Redcore Linux [1] (Figure 1) is a Gentoo [2] derivative designed to give users some of the optimization of Gentoo with an easier install. It is a successor to Kogaion Linux, which in later releases was also based on Gentoo. However, after five years of development, the RogentOS Development Group, Kogaion's owner, discontinued it in November 2016. In response, Ghiunhan Mamut, a member of RogentOS, created Redcore Linux. With Redcore featured in this month's download DVD, Mamut agreed to answer our questions.

Figure 1: Redcore defaults to KDE, but other desktops are also available.

Mamut discovered free software around the turn of the millennium. Unusually, his high school ran Mandrake Linux, one of the earliest user-friendly distributions, rather than Windows. Later, when he bought his first home computer, he thought it natural to install Linux himself. "Back then," he recalls, "the free aspect did not matter much. But as time passed, I started learning about the system, and I was exposed to the free software movement. Naturally, I started tinkering with it – not programming but trying different configurations. I broke the system on purpose more times than I can remember, then tried to fix it. I soon found myself helping others fix and configure their systems." Mamut went on to help found the first Linux User Group in his city and made his first contribution: a patch for the chat client Pidgin. "It felt good," Mamut says, and he went on to create an installer for an online TV solution and to compile various packages as he hopped between distros.

[...]