On Wednesday 22 August 2007, Abrolag wrote:
On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:12:30 -0400
"John R. Culleton" <john@...1668...> wrote:
I am not quite ready to do Linux from scratch. But I do want to install a distro on a spare partition that is friendly toward graphics packages like Inkscape, Scribus and Gimp. Slackware makes me jump through too many hoops. I tried Gentoo once years ago but it seemed to take forever just to get a normal install. I am also looking at Debian. Ubuntu is a bit simplistic for my needs. I need a bit more control.
Are there any recent users of Debian and/or Gentoo who would care to comment on their merits as a platform for bleeding edge versions of e.g., Inkscape? Does Gentoo still take hours and hours to install, with page after page of detailed instructions?
I've been using debian etch for some time now (since before it became 'stable') and it is a very good base for most audio/graphics work.
By default it has inkscape 0.45 which gives you a good working starting point.
Yeah but 45 doesn't read pdf files. That is what I was looking for.
If you use synaptic to remove this you can then install a build of your choice (always having this as a fall-back).
You will have to install a compiler, as etch doesn't do this by default, and a few headers but i would imagine that most, if not all, you want will be obtainable via Synaptic (or apt-get if you are more into nuts&bolts).
I wasted most of the day on Debian Etch. When I discovered that it didn't even have a gcc compiler I gave up. And I still haven't figured out how I turn off Gnome and get KDE back, although KDE was esy to download with apt-get install. Probably there is something to muck with in /etc/X11. I guess Debian folks just figure that all their users will want the Gnome GUI. That s not to my taste. All I want from Gnome are the libraries.