2 cds. they also have a LiveCD version of slack

[NoBonus]

Slackware seems appealing, but what should I run KDE, Gnome, or X window system?

Here are my package choices: Where should I start?
A -  The base system. Contains enough software to get up and running and have a text editor and basic communications programs.
AP -  Various applications that do not require the X Window System.
D -  Program development tools. Compilers, debuggers, interpreters, and man pages. It's all here.
DES -  Includes the GNU libc crypt() function.
E -  GNU Emacs. Yes, Emacs is so big it requires its own series.
F -  FAQs, HOWTOs, and other miscellaneous documentation.
GTK -  The GNOME desktop environment, GTK widget library, and the GIMP.
K -  The source code for the Linux kernel.
KDE -  The K Desktop Environment. An X environment which shares a lot of look-and-feel features with the MacOS and Windows. The Qt widget library is also in this series, as KDE requires it to function.
N -  Networking programs. Daemons, mail programs, telnet, news readers, and so on.
T -  teTeX document formatting system.
TCL -  The Tool Command Language, Tk, TclX, and TkDesk.
U -  Contains packages for programs designed specifically for and that will only run on UltraSPARC systems.
X -  The base X Window System.
XAP -  X applications that are not part of a major desktop environment. For example Ghostscript and Netscape.
XD -  X11 program development. Libraries, server link kit, and PEX support.
XV -  XView libraries, the OpenLook Virtual and Non-Virtual window managers, and various other XView applications.
Y -  Games (the BSD games collection, Sasteroids, Koules, and Lizards).

[NoBonus]

Or do I just use the two .iso install cds?  AAAAAA newbie confusion!!!

[Alucard90]

get the cds those just tell you what are on them. youll definatly need X to work any graphical window system and i'd reccommend KDE much easier and windows like compared to GNOME. or you can just go with the Live CD distro versian

[NoBonus]

Where do I find the Live CD install?  I cannot seem to find any reference to it on the Slackware site.

Thanks,

NoBOnus

[Alucard90]

http://slax.linux-live.org/

[NoBonus]

Thanks!

NoBonus

[NoBonus]

Okay, I don't think the livecd is what I want, I want the two .iso cds.  I guess I should just scour the ftp server to find them?

[barvaz]

Slackware seems appealing, but what should I run KDE, Gnome, or X window system?

X windows server (known as simply "X") is the windows server that is the base for most of the GUIs on Linux and Unix platforms. You don't have much choice here if you want to run a windows GUI, you need to use X (you have a little choice of which X implementation, but I won't get into that). Both KDE and Gnome require X.

X is not very usable by itself, on top of X runs what is called Window Manager, which controls how windows behave and appear, there are plenty of choices here and there is no best option (both KDE and Gnome use their own Window Manager by default but this can be changed to some extent).

And then comes the Desktop Environment (which both KDE and Gnome are). This is the set of themes, utilities, applications and applets that are combined under one roof and supposed to be well integrated with each other. Desktop Environments use a Windows Manager and X server underneath. Some people don

[NoBonus]

barvaz,

thanks for explaining that.  I still have not had any Linux experience, but your explaination sure makes sense of a lot of things.  I guess the thing to do now is install Slackware and monkey around.  I sure hope it installs easier than Gentoo.

[NoBonus]

I found the Slackware .iso files on an ftp server (finally).  I really am torn about giving up on the Gentoo project, but it is just too confusing.  With Slackware, can I download the programs I want onto a cdr (like openoffice) and load them from that cdr to my OS? or does the process require some other methods?

NoBOnus

[SirPoonga]

Fedora is Redhat.  Redhat is not longer in the free linux market.  They are strictly enterprise now.  They off shooted the free distro to the Fedora project.

It's easy to install.  I've had no issues with Redhat for the 6+ years of using it.

My first distro was debian, which back int he day I installed using the 3 floppy install off the net thing.  Being on a campus LAN helps you be able to do that  Debian is pretty cool.  I installed it on my 486 laptop I picked up.  It doesn;t seem to have changed uch.  It's a good distro if you don't mind the confusing package system during the install.

[NoBonus]

I'm still thinking about keeping Gentoo, but the install is such a nightmare...  Maybe I should try again...  any ideas on what I should do? Try to stick with Gentoo or switch to Slackware?  Such a dilema.

