Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: D/L | Rating: 9
|
Pros:
|
relatively easy installation, all sources provided on the iso
|
|
Cons:
|
sparse documentation
|
[ Log in to get rid of this advertisement]
As with most source based distros, you get a fast, lean system built just for you on your box. The disadvantage is, you have to wait until it is built :) Unlike most source distros which tend to provide a minimal-size install iso and download most sources as they go, MyGeOs includes *all* sources on the CD. I find it comforting to know that once I got the iso, it doesn't matter if my net connection goes down, or the upstream site moved or got hacked - I know I've got all I'll need to finish the installation.
But to provide more flexibility, MyGeOs isos come in several sizes, ranging from base (which is equivalent to LFS system) to 'the lot', which includes KDE. Naturally it is possible to install only base from the full-size iso, just like it is possible to start with base iso and download the rest from the net, if that's how you prefer. MyGeOs uses its own system called Idum that takes care of downloading, compiling, installing and solving dependencies. It seems to work just as well as portage or any other system...
Coming back to installation, it is easier than, say, Gentoo, because the installer takes care of some basic tasks. But it is still up to the user to configure networking, Xorg and a number of other settings once the new system boots. This is where lack of documentation could be a problem. Luckily, since MyGeOs is very close to LFS, a lot of LFS documentation applies to MyGeOs as well. This is how I found out how to configure my timezone, for example...
MyGeOs impressed me with two things: first, it actually built without any hiccups that seem a fact of life with Gentoo. Second, I was able to build a whole system, KDE and all, on a PentiumII box with just 128Mb of RAM. Yes, it took a long time - nearly four days. Later I installed MyGeOs on slightly more modern hardware where it replaced Fedora Core 3 and the difference in performace is quite noticeable!
All in all, I recommend MyGeOs to tinkerers who like to play with their system, and like stripped down, less-is-more approach at the expense of convenience and instant gratification. There is no denying systems like MyGeOs require a bit of effort and in comparison to large commercial distros will probably always lack some function or software. But that is not their point.
Edit: spelling
|