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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Considering Gentoo (slrpnk.net)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have an old iMac that I am planning to install some flavor of Linux on and while I was looking at various distros it occurred to me that it might be a good exercise to install Gentoo on it. Other than a separate machine for documentation and downloading the necessary packages, what else should I have set up to try this? Has anyone installed Gentoo on a Mac before? If so, what concerns are there related to things like Apple’s implementation of EFI?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I say go for it. I've been using it for about 2 years, and I no longer feel like distro-hopping (not sure if you fall into that category of Linux user), because it's not opinionated about how it's meant to be used. It gives you all the tools (and foot-guns) to do whatever you want with your computer.

You don't need separate computers for a local mirror and/or build server to run Gentoo, I've never done that. I've never owned a Mac, so I can't really offer any tips hardware-wise, but use a live USB of a distro that you're already familiar with, so you can refer to the handbook as you go. The people on Gentoo's IRC channel & forums are very helpful if you come against any roadblocks.

It does take a while, not gonna gloss over that. Once you have it installed, there are very few issues that would require a full re-install. Portage is an awesome package manager, the language of its warnings/errors took some time to wrap my brain around, but it's very verbose in describing what's going on.