Slack vs. Gentoo vs. Debian

I am having problems with Etch, and am open to reinstalling Etch, or installing Gentoo or Slackware. I have never used the last two. My problem in Etch is stated in another thread, but I don't have any sort of removable media working. I do have the Slack cds. And obviously Debian. If Gentoo, I would have to figure out how to download and install them.

Why don't you take the test in kalabanta's signature?

I would, of course, always recommend CLFS.

Not going with CLFS-not enough time on my hands. As far as my links-they are not that accurate with the above 3 for me. It told me before that there was no way I could handle Debian, but up until this recent 'crash' of hardware recognition, I was fine. It is a very general test, and how do I rate myself as far as level of experience when the closest Linux user I know is 15 miles away and can't evaluate me objectively?

Seems to me that I've seen you go through several distros, and based on the comments I've seen, you never really have gotten one working right. By tackling another one, you are certain to learn more, but at some point, you'll need to work out all the problems. Gentoo or Slack might be a good idea as far as learning problem solving techniques is concerned, but I question whether or not you have the perserverance to get a complete system running.

I do see your point, but the reason I have moved on has been that of personal preference and certain needed performance. Also, I have been installing Linux on 5 of my friends computers, all different distros that they wanted to try, so not all of the ones I have used have been on my computer. I need to figure out which distro can give me the maximum support, with stability, and all the programs I need (which obviously I can add). I am going into Internet Security, and need to have a computer set up exactly how I need it to really work with me.

Originally Posted by kalabanta As far as my links-they are not that accurate with the above 3 for me.

I was joking. Those never get it for me either.

Originally Posted by kalabanta Not going with CLFS-not enough time on my hands.

About 12 hours for me to have XFCE running. If you're really interested in getting exactly what you want, its the way to go.

I'd suggest tackling the problem and fixing it rather than jumping to another distro. You can learn a lot in the process of troubleshooting problems.

I'd avoid Gentoo. Not that it's really a bad distro once you get it set up, but it just takes so long TO set up. I agree with masonm, although you might just want to reinstall etch this time around. It's not so much that it can't be fixed (probably either a udev or kernel module related issue) but more "what's the ratio of time spent to fix vs. time spent to reinstall?" But resorting to a reinstall with every issue gets very old very quick.

If you're looking for a great distro, give arch linux a shot. Very gentoo-like setup, so you're digging right into the config files, but without the compiling, and it's very quick once you get it running. I've never had any major problems with it, although I've only used it for a few months, and only on one machine (my in-development CarPC).

As a Gentoo user, I would whole-heartedly recommend it. While it's not the first distro I tried, I was a real linux noob and found it fairly easy with the great documentation and forum community. It's the first distro I stuck with and used extensively, mainly because it's the first I've been able to get everything working that is possible to work with linux - removable media, firewire, cd burning, games under wine - you name it. I've been able to resolve any snag that I've encountered (or it resolved itself). Sometimes I wish I didn't have to compile with my old hardware, but to me the tradeoff is worth it.

Originally Posted by phantom_cyph I am having problems with Etch, and am open to reinstalling Etch,

Why reinstall or switch? I was running Etch some time ago. At that time it didn't have k3b so I switched to sid and have never looked back. I have had very few problems in the last 2 years with sid.

I would just upgrade my etch system to sid. First I would install apt-listbugs. That will tell you of any potentially problematic programs you are about to install. It does and can happen.

After installing apt-listbugs I would read to docs on upgrading Etch to sid.

I agree with masonm on tackling the problems. I had a friend that switched distros about 20 times. He is actually who got me using Linux full time. I had played with Linux for a couple of years but was mainly using Win98se. My friend kept calling asking questions. I seemed to be able to answer all of them and help him get his machine working so I just dropped Win98 and have ran Debian since.

Steve

I reinstalled. I think it has something to do with shrinking the partition it was on by a gig.

try out arch linux sometime... it combines the best of all three

I would say either start with Debain or Slackware and keep THIS handy at all times. I had a blast with it.

I've been running gentoo for a few years now. In my point of view it is really good and stable distro. It is not as easy-to-get-started as most of other distros but you really have control over it and the distribution does not make decisions for you. Portage is fine package management system and gentoo community can give good support.

One thing I really like Gentoo is how everything is scripted. I prefer Python rather than Perl.


Before Gentoo I used Debian. There is nothing wrong with it neither, but I managed to broke my dpkg too often.