[barvaz]

I'm still thinking about keeping Gentoo, but the install is such a nightmare...  Maybe I should try again...  any ideas on what I should do? Try to stick with Gentoo or switch to Slackware?  Such a dilema.

NoBonus,

Have you followed the Gentoo install guide to the letter? It is really an excellent document and if followed precisely, I think even my grandma can install Gentoo with it. Well, ok, my grandma can't but you surely can.

Stage 3 should install without trouble, I don't think it is much more difficult than Slackware. The Gentoo forums are a superb source for Gentoo and Linux related information, probably any newbie question you may possibly have is already answered there. New questions are answered within minutes. For live help, Gentoo IRC channel (#gentoo on irc.freenode.net) has over 800 people at almost any time; people are very helpful there too. This forum has plenty of Gentoo experts as well, so it seems. Between all these I don

[GadgetGeek]

This will probably be done too late for you NoBonus, but I'm in the process of installing Gentoo on a minimal machine (old AMD K6 200) and setting it up to run advanceMame and advanceMenu on it.  advance uses SDL (kinda like DirectX) and does not require that X be installed which will keep the install down to a minimum.  I'm documenting this as I go and hoping to put up a small webpage describing it when I get done (and will post to the BYOAC forums as well)  Other things (like my job and family) are keeping this a slow project.  I'm hoping to get the kernel config done tonite.
Disclaimer...I am not a linux expert by any definition of the word.  I've done the basic install for several other systems and played with knoppix, but Gentoo works for the way I like to think.  I do have another system on my lan that is using gentoo, most just as a sql server for the other machines on the lan and there were some roadblocks setting it up.  But as barvaz says, the gentoo forums are great.  I had a problem with the 2004.1 distribution not recognizing my network card and I found a thread (stickied even) that described my problem exactly and how to get around it.

[NoBonus]

I know any grandma should be able to install this okay using the handbook, but I followed the handbook word for word and I have already worked through a grub error on the msg board and now I am working through my latest error on the msg board.  THe thing is, the computer I am using is a MicronPC computer that is completely cookie-cutter; no special components or anything.  Just a plain-Jane P3 with cd-rom and floppy.

[barvaz]

but I'm in the process of installing Gentoo on a minimal machine (old AMD K6 200) and setting it up to run advanceMame and advanceMenu on it.

By the way, if you are no yet familiar with AdvanceCD, it does exactly that - a minimal Linux with built in AdvanceMame and AdvanceMenu that just boots from the cdrom. Just tried it few days ago and it works great (if it can recognize your hardware).

- barvaz

[NoBonus]

I did advancecd too and, other than a video card conflict (caused a little problem, nothing major though), it was great.  A great way to take mame with you to your relative's house.

[GadgetGeek]

By the way, if you are no yet familiar with AdvanceCD, it does exactly that - a minimal Linux with built in AdvanceMame and AdvanceMenu that just boots from the cdrom. Just tried it few days ago and it works great (if it can recognize your hardware).

- barvaz

Oh, I'm quite familiar with advanceCD.  I'm using that for guidance as well on this minimal install.  But thanks for pointing it out anyway.  Others will surely appreciate the genius of that CD.

[seibu]

X windows server (known as simply "X") is the windows server that is the base for most of the GUIs on Linux and Unix platforms. You don't have much choice here if you want to run a windows GUI, you need to use X (you have a little choice of which X implementation, but I won't get into that). Both KDE and Gnome require X.

I would say try to get away without X. AdvanceMAME doesn't need it, and that's the best reason to run an emu box from Linux. Both KDE and Gnome are pretty shaky, clunky pieces of software and offer a far worse GUI experience than even Windows XP IMO. XFCE is much better - but why do you need a GUI at all? Working from the console is quicker, easier and far more stable.

I only have a little Linux experience, but I found my Gentoo/AdvanceMAME setup so worth the effort. Without X slowing everything down and with the whole OS optimised to my architecture, I got far better performance than I could reasonably expect from a P3 800.

BTW, Installing Gentoo from stage 3 is not necessarily easier than from Stage 1 or 2. There are different pitfalls for each. Also, I found Slackware to be quite difficult to install, without any real performance advantage over easier distros like Fedora and Mandrake.