Re: [Nolug] Gentoo?

On Thu, 2003-07-31 at 02:21, Alex McKenzie wrote:
> Ron Johnson wrote:
[snip]
> > But if you have slow disks and minimal RAM, then "make world" would
> > take even longer (days, even), and that's down time that you can't
> > use your computer.
>
> Not if I'm doing it while I'm not using it anyway. My first foray into
> Linux (with my own hardware) was on a P166 laptop, 4200rpm 2gb drive,
> so a kernel compile is an overnight job.
>
> > My original email mentioned, though, that no one denies the usefulness
> > of targeted binaries for CPU-bound apps. How many app classes are
> > CPU-bound, though?
> > - crypto/compression
> > - image processing
> > - video "
> > - databases (sometimes)
> >
> > Everything else uses CPU in spurts, and is mostly waiting for the KB
> > or HD.
>
> And as Moore's law continues, the performance gain from compiling is
> less noticable. OTOH, you can compile -and- do other stuff.
>
> Since I'm on slackware, I'm used to not having a binary available, but
> with checkinstall, I can let my K7 crank out stuff for the slower
> machines.

Ah, but you installed from a CD full of binaries. Upgrading or
adding new programs from source is something you can do asyn-
chronously.

The Gentoo Way is to totally install from source, and that process
takes A Long Time on a P3 500 when you also have to compile X and
WM or DE.

-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ron Johnson, Jr.        Home: ron.l.johnson@cox.net             |
| Jefferson, LA  USA                                              |
|                                                                 |
| "I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian  |
|  because I hate vegetables!"                                    |
|    unknown                                                      |
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