Whats up everyone, Im kind of new to Linux, been using LinuxMint for about 6 months now and testing and trying out as many other distros as possible.

Just wondering if anyone can help me in figuring out what distro to end up with in the long run. Since I am fairly well versed in Ubuntu/Debian based distros this is were Im most comfortable. However, I have read that using distros like Gentoo give you the most performance as they are built around your system itself upon installation. Is this true and why is it that other distros like Ubuntu dont do this???

Do you have to compile everything from scratch when installing Gentoo or something? Also what are pros and cons of both RPM and DEB based distros?

Stick with what you're most comfortable with.

No experience with Gentoo, but it's my understanding that it is less user friendly (from an installation perspective!).


I suggest that you create a dual boot system. Your favorite distro as the one and anything that you want to play with as the other. Try to install Gentoo as the second distro and see how easy / difficult / time consuming / fun the install is compared to e.g. Linux Mint.

Originally Posted by TheEvilOne6620 View Post
Just wondering if anyone can help me in figuring out what distro to end up with in the long run. Since I am fairly well versed in Ubuntu/Debian based distros this is were Im most comfortable.




My Advice to you would be to try a few other Top distro's as well as debian based... Linux Mint is great, I use it myself sometimes as I find Ubuntu a bit lacking... and unpolished by default... etc....
There are other great distro's out there that are not debian based... Try out OpenSuse 11.1, and Mandriva.... (if you want to try the kde version of opensuse, get the latest remix with kde 4.3 http://home.kde.org/~binner/kde-four-live/)



Originally Posted by TheEvilOne6620 View Post
However, I have read that using distros like Gentoo give you the most performance as they are built around your system itself upon installation. Is this true and why is it that other distros like Ubuntu dont do this???



Gentoo.... hmmmm, its really for Advanced users... I am quite sure you wouldn't be ready for it quite yet... Yes Everything is compiled from scratch and you have to pick basically EVERY nut and bolt that you want and configure it from scratch.... and Unless you are fairly advanced in Linux, It will be a nightmare for you to install.... Unless you really do your homework and read the Gentoo handbook over and over and have got a spare 7 days or so trying to get it up and running.... lol. Once Gentoo is installed, its tailored to your specific hardware though, and is faster than binary distro's.... But if you stuff up something minor during the install, you can Bork the whole lot and have to start again.... So yeah.... I wouldn't recommend Gentoo unless your Really interested in the nuts and bolts of Linux and Really want to learn and read.... and learn from mistakes/fix them.....

Anyways... Goodluck... Try out Opensuse if you want to experience a non debian based distro thats quite easy to learn... its a really great distro...


p.s... don't bother with the Gentoo live cd... it leaves MUCH to be desired.
Symon.

0 members found this post helpful.

Why?

Most of the important differences (especially among all the Debian based distributions) only matter to a beginner. Once you have some experience you can add and remove packages and edit startup scripts etc. and customize any detail the way you want, rather than try to find the distribution that most closely fits.

If the point is to use Linux, that's your answer. (If you wanted to get a job as a Linux admin, you should learn Centos as well and maybe even one of the harder distributions).

It isn't significantly true. In 64 bit it is even less true (I don't see any mention of 32 bit vs. 64 bit in this thread).
In any distribution, you can carefully tune which packages are installed and which services are activated in order to trim your use of disk space and ram. I don't know specifics of Gentoo, but a distribution that makes or even encourages you to look at each of those decisions would be more likely to get you to a better trimmed system. But with modern hardware the difference in ram use is trivial and the difference in disk space even more trivial.

In 32 bit mode, any distribution which forces (or even encourages) you to build from source may get you to select compiler options that are better tuned for your specific CPU. This may result in a small improvement in execution speed. But do you run anything that is CPU bound? Or is your cpu almost always waiting for you or for the network or for the disk? In 32 bit mode, if you use some specific cpu bound program a lot (re compress videos or some such task) maybe you want to investigate some cpu and compiler issues enough that you could rebuild that specific program from source with better compiler switches for improved performance. Anyway, try that first with some cpu bound program before even considering a distribution that makes you build everything from source.

In 64 bit mode there is less variation in the nature of optimized code by cpu model so there is no significant performance advantage available from compiler switches tuned to your specific cpu model.

Because it would be a lot of extra work for the user for little or no benefit.

DEB has a much bigger pool of available software. Beyond that difference, I don't know any answers that could be considered facts rather than opinions.

I use both (RPM with Centos, and DEB with Mepis).

I find the GUI package management is Centos so lame that I gave up trying to use it even though I fundamentally prefer GUI to command line. So I use command line Yum in Centos but GUI Synaptic in Mepis. I find the apt command line tools much less effective than Yum, so lacking the GUI in a Debian distribution would be more of a problem than in Centos.

RPM packages available in Mepis 8 are almost always current enough to simply use them. DEB packages in Centos 5.3 are often based on source code so old that the only reasonable choice is too ignore the package and rebuild from source. But maybe comparing Mepis to Centos that way is unfair and I should compare Mepis to Fedora. But I never used Fedora.

In 64 bit Mepis it is practical but awkward to get and install the DEB file for the 32 bit version of some package. In 64 bit Centos, it is much easier to decide you prefer the 32 bit version of some package instead of or in addition to the 64 bit version and get it correctly installed. That is a fundamental Debian vs. Red Hat difference (not just Mepis vs. Centos).

There are more complicated (and cutting both ways) differences in multi lib (mixed 64 and 32 bit system) in rebuilding packages from source.

Using Gentoo, you can pick and choose what you install and you can configure a lot. Beyond that, I'd go by what johnsfine and others say.
Installing it using the handbook is pretty easy, if you really go by the handbook ... they explain everything step-by-step. Otherwise, it would be complex (I only went by the handbook to install it).
You don't actually have to compile it yourself from scratch. Gentoo uses portage for package management. When you download and install packages, everything IS compiled. It's very time-consuming. The way everything's setup, is that you can configure a lot and choose how things are done when you do install packages. It's all pick-and-choose, pick-and-choose.
Sometimes you will run into issues - with dependencies and things like that, and you'll have to work them out yourself.
Gentoo's a quality distribution, but as far as what you're asking about I would go by what johnsfine or others say, I don't really know enough about it. I've gotten some use out of Gentoo, and I can say that I didn't personally see that much of an improvement in speed or anything. I'm using 2 hyperthreaded Pentium 4 3.4GHz processors and a GB of RAM.