New Distribution Forum - Sabayon

Another distribution has joined LinuxQuestions.org. Please welcome Sabayon. I'd like to thank Fabio for working to get the forum setup. The following members will be participating on behalf of Sabayon:

lxnay
joost_op
xlnagla
Drainuzzo

Welcome to LQ.

--jeremy

thanks

I visited the website and didn't see a list of what Sabayon does better than the current Linux distros.

What are its strengths? Does it have a particular focus?

If LinuxQuestions.org was a representation of the global community, war would have broken out between every nation a long time ago. This is only a commentary on how little regard so many users of their own distributions have for those and the efforts of others. I really wish there could be a demonstration of mutual respect. But sadly, that is not likely to happen.

I truly welcome the efforts of everyone who strives to advance Linux.
Shingoshi

Originally Posted by markjuggles I visited the website and didn't see a list of what Sabayon does better than the current Linux distros. What are its strengths? Does it have a particular focus?

Hi Markjuggles,

to put it simply, it's got all the software working out of the box. It is the most stable distro I've used. It's also got the "looks" other distros don't have. It's based on Gentoo, one of the best documented in the Linux world. It can also be very fast, because it's main idea is to compile all the software when you install it. Although you still can just copy binaries and they will work. The main idea however is not to allow installing software that is in the "testing" mode - for example. Hence the idea of Portage, now with an additional package manager like Spritz.

I used to have other distros like Mandriva, but I got annoyed by it's instability after each upgrade. Then I looked at PCLinux, Ubuntu just to name a few. I was looking at the software they had to offer and in all cases I had to do post installation installations to get all my software. With Sabayon I no longer have to do this. For example Ubuntu doesn't consider Skype as part of the Open Source community, so it's not included in the installation. With Mandriva I had to install plenty of additional software and configure my graphical interface to make it look like I like it. With Sabayon I no longer have to struggle with additional software installations and the KDE interface is configured the way I like it.

You can continue reading here:
http://forum.sabayonlinux.org/viewto...p?f=57&t=15929

I am a happy Sabayon user since late 2006.
I hope this explains a lot.

Regards,
Richard

@jwangac1: reported as spam...

Thank you Richard,

That is a nice summary. I have stalled out on Gentoo a couple of times but like the philosophy. Some how I doubt that any single distro will have all the packages I like, but loading up at install time is a reasonable choice given the size of modern disk drives.

Are there any stats on how much faster Sabayon might be over Ubuntu on average? When I tune and tweak the kernel, I get something like 2-3% improvement.

Mark

Originally Posted by rysiekmus2 Hi Markjuggles, to put it simply, it's got all the software working out of the box. It is the most stable distro I've used. It's also got the "looks" other distros don't have. It's based on Gentoo, one of the best documented in the Linux world. It can also be very fast, because it's main idea is to compile all the software when you install it. Although you still can just copy binaries and they will work. The main idea however is not to allow installing software that is in the "testing" mode - for example. Hence the idea of Portage, now with an additional package manager like Spritz.

I found Sabayon using StumbleUpon some time ago. It's not a BAD distro, but it did not deliver as easily as it promised. I had several issues trying to get the 3D stuff working. Also, it's more akin to Gentoo and I'm a debian-based NOOB , so let's just say I had some google.com/linux searching to do!

Then again, I installed it into a Virtual Box instance. Maybe THAT had something to do with it.

--alec

Sabayon is an excellent distribution very good for beginners just for my tast a bit to big.

But I am happy to see this distribution also here as a forum.

But different versions had already been in the list here - so it isn't really new addition just as a forum.

The kernel and package improvement really is dependant on how your processor functions, what CFLAGS you use, and how much you're willing to risk in stability. Where it really shows is in start-up times of programs that are compiled with a wide base of device support, and in packages sizes that support a large number of devices. Those you can see real results from tweaking. Otherwise, you'll be getting out between 3% and 10% on modern (post-pentium III) processors. On older processors, highly specialized systems, or non-mainstream processors, you can get a whole lot more out of customization.

Hope this helps,

~xlnagla

Thank you Richard for your rather detailed synopsis. I have never tried Sabayon, but have been running various flavours of Ubuntu and even RedHat for years. I think given your explanation, I will install Sabayon and kick the tires so to speak.
Regards,

BJ

Hello all, ...would appreciate some thoughts on how Sabayon compares to Fedora...? Thanx P

Tried 3.4e and 3.4f on an Acer 5684 laptop, way back when; nVidia 7600 video iirc. Used it for everyday stuff, email, web browsing, the lot. XP was still there, but rarely used other than as a data partition.

Loved the way everything in Sabayon worked, including the eye-candy and compositing desktop, but I lacked the ability to do a good job with Portage, and gradually managed to mung the installation, bigtime. My bad, I'm sure. Others seem to master it OK.

When Ubuntu 710+ played well with Compiz I went back to Synaptic with relief and a big helping of cowardice. The good news is that I had backups of the home directory and all the email was intact! <grin>

Been mostly using Ubuntu/Xubuntu for main distro, but enjoy playing with E17-friendly lightweight distros and of course the remarkable Puppy Linux and Knoppix!

Now that we have a collection of engines of varying ages with assorted HDDs and some spare partitions, I am motivated to have a go again with Sabayon, especially if you guys are here on LinuxQs!

There are unused partitions on that old Sempron desktop that could be just what we need for Sabayon....

....hmmm. (What's that dear? Need to tidy up?) Ooops.

See you later folks - Ben

i really like sabayon it has a nice gui for portage (because even people who are new to this system recognize the use flags)! i would install it on my laptop, but i've got no free space left

As for using Portage, the Gentoo community suggests now using Entropy, which has a frontend called Spritz Manager. I personally don't spend any time upgrading my system, installing patches, etc. Portage can be a bit tricky and one needs to be really patient if you need to install some new software that is "masked". You will then have dependencies that will not allow you to install the software, unless you pick an older version. I think Portage was one of the reasons why people used to stay away from Gentoo/Sabayon. But things are now really improving and becoming really much simpler than they used to be.
As for me I am happy with the system as it is just after installing.

The big advantage of Portage or Entropy is that it is designed to keep your system very consistent and stable. It will not allow you to install any software that is not in the main package tree well tested and fully in production. We all know how easy it is to break something while fixing another. There are sometimes too many dependencies it's really hard to keep the system stable once you start installing new packages and you don't know what you are doing.

Regards,
Richard.