[gentoo-user] Re: Considering launching into Gentoo

[walt]

AG wrote:
> Hello list
>
> I am currently running Debian Squeeze and am considering the feasibility
> of switching to Gentoo due to several issues I am experiencing with a
> new machine with a SATA HDD and a TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-H653Z which refuses
> to play audio CDs and pre-recorded DVDs.

Well, I'm all for using gentoo because I despise the debian package system,
but that's just me.  Hardware problems like you describe are usually driver-
related or really are hardware problems, in my experience.

As it's a new machine it can be hard to separate hardware from driver problems
without, as you say, trying some different software.  The gold standard for
such trials usually involves Windows because the drivers are so widely tested
before the manufacturer releases them to the public.  Chances are you'll be
using the same drivers with gentoo as with debian.

> In any event, because I have loads of data on my /home partition, I'm
> curious about a few things, primarily what are the implications of
> dual-booting with Gentoo as my second OS, so that I can experience
> Gentoo without losing my data, etc.
>
> How compatible are Gentoo and Debian in terms of using a shared /home
> directory - I am concerned about uid for the directory for instance
> which, if I changed it for Gentoo, may not work for Debian and vice versa.

That part is trivial.  You can either specify a desired UID when you create
your gentoo user, or go back later and change it with chown -R newuid:newgid.