Speed and Compiling.

[Jonathan Hutchins]

So Lucas is needing to pep up his DVD playback, and I'm grumbling that
everything I try to do in KDE is so slow I end up rebooting the same box
back to W95 if I want to get any work done (Gnome is not quite usable on my
system yet, that's my current struggle).

And Duane is talking about how, with a clean install and some selective
custom complies, he's very pleased with his performance.

So how about some advice and help for non-programmers/developers on doing
the custom compiles?  Maybe we should have a "Compile Fest" instead of an
Install Fest some time.

For one thing, I would love to see a list of exactly what packages you need
to install, given a workstation with NO source or Development tools
(unselect any "devel" package or anything labeled "development in an RPM
based install).  How about a simple "you must have these packages" list for
a kernel compile?

Every time I've tried to install something that required a compile, I've
ended up in dependency hell far worse than I've ever seen DLL hell.  I
actually trashed one box because I accidentally got some Mandrake packages
on a RedHat box (gee, thanks Mr. rpmfind!), and I have never resolved all of
the required libraries in order to complete a simple compilation.

So how about it, oh wise ones?