Is anyone currently using Gentoo Linux and if so, how do you like it Thanks

Gentoo is a very good and very hands-on distribution. Just from looking at your previous posts I would have to say that the learning curve for you to start using Gentoo would be extremely high. There is no installer per se for Gentoo, it's made so you have to manually set everything up.

If you want to get into the nuts and bolts of it and really learn how linux works, I would recommend that you learn Slackware first. It's installation is by no means geared for "newbies" but it isn't impossible and it doesn't assume that you are familiar with the CLI to use it. Slackware is about as manual as you can get without actually going to something like Linux from Scratch or even Gentoo.

Slackware will make you learn how linux works, whereas Red Hat or Mandrake rely more heavily on tools such as linuxconf/Drakeconf that do all the work for you. After you get a handle on linux and know how to use the CLI to a moderate degree, then Gentoo may be for you.

If I have estimated you all wrong, and you already know this, then all I can say is Gentoo is awesome! It isn't too difficult to maintain, and once you get a hold of it (it has a learning curve of its own on top of basic linux skills) then you can tweak the compilation of EVERY part of your system. It's actually very nice. I really like Gentoo.

If you want power and speed over your linux system install it. It rocks

yeah, all that.

i like it alot

It is a little difficult to install, but if you follow the instructions step by step, it should work for you. as far as power and speed it are concerned it is, by nature, superior.

When i installed it, though, i did have a few problems with my system locking up completely. it was probably my fault and i never had to energy to try to fix it.

Yeah I am complete newb, but I have found the challenges to be the most fun! I admit I have been frustrated at times but persistance pays off, that and Google. Thanks for the advice!

I installed it recently and it is great looking and fast. It is also highly customizable. It would take a while to compile on a slow rig but once done it would run faster.

Follow those step REAL close though. Make your own kernel. No kidding.

Later

I use Gentoo on laptop and desktop and man does it screeem! compiling everything from source is the way to go if you want speed, but if you work for a company with deadlines, i wouldn't use gentoo because it can sometimes take forever to emerge stuff. (you all probably know what i am talking about) but hey, to any newbs out there that want to learn how to set up linux, this is the way to do it. for those of you out there that use it, what are your favorite things to use? here are mine:

fluxbox (for the time being...it's sooo fast it's not even funny)
lynx, epiphany and opera for browsers.
nano and vi for editors
abiword, gnumeric, magicpoint for office and productivity
vlc, mplayer, xmms, and mp3blaster for dvd and audio.

i'm also looking to find faster (better) packages for the above applications. any recommendations?

Once I get those video drivers working, I'm emergeing tuxracer. You guys will just have to do without me for a while.

I actually just discovered that thing the other day in Mandrake. I need to practice more. If I go fast I miss the fish if I go slow and get the fish, I'm to slow. Go figure. The first time I had him in the clouds. REAL fast and up the hill while hitting the up arrow button. Whhhoooo Hoooooo!!! I'm scared of heights to.

Later

Do yourself a favor and don't make things hard on yourself.

Mandrake is just fine, and often in the top 10 servers on the internet.

I'm a pretty experienced Linux user, and I don't like gentoo at all. The emerge system is pretty cool, but the concept of having to build all of your software by hand is a little ridiculous.
It is cool that you set up your system from the bottom up, and it is very customizable, but I think the design of Slackware is far superior to Gentoo. The reason I stick with Slack is because it has a really nice, minimalist package system, it doesn't take a couple days to set up, it's really easy to manage and it's very fast (just as fast as Gentoo, IMO).

Anyways, I also don't think that using Gentoo requires any more "Linux Experience" than other, non-rpm distros (Slack, Debian, etc.). Aside from the initial system install (which is EXTREMELY well documented, and very easy to follow), the system is not very different from Slack or Debian (from what I understand, I haven't actually used Debian). I mean, tell me why Gentoo takes more "Linux experiene" than Slack or Debian. Look at these commands:

emerge gaim
apt-get gaim
installpkg gaim-0.72.tgz

The only difference is that Gentoo takes 5 times longer to complete this stuff.

Also, I don't like how slowly the emerge servers are updated. I NEED to run the latest and greatest .

Anyways, that's my little rant. My reccomendation for starting out: Mandrake. Once you get more experienced, move to slack.

I really disagree with you, When xfce 4.0.1 came out I installed it 2 hours after it was released in the home page. Don't know what you think, but for me that is a great cutting edge distro.
Other thing you are saying about gento takes 5 times longer, How come you said I NEED to run the latest and greatest . and still be using pre-compiled packages, to my understand if I like a cutting edge distro I shuld use source because if not I have to wait until someone makes a package for me and it will take far more time than just doing "emerge -u xfce" and wait 1 hour for it compile

Simple, try this command:

make dep && make clean bzImage modules modules_install

Thats a pretty good command, it is also a very important one.

I like Gentoo because it is easier than Mandrake when it comes to dependancies. I have been in Mandrakes dependancy hell. I didn't like it.

I plan to try a lot of distro's myself. I don't know which I will pick as my favorite. Gentoo in my opinion is better. That is my opinion, not yours.

Later

Gentoo is a lot of fun if you like tinkering but not so much that you'd prefer Linux From Scratch. If you don't like tinkering or prefer to tinker with applications rather than the whole operating environment you might prefer Mandrake.

On the issue of dependencies, Mandrake's urpmi takes some of the pain out of it, though it isn't perfect. From my experience messing with Gentoo, it isn't perfect either. Anyone who gets the whole kde package to install in one long go should pat themselves on the back.

Once you get Gentoo the way you like it, be sure to have some sort of complete system backup. You'll have invested a lot of time getting it just right.