Well here's the thing, I've been on Slackware for a while now but I want to try Gentoo; I have the ISO here and just about to verify. Now, I want to know the low-down on Gentoo. How long will the install take?
And most importantly how will I install? I'm not a linux 'n00b' nor am I an expert, so how will I do it without having to read a 30 odd page manual. Could you give me some info' on the 'emerge' command. Also, does it have any GUI with it?

Thank you.

--Mahony

Depends on how fast your connection is and how fast your machine is. Some say it might take several days to a day to hours.. just all depends.

And I'd suggest reading the manual or your going to get lost.

And I don't recall any major distro that doesn't come with a GUI.

Cheers.

Gentoo takes a couple of days to install and you will need to print out all of their instructions on all the steps you need to take to install it correctly. I installed Gentoo myself. When you get to the emerge stage, emerge is like apt-get but it takes hours to install programs. Like Mozilla will take an hour or more to install with Gentoo, but not with other distros. Gentoo was a great learning experience for me because it taught me how to create config files for running linux but the end result of using Gentoo compared to other distros, was not good for me. There are people that love Gentoo but I'm not one of them. I happen to love Debian.

Just be prepared to spend a long time installing Gentoo, as I said, it's a great learning experience if that is what you are after.

Mahony, to install Gentoo, you really really should read the manual.

There's not really much of a way around it to do it the first time without reading. It's a relatively complex install.

You must choose which stage you want to begin your installation with. The stages are roughly as follows:

Stage 1: Start with nothing, build with emerge everything from source, inclooding bootstrapping, etc.
Stage 2: Start with precompiled bootstrap, compile the rest.
Stage 3: Mostly binary install.

Stage 1 can (and will) take hours. Stage 2 less time, but still very long. Stage 3 is about as fast as a slackware install.

Read the manual.

--Shade

Oh, one more thing. There is no gui until you emerge x server or another windows manager. Everything is command line when you are installing it. You have to install the base, kernel, and all the programs needed for it to run right, including config files, through a terminal.

Well that is big hastle, but thanks all for the fast responses.

Also, may I ask why the install takes so long if you download a 700mb file?
And why does the emerge command take so long?

beacuse it's doing everything from source and *NOTHING* is prebuilt (unless you pick a standard release). if you are not aware of the intended benefits of gentoo, then there seems little point in trying it...

I have been reading up on it, I'm going to start the install.

Thanks for you your help.

Which install do you suggest I try?

Edit: I was going to do the stage1 install because the result is a system that has been optimized from the ground up for your specific machine and needs; you said stage3 will take as long as a Slack' install so I don't know now.

Well, if your just testing out Gentoo to see if you like it then go with a Stage 3 install. If you start from stage1 you'll have to bootstrap the machine and that can take a long time(15 hours on my 500mhz machine).

Well I was thinking of making this my permanent my disto, I think I'll start from a stage one

Make sure you write down or print everything you will need to know for all the steps before you start. I did the stage 1 myself. It took me a few times to get the installation done right because I forgot to write down some important stuff and had to learn from trial and error. But I was able to finally get a working installation of Gentoo using stage 1. Good luck and don't give up!

Thank you

Just to clarify you said:
So how long will 'emerge x server' take and after I'll have to get a Desktop or wm say I did 'emerge kde' how long would that take?
Or 'emerge fluxbox' ect.

from a n00b to a n00b: it takes at least a week and that's if you READILY use the gentoo forums, gentoo was not in any way built for noobs...

especially if you're like me and have absolutely no hardware compatibility

personally, i use slack, while it may not be quite as fast, you can compile the kernel just as you do in gentoo and get almost the same performance

the only difference actually between slack and gentoo is gentoo's stage 1 where you bootstrap the system (build essential software for your particular system)

After you get the kernel emerged in Gentoo stage 1, then emerging becomes alittle faster, but it still will take a few hours (going by my memory, could be longer or shorter) to get x-server, then to emerge kde. This page here http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/desktop.xml will give you step by step instructions on how to emerge xfree86, kde, gnome, and your email programs. Follow this guide and you will get your gui up and running pretty good.