i know its not an actually rolling release.. but it takes like 3 years of updating before it finally becomes stable, so it seems to almost work like one

anyone try manjaro?.. it seems like manjaro would be to arch what ubuntu is to debian

Debian Testing/Jessie is scheduled to "freeze" (become completely non-rolling until the next release) in a couple of days: http://release.debian.org/jessie/freeze_policy.html

really?.. i think im probably going to avoid straight debian then.. does mint debian edition use those same debian repositories? if so, then i should probably consider sticking with archlinux or go with standard mint if i wanted something a bit simpler and more up to date

Debian and Arch as as different as two distros could possibly be. Completely opposite project goals. It is unlikely that both would satisfy you equally.

Mint's very nice, it's what I use personally for home/entertainment.

well mints what i use on my families computers as well, quite simple and basic.. i just cant shake the feeling its TOO beginnerish for me.. but im probably just being dumb.. really it gives you only one of each program youll definitely need (like a web browser, media player), and a package manager to do the rest

if i do go with mint, should i consider the debian edition or the standard?.. im willing to try it out.. i can always just go back to arch..i have a spare 500gb hard drive ill be using, ill be using the entire drive.. ill be testing how viable gaming on linux is, with steam on linux and wine/playonlinux

I have no personal experience with Linux Mint Debian Edition so I can't really answer that question. I personally would not use a testing/rolling distribution for everyday use; YMMV and it seems that as an Arch user you should be comfortable with a little bit of risk/instability.

The biggest catch with Mint is that releases are only supported 9 months, unless you go with Long Term Support Mint 13.

Over the years, I've reached 111 distros, and the general-purpose, English-language ones I currently recommend are AntiX, ArchBang, Arios, AtlasX, Bodhi, BOSS, Bridge, CentOS, CrunchBang, Exe, Fedora, Foresight, Hanthana, Korora, Lite, Manjaro, Mepis, Mint, OS4 Open Linux, PCLinuxOS, Pinguy, Point, SalentOS, SalineOS, Salix, Semplice, Snow, SolydXK, Swift, Ultimate Edition, Vector, Xubuntu, ZevenOS, and Zorin OS. You can read my reviews of these on this site.

If you want rolling-release, then there's Archbang, Bridge, Foresight, Manjaro, Mint (LMDE), PCLinuxOS, Semplice, SolydXK, andSwift.

I see you've never tried PCLinuxOS or Foresight. They're not derived from anything else and rather nice. Foresight has a package manager conary which enables you to do a roll-back if an update breaks something.

You know, I've seen so many of these "which distro should I try?" threads over the years, it's just silly. Pick one that resonates with you, for whatever reason, and LEARN Linux. At the end of the day, they are all Linux. Learn the command line, and you can get them all to do the same things. You have said you have tried the big ones: Arch, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Mint. Could you not get them to do what you wanted them to do? If not, you're not trying hard enough.

Jessie will freeze in 2014, not 2013, so there is plenty of time before the freeze.

LOL I totally forgot what year it is, thanks for the correction Tobi!

What's silly about seeking advice from those who've experienced lots of distros, rather than spending hours trying them yourself?
I understood the OP to be looking for something interesting that he was unfamiliar with: what's silly about that? And if someone does have a particular need, surely it makes sense to get a distro that makes it easy and quick to achieve? Some people have a life, unlike gentlemen of leisure like myself (and, presumably, Slackers ).

The fundamental differences between distros are these: kernel version, init system, boot loader, installer, default packages, package manager, DE or WM. But, it's all Linux. It seems like many people spend a lot of time trying to find the "perfect" distro, rather than learning the nuts-and-bolts of the underlying system to proficiency, and building their system the way they want it. That is my point.

I use Slackware because I do have a life, and I know I can do what I need to do quickly and easily, and maintain a stable, working system, without obfuscation. YMMV.

wow.. major epic fail trying to get manjaro to work with the catalyst drivers.. what a nightmare.. im hoping this is a manjaro issue an not a catalyst issue because i need these drivers for gaming purposes.. however, if this issue can be corrected with manjaro i will definitely give it another try in the future, i really liked it as it reminded me a lot of arch with some nice touches added to it

so after reading more about linux mint debian edition, i found its intended to be more of a rolling release based on the testing repositories of debian.. going to give this a try and see how LMDE works.. will probably stick gnome3 or kde4 on it since i have the hardware to handle a little extra eye candy

i wanted something that only had one of each type of program of only the basic programs needed.. dont need any developing or compiling tools or any of that.. i was looking for something debian-ish, but with a rolling release status.. LMDE.. might be exactly what i was looking for

uuh.. finally!! i got the catalyst drivers on LMDE, had the biggest problem getting full resolution but i switched over to HDMI and it seems to be working fine now.. what i did differently was i downloaded the driver package off the AMD website and installed it from there