Xubuntu vs. Gentoo


Recommended Posts

I have been running Xubuntu for the past couple of weeks, and it runs extremely smooth on my PC. I'm getting to be very fond of the xfce desktop. I would like to see what Gentoo 2008 has to offer since it runs the xfce as well, but I'm not sure I will like it. Besides, I'm having trouble installing it. Anybody tried both Xubuntu and Gentoo? Should I keep trying to install it, or would it be worth it? I'm still in the n00b stage of Linux, so if it takes an expert user to use Gentoo, I'll stick with Xubuntu until I get my feet wet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

XFCE is my second-favorite desktop. Fluxbox is my first, but it is very minimal, and not for everyone. My kids are very comfortable with XFCE on their account on my computer.

As far as XFCE on Ubuntu/Gentoo/SUSE/Fedora... XFCE is XFCE. It can be installed on any Linux flavor. You really won't have differences, other than the default look.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would stick with Ubuntu if I were you. Like markjensen said XFCE is XFCE regardless of distro. Also Ubuntu is far easier to use than Gentoo for a novice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've used Gentoo before. Your new to linux? Stick with Xubuntu...

Gentoo is focused a lot toward being able to customize and play with everything. Hence it makes it a little daunting for the new user.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gentoo, if installed correctly with some knowledge, will be faster than the default *buntu, both in thery and in practice (but for different reasons, don't ask why). It take a while to install because you configure it for, and only for, your computer and your taste. Different desision from the user will impact the system performance and stability for different activities. And about "gentoo use xfce", no, gentoo have no graphical interface, it is (by default) command line only. The the user have to install his favorite windows manager. Take a look at the install guide http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/hand...-x86.xml?full=1 and see if you want to try out. Don't use the installer, it is not the right way to install gentoo, you learn nothing, probably fail and then, if you succeed your not even able to use it because you didn't learn the basics behind it. If you do install it with the guide (it look long, but it is weel written and assume you have almost no knowledge about Linux) it will be relatively easy and you will learn a lot.

Personally, I never really liked XFCE, it is only a mix bwtween Gnome and something lite. It is none of them. I used fluxbox during many years and I liked it a lot. It is based on the same concept as windows, gnome or XFCE, but take only a few kb of ram and load really fast. Now I use aweosme WM, it handle my dual screen in a way that no other traditional WM can, and optimise my screen space by itself. Here is a video of my desktop (I turned off 1 screen to have something visible on youtube, 3360x1050 scaled dowm to 320x240 look like a rubber band flashing in the middle of the screen)

here is a full screen screen shot: http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/998/snapshot25lp9.png
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gentoo, if installed correctly with some knowledge, will be faster than the default *buntu, both in thery and in practice (but for different reasons, don't ask why).

...until you try to install something. I used Gentoo for about a year, and by the end of it, I was fairly sick of compiling everything for my everyday computer every time I wanted to install or upgrade anything. The speed increases were negligible, and and it just wasn't worth it. Now I use Arch Linux - a meta-distribution like Gentoo, with the flexibility to allow you to compile any of the packages from source if you want to do that.

Apart from that, Gentoo is not for people new to Linux. Yeah, if you follow the guide step by step, you can successfully perform a Stage 1 install, but if you're new to Linux and aren't familiar with how things work, you'll probably get stuck at the first thing that goes wrong or requires some kind of technical choice.

On the other hand, if you really would like to take a look at Gentoo (or any other distribution for that matter; I know you said you're sticking with Xubuntu, but this is for anyone who might), why not try your hand at installing it in a virtual machine first? That way, if the installation fails or you don't really like how it works, your existing installation is still right there, humming away. The responsiveness may suffer, so you won't see the (overrated, in my opinion) performance gains, but this kind of test is more of a usability trial than seeing how it performs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

why not try your hand at installing it in a virtual machine first? That way, if the installation fails or you don't really like how it works, your existing installation is still right there, humming away. The responsiveness may suffer, so you won't see the (overrated, in my opinion) performance gains, but this kind of test is more of a usability trial than seeing how it performs.

Don't know why I haven't tried that yet. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.