short note re trying to push a system from debian to gentoo

[Heitzso <heitzso@growthmodels.com>]

I was trying to push a ss20 from a highly kludged debian
unstable (ugly apt-get/apt-build/compile from source mix) to
gentoo to get -mv8 etc. optimizations.  Because of bad combo
of circumstances I had elected to try this 'in place', i.e. on
top of my running SOHO router/email system. 

Seemed to go fine for the first 30 hours of bootstrap
(stage 1) but then snarled and because I was left with an
odd mix of libraries and programs my system was
hosed.  After spending 5 or 6 hours trying to rescue it,
I gave up and pushed the directories out of the way
and re-installed debian from scratch.

While most of you will say this was a very stupid
exercise on my part, I'm sending this email to the lists
for the same reason that twisted automobiles are
displayed in Driver Ed classes --- i.e. don't go there.

For those of you still reading  --- what's the best
rescue CD?  I only had CD 1 non-us debian sparc
stable on hand and the primitive shell that's provided
in that environment was frustrating.  Are there
knoppix/gnoppix like rescue CDs around for sparc?

Thanks,
Heitzso