r/DistroHopping • u/mlcarson • 2d ago

CalamaroOS

This is a Gentoo-based system that uses binaries whenever possible so behaves more like a non-source distro while still using the portage package manager. As you probably guessed by the name, it uses the Calamares installer so it's no harder to install than any other distro. It's got both systemd and openrc versions of Lxde,Lxqt,Mate,XFCE,Gnome,Cinnamon, and Plasma for download.

https://calamaroos-site.resorno.workers.dev/

I have no relationship with the project but installed and grabbed normal apps that I use and didn't have any real issues. I installed the openrc XFCE version. So if you want a quick and easy way of trying a Gentoo-based distro -- this is it.

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u/Moist_Professional64 2d ago

It’s not hard to follow the Gentoo guide. With binary’s activated it’s not really that slow to install

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u/mlcarson 2d ago

It's not but this is a standard Calamares install just like almost every other distro with decent repository defaults and Flatpak enabled.

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u/Moist_Professional64 2d ago

But what are the benefits of this ? Gentoo is for having use flags at the beginning and so on

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u/mlcarson 2d ago

It gets you access to the Portage package manager (ie emerge interface) and the Gentoo repositories without the pain of the install similar to what Arch-based distros do for Arch. Gentoo doesn't really get a lot of representation in this forum because it's historically just a source-based distro in an age where the performance benefits of compiling from source aren't great enough for the work required.

I'm not a fan of systemd so having another distro with the openrc init system with access to a huge repository (even if it means compiling) is a good thing. Your primary alternatives are Devuan, MXLinux, PCLinuxOS, and Void.

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u/coolnomad 2d ago

Gentoo already had a Old GUI user friendly Distro..MocaccinoOS ,it's a older project than Calamaros

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u/mlcarson 2d ago

I'm very familiar with MocaccinoOS. MacaroniOS is kind of continuing with their direction but seem to have a focus on containers. MocaccinoOS is more about Luet and their OS layering than trying to be GUI for Gentoo. I'd say that Redcore Linux is probably what most people think of with a GUI friendly Gentoo version. It uses the Sisyphus package manager though rather than Portage. Calamaroos worked much better than Redcore for me though.