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[mike80808]

[aldube]

It wouldn't be so bad if the APT repositories were complete & up to date most of the time. It seems at times Debian has a hard enough time maintaining the DEB packages, as there's quite often incomplete or outdated packages; hopefully the DCC won't be repeating this for it's part of the OS.
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Linux simply works for me...
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[Arne Anka]

That's true for the Unstable and Testing release. They are supposed to be updated frequently with new and perhaps not so well tested apps. For those who proritise stability, Stable is the release to go for.

You can't expect somthing updated frequently to be stable and complete. Likewise you can't expect something that is Stable to be updated frequently (because then it would become unstable and perhaps uncomplete).

DCC is based on a snapshot of the lates Debian Stable with some packages backported from Etch to make DCC LSB 3.x complient. They both will be updated at most once a year.

[Jenkins]

Reading this thread makes me think of those body kits you put on a Fiero to make it look like a Lamborghini.

[aldube]

That's a lack of vision for you; they said it couldn't be done; it got done; and now no-one seems to appreciate the work; l just can't help but feel a little disgusted as a result. Apt-get -b source usually results in failure due to dependency hell, so we're no further ahead with apt; if you want a good example of this then just simply try to compile cinelerra and you'll see what I mean.
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Linux simply works for me...
Registered Linux User 384461

[Jenkins]

If you want to compile from source using an automated system, go use FreeBSD, it's where the port in portage came from. If you think FreeBSD is archaic or outdated or you simply don't understand it, that's your lack of vision. FreeBSD is arguably one of the best operating systems on the planet.

Why would you graft a hacked ports tree onto another Unix workalike? A Unix workalike that already has it's own package management system. Gentoo is an interesting experiment, but the portage system is admittedly a mess, it's fragile, it breaks, it's chunks of code held together with duct tape and twine.

I've used many operating systems, Debian was the only GNU/Linux distro that made sense. Actually, Progeny Debian was amazing, I always liked it, which is why I thought that Xandros was even better. Go try a BSD, try BeOS, try Plan 9, try QNX, try OSX, there's lots of operating systems, lots of types of computers. Bolting a ports-style system onto Debian is an interesting experiment, but it's not exactly something that could be considered robust or feasible for a commercial distro.

[Andrew]

[aldube]

[mike80808]

[mike80808]

[woodsmoke]

Ok,
I read the whole thread and readily admit that I don't have a clue about most of the stuff you guys are discussing, but I'll ask a question?

Is there a distro, maybe Gentoo?, that, as was referred to in another thread, has a wonderful way to detect hardware, but stumbles in other stuff?

Does any of the stuff related discussed above have a relation to this?

Or is there a distro, like the old Mandrake(8?) that has a "wad" of games folded into it?

Would the different ways, or similar, ways of getting packages(?correct term?) for either hardware or games create a situation in which the sum is greater than the parts?

I was just wondering, and enjoying the thread!

ain't xandros great?
woodsmoke
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If the eco-ists would only shut up, I wonder if the sound of their droning would be replaced by the sound of normal people fitting solar panels and making soup from nettles and twigs.(J Clarkson)

[mike80808]

Gentoo is a Linux distribution, by Eric Robbins, I believe, and based on the *BSD method of distribution, known as "ports".

Basically, there are no binary packages. A "repository" simply is a list of URLs where you can go fetch source code. The problem is that every package is kind of on its own to provide for high availability. BSD is very much into the darwinistic viewpoint of code, but sometimes crappy popularity wins out (sort of like our US presidential race of 2004) over utility and functionality. But I digress.

Anyway, the Linux distributions all pretty much had some sort of "packaging" (RPM, DEB) for binary packages, since the distribution makers believed that it was a waste for 50,000 people to all compile the same source code 50,000 times to wind up, at the end of the day, with the _same_ binary package.

Both methods of code distribution (the end result of which is a binary on the end-user's computer) have their benefits and drawbacks.

Gentoo appeals to people that like to "roll their own". The problem is that that's not Xandros customer base, and the "roll your own" crowd don't spend enough to make a viable market. The vast masses want a turnkey OS with turnkey administration. A "build your own directly from source" type of system isn't appealing to that crowd, and hence, not to commercial distro vendors looking to make money.

One of the issues with Debian is that it is so large, you have different projects all proceeding at different paces, and the distro-release-manager has no choice but to simply draw a line, freeze things, and then work ONLY on integrating the stuff.

With Gentoo or a ports-based distribution, the same fundamental problem exists, its just that there's no distro vendor or upstream repository manager to help you out here.

It's simply a philosophy difference. And in fact, Debian is exploring a repository based on the BSD kernel instead of the Linux one. Where you can apt-get pre-compiled software for your BSD system. (Apple?)
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Thanks for all the fishes, Xandros.

[woodsmoke]

Mike 80888

thanks for the very nice reply. I've read a lot of discussions and finally maybe some of it has now clicked!

ain't xandros great!

woodsmoke
_________________
If the eco-ists would only shut up, I wonder if the sound of their droning would be replaced by the sound of normal people fitting solar panels and making soup from nettles and twigs.(J Clarkson)

[Jenkins]