This is the second part of the Gentoo Tutorials. In the first section “Minimal Gentoo Installation” we have built a fresh Gentoo system using the minimal install disk and downloading the stages/ports and building the kernel. This left us with a bare Gentoo OS. In this second Gentoo Tutorial we are going to customize and add different software to the system.

Many times I can read about how people look at Gentoo and its nature of always compiling each packet at installation. Often it’s believed that Gentoo is faster because the compilation can optimize for the processor being used. That may be true, but that is not what characterizes Gentoo.

"I just started yet another process of installing Gentoo Linux, and following is my record of the installation step by step. Previously I preferred to install from stage 1/3 following this guide. I decided to try LiveCD this time..."

"In future releases, Gentoo will focus on a more back-to-basics approach that will give you up-to-date install media on a regular basis and make much better use of our human resources. We're looking into automated weekly builds of the minimal CDs and stage tarballs as well as maybe an annual LiveCD release. We will keep you updated as we decide on the details of this new approach..."

I have been planning to move to Funtoo Linux, a derivative of Gentoo Linux, for over a month now. The install is basically the same as a Gentoo installation. The only difference is that instead of using Gentoo’s Portage, you can choose to just use Daniel Robbin’s Funtoo git-based Portage located at Github.

Last year Gentoo canceled their 2008 release plans to focus on putting out just one release per year, while in years past they had put out as many as four releases per calendar year.

This example of a minimal desktop shows how to manually create partitions using ext3 and ext4 for a server that has a minimal desktop for a graphical interface.

In April, 2003, the Linux guys from UITS at Indiana University were promoting Gentoo Linux at the 2003 Linuxfest. UITS gave a great presentation of Gentoo and I can see why they were one of the first ones to host a Gentoo Mirror in the US. They kept telling us that installed Gentoo for the first time was not easy. They even demonstrated a Stage 3 install, which at that time, was not easy. I just remembered that I wanted to try Gentoo when I got the chance.

There's a popular saying that if you manage to install Gentoo on the first run, this means you have done something wrong. Gentoo has always been the most difficult distro to install, even though it promises great rewards for the die-hards willing to take the pain.