[Lancaster] meeting plans

[jonath]

"obviously gentoo will take a full night"

Perhaps if you just install the bare-bones version of Gentoo with no
windows manager then, yes, it might take JUST a few hours. In which
case, you probably want to start earlier on rather than later.
Obviously the compilation time will depend upon the hardware specs of
the computer having the Gentoo install. Also, the Gentoo install
process likes to throw a few spanners in the works along the way, to
try to scare off anyone whose heart isn't true. Stuff like this: you
boot up with the Gentoo live CD and your hard-drive is recognised as
/dev/hda. You configure /etc/fstab accordingly. You boot up from the
hard-drive, which has now moved to /dev/sda. KERNEL PANIC! Now what?
Re-boot with the Gentoo live CD and start again, omitting certain
unnecessary install steps along the way (no need to reinstall
software; just re-configure /etc/fstab and the boot-loader). Oh, and
don't forget to ensure that your chosen method of file indexing is
supported by your kernel. Oh, and sometimes GRUB just doesn't work,
Simple as that. In which case you have to go with LILO. Stuff like
that.

I'd love to help out with a Gentoo install if you wanted, but I don't
currently have a spare PC, and the only way to make this viable is to
do a practice install on a PC and make sure it all goes smoothly,
before then doing it all from scratch on the night itself. That way
you should get an idea of how long it'll take. I guess I could do a
virtual installation using VirtualBox but I'm not sure whether
VirtualBox behaves different on different host PCs (?!).

I think I've encountered most things that can go wrong during a Gentoo
install, so could always help out just to offer advice if needed.

regards,

jonathan

2009/12/7 Wayne Ward <wayne at lancastercomputers.co.uk>:
> Hi guys just made a few changes on the lug website :)
>
> http://www.lancasterlug.org.uk/
>
> anyone else want to add profile information for themselves?..
>
> Now im just looking at scheduling up the meetings for the new year and
> thought it might be a idea
> to do some installs on various distros either on a spare laptop or in a
> virtual machine
> with some distros we might get two installs  night or if everyone things
> its better we can stick to one a monthThen i was thinking of starting with
> some standard desktop installations so everybody can get a look at other
> versions of linux available and some of the great features offered by other
> distros. Then after a few desktop installs maybe look at some headless
> server installs with various services http / ftp etc..
> Now we have some distros to pick out here some i have in mind are
>
> gentoo
> arch
> debian
> suse
> ubuntu or mint?
> fedora
> slackware
>
> obviously gentoo will take a full night and im not sure about slackware as
> i must admit I havent done a install which i should probably take a look
> at! does anyone have any other distros they would like to see installed or
> maybe demo?..
> I think we should look at putting the gentoo install at the end when we
> have had plenty of time to look at the other installs as its a bit more
> advanced.
>
> Once we have a half decent schedule for that ill put these on the website
> also we can then plan some other projects - server installs and any other
> items we can demo to make the meetings more then just a monthly chat!! If
> we think its to much every month we can do the demos every other month...
>
> Please let me know you opinions please and ill start mapping it all out on
> the planner :)
>
> i got a nice present through the post this morning its a book called just
> for fun a book on linux torvalds i got it for when i finish a book called
> rebel code which is all about the gnu and linux / open source - the just
> for fun book was very cheap and i think there is a couple left on amazon
> for £3 delivered!! and thats hardback!!! and while im on the subject I
> have a copy of revolution os which i a DVD on linux and open source which
> is a good watch if anyone wants to take a look....
> http://www.revolution-os.com/
>
> --
> Regards,
> Wayne ward
>
> 07957448652
> Lancaster Computers
>
> www.lancastercomputers.co.uk
> wayne at lancastercomputers.co.uk
>
> Computers - Laptops - Servers - Web Services
>
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