Has anyone installed Gentoo linux already? How much time does it take on an 600MHz G3?

Well, it depends.
For example whether you want to use full KDE or just a lightweight Desktop Manager, or if you start from scratch, building a stage 1 Gentoo.
KDE 3.1 took me about 2 days to compile on a Peg 1 G3, If I remember right it was about a week in which i installed all Gentoo Stuff i wanted.
But it was worth the time, I never saw any other Linux Distri on the Peg (and I tried several) which was that fast.

Thanks for the quick answer!

Did you have any problem during the install process? Is there anything to care about?

If you use one of the binary CD's you won't have to compile everything and should be up and running with KDE in a matter of 30-60min depending on how experienced you are with Linux.

There is an error in the handbook on the CD regarding boot parameters. This is what you have to enter in SmartFirmware to boot: "boot cd /boot/pegasos root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc looptype=gcloop cdroot"

I try to keep my webpage updated with the latest information on installing Gentoo on a Pegasos. http://dev.gentoo.org/~dholm/ppc.html

I'm also available on irc most of the time (freenode and arcnet). Please try to keep your questions related to Pegasos issues and ask general Gentoo/Linux questions on #gentoo (freenode) or forums.gentoo.org, otherwise I won't have enough time for my schoolwork as I try to answer all questions directed to me.

<disclaimer>
Gentoo is aimed at people who want maximum control and the ability to tweak their machines to the max. If you are not really interested in learning anything about Linux it is not the right distribution for you. If you follow the handbook the installation should be quite painless, and once the system is installed it is not that difficult to use. Documentation is available in several different languages on http://www.gentoo.org/.

Feedback on the handbook is appreciated as I would like to make the next Gentoo release work even better on the Pegasos.
</disclaimer>

@GK_LKA:

when you have downloaded the universal-install and the packages cd for your processor then you're almost fine for the start.

but you'll encounter basically 3 major problems when you want to install from CD:

1. you can only use stage3 when you want to install directly from CD

2. it's _not_ possible to build a pegasos-comaptible kernel when just using data from CD. YOu have to download around 50MB kernel sources + benhpatches + pegasos patches manually (with "emerge", see handbook)

3. it's also a bit problematic to install KDE with the files from the CD (you need to emerge one smaller lib directly from the net, around 1MB or so).


But else you really can learn a lot by installing gentoo.

And when you install the kernel then make sure to dissable any unrequired stuff (e.g. all that powermac support stuff), else it can happen that the kernel can't build properly. Best is to make a list what's inside your pegasos (chips etc.) and then go step-by-step every option in the kernel config.

But when you read the PPC-Install handbook from net (gentoo.org) then you have already a very good documentation, except the parts i mentioned here which are/were not in the manual).



@dholm:
even with stage 3 just 30-60 minutes are very optimistic. the kernel building alone needs almost that time.

If installing with net access use the pegasos-sources kernel. The default config should work on any Pegasos.
I thought we put ppc-sources on the CD? It works on the Pegasos as well.

dholm:
Ah yes you are right, with the compiled packages it won`t take that long, but to be honest, imho that doesn`t make much sense, if i want a package distri i would go for debian or something like this.

GK_LKA:
Well as David told allready, his installation guide is a very good thing to start with
And so is the documentation found on gentoo.org, including the help boards there. The best thing is, if you have a second computer around to have a look to the docs if necessary.

Thanks for the answers.

I have now one more question: Does it worth to install Gentoo (with KDE and all needed stuff from sourced) instead of a binary distribution? Is it A LOT faster?