As you can see on Distrowatch, it was the hype at the time. If you wanted to be ...

BeetleB on May 19, 2023 | parent | context | favorite | on: 20 Years of Gentoo

As you can see on Distrowatch, it was the hype at the time. If you wanted to be source based, and pseudo-minimalist, there weren't many alternatives. Amongst them, Gentoo had the best documentation, and probably the friendliest forums.