linuxgeek: Re: [LINUX_Newbies] TEST for 64-bit

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Re: [LINUX_Newbies] TEST for 64-bit

On Wed, Apr 27, 2016 at 05:40:00PM -0600, Dan aa0qc@yahoo.com [LINUX_Newbies] wrote:
> Do you know that you have to extract the iso file onto the USB stick? The iso file itself will not boot the computer. The iso file is sort of like a zip file and has to be extracted. I used a app called UNetbootin; there are other apps to do this.
>

Is there a reason you're using Gentoo, which takes a good deal of time and
experience and usually has out of date documentation?
These days, most ISOs are what is called, (I think), hybrid, meaning you
can just dd them to a USB stick.

The Gentoo wiki mentions a couple of Windows programs that will do this,

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/LiveUSB/Guide Towards the bottom of the page,
after giving the dd command to use dd, they say there are Windows versions
too.

However, no offense, but if you can't even get it to boot, you'd probably
be better off with Fedora or a version of Ubuntu. Gentoo is a pain. You
install it. You then have to compile a kernel (and THAT is where you'll
want your 64 bit system, it's usually faster.) You have to emerge all
programs. For example, a web browser may take over an hour to install,
because it has to download all components, then compile them. Whereas, with
Fedora or a version of Ubuntu, you'll have a working system up within an
hour, barring the unforseen.

I repeat, I don't mention this to criticize, but Gentoo can be a pain, and
these days, with modern hardware, seldom provides too much advantage. It's
a wonderful distro, and every so often at work, someone installs it and
then I feel I have to, to show that I'm awesome too, but as you say there
there is time pressure, I wonder if you might be better off with an easier
to use and install distribution. In Gentoo, you're going to have to compile
a kernel and choose the proper drivers, and if you don't, you'll boot and
have no network.

--
Scott Robbins
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