Re: [MiNT] Gentoo FreeMiNT

[p.slegg@scubadivers.co.uk]

>---- Original Message ----
>From: Paul Wratt <paul.wratt@gmail.com>
>To: "mint" <mint@lists.fishpool.fi>
>Sent: Wed, Feb 3, 2010, 7:49 AM
>For Peter S benifit, Gentoo Linux (being gneration 2 linux) was
>initiated to fill the void created by linux running on new systems
>(i586/i686), and the number of people still using and installing on
>the sub par systems (486DX,386SX, 286). The idea was to provide the OS
>in source form, compiled at installation, generating binaries that
>excluded code not usable by your particular setup, thereby free some
>of the bloat and resource consumed by tradition RPM/DEB route.
>
>This is a similar situation as we currently have with ports for mint,
>there is often a ton of code not useful to MiNT/TOS, and often the
>code does not use the hardware in the best way (because this is not a
>concern with modern machines).
>
>The question begs (being a good idea and all, especially for ports)
>how does this affect MiNT/TOS. The answer appears to be that in
>reality only CPU is different between systems, and so the ability of
>ebuild to install binaries is a perfect match for MiNT/TOS based
>platforms.
>
>One needs to remember that RPM was revolutionary in its day, and as
>Mark can attest, it greatly simplifies the process of installing and
>compiles apps something which can be an infinitly complex task when
>applied to a whole OS
>
>I think it is a good thing, to have more than one distro available,
>and Mark is doing the first step in updating the RPM distro to new
>standards (compiled with GCC 4.4.x).
>
>Because of RPM's age, along with DEB and now ebuild, there are cross
>build script for most packages, which in itself will hugely benefit
>any modern posix kernel, which is perfect for MiNT/TOS.
>
>After the initial libs and apps, which must be done for any distro,
>the concentration on packages can diverge (between distros), allowing
>for more packages to become available faster, which is only a good
>thing.
>
>I expect the the Debian GNU/MiNT will be updated again soon, maybe a
>year or two away, but it will happen.
>
>The one thing people contributing on this list seem to forget, is that
>most people who use MiNT/TOS/GEM are not advanced users in the world
>of distros, files systems, etc..
>
>Regular (technical) posters need to remember (when replying) that most
>people now a TOS filesystem. They usually use file tree between 2 & 3
>levels deep at max. mostly things are simple, and if you have
>problems, you boot on floppy to fix your AUTO folder, thats it.. MiNT
>and distros are more complex than that, and appear seriously so if you
>have never seen or used Linux, which many have not..
>
>Also you need to remember, besides all the work that has been going on
>over the years, and especially now, the MiNT and distro stability is
>sub par, so you must forgive users of those systems, who are unable to
>contribute to the core/kernel, for the question of "why another
>distro" when the current ones are less than satisfactory, it looked
>good, had all the tools, but would break regularly unless you had
>built up a system of workarounds, which were not available to others
>or as part of a distro, unless you were in the know
>
>I dare say tho, with the volume of patches and distro work, as well as
>other app and site work, going on at the moment, that within 6 months,
>a sad system will be a thing of the past
>
>Hope that eases a few mind as far as contention on both sides go..
>
>Paul

Thanks Paul, great explanation.

I wasn't aware that gentoo installed from source, it sounds like
a silly thing to do but you have explained the benefits.

You are right about most users not being knowledgable about distros,
I am somewhere in between. I know about them but only by name.

Peter