Compiling software in a distribution such as Gentoo, being part of the way the distribution works, makes it a fun task to do. Compiling the Linux kernel with genkernel all is very fast and simpler than the old way of having to compile the kernel with make -j4 && make modules then typing make modules_install and then copying the kernel image and the System.map files to the /boot folder and then building a initrd file to bootstrap the kernel. All Linux distributions should have a script like this to automate the process of installing a vanilla kernel. The process of installing a vanilla kernel on OpenSuse is outlined on this page: http://hubpages.com/hub/Securitron-Linux-hub and there are other guides out there that give details of how to compile a kernel including this page http://securitron.securitronlinux.com/kernel.php that has information on how to compile a kernel for a Debian Sarge system.
Debian Sarge was a fun distribution to use and play around with, you could install doom legacy and quake2 for some quality FPS gaming and use the GIMP to create awesome web graphics to your heart’s content. KDE 2.2 was extremely fast and usable, today it is slower and not as much fun to use, lacking the old style Konqueror file-manager. The screenshots [kde.org] on this page give a good idea of what KDE 2.2 was like to use. Especially this screenshot of the file-manager in action. Why did they not stick with the very useful and fast file-management of this desktop release? Instead they have replaced it with the new dolphin file manager and the new type of desktop with icons in a window on the desktop, which does not make sense at all. I have said before that they are just trying to copy Windows and make KDE look like Windows 7, but it needs more speed if it wants to be a better Windows competitor on the Linux desktop and competitive with Windows desktops like the Aero desktop in Windows 7.
I just installed various KDE components on my Gentoo system and it did not take very long at all to build all the packages like QT and kdebase. http://bellard.org/jslinux/
This is Linux running in a web browser, this is the coolest thing I have ever seen, you just load it up in chrome or Firefox 4 and you are all set with a root prompt and a c compiler. This is the kernel it uses.
~ # cat /proc/version Linux version 2.6.20 (bellard@voyager) (gcc version 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-9)) #3 Sat May 14 19:08:30 CEST 2011 |
Read more here: http://bellard.org/jslinux/tech.html This is a good tool for learning the UNIX/Linux command prompt without using a LiveDVD or installing one like Ubuntu, you can use this within Windows. This emulates a 486 CPU and 32 megabytes of RAM which is enough for a simple Linux command line Linux environment. This uses the simple C compiler tcc, you can use it just like gcc here is an example program:
#include <tcclib.h> #define me "World.\n" int main(void) { printf("Hello, %s", me); return 0; } |
Just type qemacs to get to a text editor and CTRL-X-S to save and CTRL-X-C to exit, just like emacs. And have FUN!