Most Bleeding-Edge and Full Control Distro
 

Hello,
I'm new, my name is Marko.
Can you advice me the most bleeding-edge distro?

Currently I'm using Ubuntu Maverick but I'd like to have a Linux Distro where you can have the full control of what you do.

I'm thinking about gentoo however, is there any other distro like gentoo that will give you full control on everything?

Thanks

Marko

Welcome to LQ Marko
full control...

I would vote for Slackware -current

gentoo, sourcemage, lfs, etc all compile apps, etc
so sometimes it can take forever to get a system up and running

slackware and arch are my favorites as they have both binary pkgs and ability to compile stuff too.
slackware is the most simplistic distro ever and very cool

you actually have full control in all distros but if you really wanna "build" a system
then gentoo, sourcemage, calculate-linux-scratch, linux-from-scratch, and lunar linux

fedora 13 is "bleeding edge", however it is more like ubuntu....

Thank You so much for your reply.

I think that I'll try Slackware-current for start and then I'll try to build a LFS system.
I'm not interested if this will take time because I have 2 pc and I have one dedicated only to experiment with Linux so this isn't a problem.

One question about gentoo that I'd really like to try install but I have never installed because compilation time: I have an i7920 Overclocked to 3Ghz with a P6T Deluxe V2 and 12GB RAM DDR3 1333. How many time do you think that I'll need to have a working system with xorg installed?

Thanks

Marko

As long as you don't mind writing a lot of config files (and if you're considering gentoo you probably don't), I would definitely go with arch. It's much easier to get the initial install running than gentoo is, and it's a rolling release distro, unlike slackware, so you don't have to reinstall when some new version comes out. Just be aware (as you probably are), that it does require quite a bit of tweaking to get things running the way you want.

I have never tried arch however I absolutely don't mind to write config files.

What I want is a distro that use primary unstable and bleeding edge software.
In my linux life, I never used a stable distro, I have tried various distros but never a stable version.
I have used Debian Sid, Mandriva Cooker and Fedora Rawhide however now I want something that will give me full control of what I do.
For example I don't like to install firefox from binary but I prefer download the source and compile myself but not the stable on the beta source but the nightly builds.
Same thing I'd like to do with KDE and Gnome because even if many times there is ever a bug I like this way to work in Linux.
Also the kernel, I like to compile the kernel myself rather then have an already compiled kernel package because I like to have full control on every aspect of my Linux installation.
Then if I'll get a kernel panic ok but in this way I have what I want.

Also I want a reactive system and not a system like Ubuntu that when I click on the application menu I have to wait almost 2 second before the menu will open.

I would say Arch is what you are looking for. Total control is pretty well forced upon you. Slackware-current is pretty close, although you have more control over whether you want total control or not.

I agree with damgar
I only run arch testing, slackware current debian squeeze and ubuntu lucid lynx

in terms of cutting edge it would be
arch testing
slackware current
debian squeeze
ubuntu lucid

I have all 4 as livecd/usbs
http://multidistro.com/
though do not take them as "pure" as they are not
they are remasters

Sabayon
http://www.metalinker.org/samples/sabayon/
Choose CORE; downside -- 64-bit

http://www.cap.gediam.de/download-en.html
sidux -- you said you tried sid but have you tred sidux?

or just get the no-GUI core and add your own lite desktop, like LXDE.

Best wishes and let us know how it goes!

Gentoo
Sourcemage, my favorite
Crux
LFS

Just to name a few

I'd say Linux From Scratch will be absolute most bleeding edge and full control, since you can't get any more full control than you build the distro from scratch yourself.

He said he wanted bleeding edge. As much as I love slackware (running 13.1 stable 64 bit) it would not qualify as bleeding edge. That is exactly why I use it though. Stable software, very configurable.

But yes, your recommendation of Arch seems to really fit the bill.

And no time comsuming compiling of software either.

fedora 13 or Arch

but you could always build the testing slack

there is also the fedora"rawhide"
right now it would be fedora 14 ALPHA and might not even boot or run.

Arch.

Slackware-current and Arch aren't that far apart in terms of versions.