Gentoo on the PS3 - Full Install Instructions

An anonymous reader writes "My friend Jake just bought a PS3, and he wanted to install Linux on it. Since he didn't know much about Linux, it was my responsibility to help him with it. His requirements — Install a distribution which is easy to maintain and run. He wanted to make the full use of his Linux install, so he needed a distro which wouldn't hold him back with frustrating problems. The only solution was using a distro which had a better package management system, and did its work without bothering you, the end user. Having used Gentoo extensively, I knew that this would be the solution to my problems. What follows is full install instructions, plus personal opinions, on why Gentoo is better than Fedora Core or YDL on the PS3"

Article writer without a clue

[Alphager]

1. Theoretically, faster than any other distro.
Yes, theoretically. Practically, you don't see or feel the difference. Citing this as #1 reason to use gentoo is stupid.
2. Modular distro, so you have full control over the installation.
Oh yeah, because the other distros dictate which software you have to install
3. It teaches you more about Linux.
Yes, because watching compiler output scrolling by for 8 hours gives me super linux skillz!
4. You can update it whenever you want, don't have to wait for the latest version of the distro like Fedora Core 5/6, Yellow Dog Linux 5
Ah, you mean it's like with the other distros who let you download the latest and greatest. Debian testing is usually pretty bleeding edge, and Debian is considered to be one of the slowest distros to upgrade....
5. Huge community of people, and the best documentation among all Linux distros, so you'll never have unsolved problems.
Hmmm. Google "gentoo problem": 1,520,000 results
Huge community? I would say Ubuntu or SuSe or Red Hat all have far bigger communities.

Re:Overkill

[hawg2k]

It does, however, have an excellent user forum that the user community leverages to provide a lot of help to people in need. They also have a lot of excellent HOW-TO documents for various aspects of Gentoo configuration.

I'm not arguing that Gentoo is easy, but if the person is brand new to Linux he's going to have lot's of questions and need a lot of help regardless of distro. If this person is also a very technically saavy person, Gentoo seems as good a distro as any, because of the great help one can get (mentioned above).

My 2 cents.

Re:Wow

[fistfullast33l]

I agree that installing Gentoo on the PS3 is probably more of a geek experiment, but we miss the potential of getting Linux to the masses. The YDL install is supposedly quite easy, and doesn't wipe out the usefulness of the PS3 either. You can still switch over to the PS3 OS whenever you want. Compare this to installing any Linux distro on a normal store-bought PC. You have to wipe out Windows/OSX/whatever and then install Linux, and it's not that easy to go back. Not to mention that the install process won't install side-by-side for you; you have to do that yourself. So I really think that the YDL install on a PS3 actually is a great opportunity for a more widestream acceptance.