nyan

I like Aqualung. Works well enough for what I do. Has the slightly unusual feature of accepting LADSPA plugins. I don't do much tag editing, but the basic functions are there.

Any advice from people that already use Gentoo? Especially things that they wish they knew before trying for the first time?

This is more things-about-bootloaders I wished I'd known/remembered when installing more recent systems, but:

• If you want to use GPT partitions on a system with legacy BIOS boot, remember that you will need an additional unformatted small partition at the beginning of the disk (this tidbit of information used to be in the handbook, but has been removed)
• If you're trying to install GRUB on a UEFI system, and it looks like everything should work but the system fails to boot, read the troubleshooting section of the GRUB page in the wiki for information on how to handle defective UEFI implementations.
• Do not try to enable Secure Boot if this is your first rodeo. Get the rest working first.

How much time and effort should I put into fine tuning the global USE flags if my initial goal is to get a system up and running?

Not much, unless there's something you really want to exclude (-systemd, for instance). Most of the time the default USE flags will give you a workable, feature-rich system (and allow you to use more binary packages).

What you need to pay attention to is your choice of profile, which sets your default USE flags. Profiles in the desktop series enable a lot of USE flags. For the most basic command-line system, you're better off picking default/linux/amd64/23.0 (or default/linux/amd64/23.0/split-usr if you want the old FHS setup where /bin and /usr/bin etc. are different directories—if you don't care about this, stick with the default and ignore split-usr). Avoid no-multilib, hardened, and anything marked "(exp)" or "(dev)" unless you have some specific reason for wanting that profile.

With systemd, I enable --nowed that which I wanted to “autostart” (iptables and sshd, for instance). Is there an equally intuitive counterpart with OpenRC?

I think you want the rc-update command, specifically rc-update add [service] default (assuming you want the default runlevel, which you nearly always do). There's a man page.

regionset's homepage appears to have disappeared. If your distro no longer packages it, the source can still be obtained from Gentoo source mirrors (pick a server here and go into "distfiles" then "8b").

Because even a headless server with no email capability can write to a log, as long as it can mount its root drive.

That being said, if your system is hiding stuff behind some kind of splash screen at boot time, turn it off. I suspect your error would have been right there on screen in plain white-on-black text if it had happened on one of my systems (granted, I use OpenRC and not systemd, but I expect the latter also provides a running commentary on what it's doing at boot until the graphics stack loads).

noauto, which means that the filesystem in question won't mount until you issue an explicit mount command for it, can be an alternative to nofail in fstab. Back in the days of optical drives, that used to be one of the options you put on them.

For external (and network) drives, though, I find it's better to hand the problem over to autofs (which will mount the filesystem only when you try to access it) and keep them out of fstab.

You can try just tracking down Akonadi's executable and removing its executable mark or renaming it, which may, however, break other stuff (in particular, make sure you're not running kmail—it seems to be the most substantial program with a non-optional dependency). Or you can ditch KDE and move to a lighter DE that doesn't have this stuff (TDE, Mate, XFCE . . .)

There are two ways to spin up a Linux machine: you can either use a desktop-ready distribution that includes everything you need to use it right away (including some stuff you don't want), or you can start with the bare bones and build it up to usability. If you want to take the second philosophy to the extreme, Gentoo will let you turn off all optional features you don't want before they're even built.

X11 is still being actively maintained. It isn't an install risk or anything like that. It isn't going to add any shiny new features, but not everyone needs shiny new features. (That being said, if Wayland works for you, go ahead and use it. Just don't spread FUD, please.)

Even better, store the password offsite—safe at a friend's house, safety deposit box at the bank . . .

Sort of. The minimal install image provides a (lightweight command-line) Linux environment, and that's what you would typically expect to boot into to install. If you have another piece of live media that you prefer, you can use it for the install instead (I've used Raspbian and its successor distros as hosts to install Gentoo on Pis from time to time), but there can be occasional gotchas that come from things like different handling of the resolv.conf file on other distros.

Just download the file marked "Minimal Installation CD" from here (assuming you're installing to an x86_64 system) and mount it as a CD according to the VM's documentation, then boot the VM.

Do use the Gentoo-provided minimal install iso as the host for the install, and not random live media, just to reduce the possibility of unexpected problems.

The handbook is actually pretty explicit on what commands you need to run for the base install. Read it through first. Take note of the places where you actually have to decide something (the biggest one is OpenRC vs. systemd, and you want to have that decision made before you start). Go with the default for anything you don't really care about or that looks a bit complicated or scary. Absolutely do not skip steps (unless they're marked "Optional") even if you don't yet understand what the step is for.

Working inside a VM insulates you from some of the worst gotchas you can run into on real hardware (like bad UEFI implementations), fortunately. Still, don't try to build a custom kernel straight out the gate—just install the distro kernel for now.

If something goes wrong during the install, it can be best to take a break and come back later.

Once you've got the base system running, you'll have another decision to make about X vs wayland and the various DE/WM/compositor options.

Judging from the information on https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/, this is true, but not as true as it might appear at first glance. Linux for VAX is an obsolete(?) specialty port not available from most distros, and Itanium support has recently been discontinued, but I think Gentoo supports all the other variations listed. So BSD comes out on top by a hair due to continuing second-class VAX and Itanium support. The rest is just lumper-versus-splitter stuff.

TDE. Solid, familiar, stays out of my way.