Quote:
Originally posted by Electro
With package based distributions, you will go through hell trying to upgrade even though you have several servers listed. Compiling programs is the only way to upgrade. Gentoo shines during upgrading when packaged based distributions are over cast.
How Gentoo works:
Lets say we want to install WINE. To do that, we type emerge wine (of course as root). emerge checks the ebuild file of wine and process it. The ebuild file is like the recipe to make WINE. The ebuild file contains what programs are needed to successfully make WINE. After it got the dependencies downloaded, compiled and install, it downloads, compiles, and installs WINE by doing ./configure && make depend && make && make install. By doing this WINE uses the libraries that you have installed instead of you installing them yourself like in packaged based distributions. The source is not changed by Gentoo like in other distributions, so what you get is the same program as you would downloading it from the developer of the program.
I am sure that Gentoo makes it much easier to install ATI and to set an ATI card with hardware rendering. Gentoo makes installing nVidia drivers easier than using nVidia's installer.
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If by "package based" you actually mean RPM based, I would have to agree that they are a headache. But since you seem to not understand the most basic of terminology, I'm not sure you really understand.
Even Gentoo is "package based". A package is a compressed collection of files needed for an application to be installed. When you emerge a piece of software, you are installing a package.
I think what you are ineptly trying to communicate is the difference between binary packages and source packages, Both of which are available is pretty much any distro you care to use (including Gentoo). The eternal cry of the Gentoo enthuiast is "if it moves, compile it!".
I personally don't like RPM based distros because of the "dependency hell" problems that often occur when trying to install the simplest of applications. Other people love them. The truth is NO distro is inherently superior to any other. It's what works for the particular person and their needs that really matters. Try addressing the poster's issues instead of playing distro fanboy. It's much more helpful.
Slackware also keeps packages as the developer designed them so Gentoo isn't unique in that regard. It's also very easy to upgrade.
As to the original post, I would recommend you try both, and even some other types of distros which aren't RPM based. Debian and many of the Debian based distros are quite easy to install, have pretty good hardware detection (SimplyMepis being among the best in that regard), and are very easy to maintain and upgrade.
No matter what distro(s) you choose, there will be a learning curve regarding Linux and nobody can tell you which distro will be best for YOU. You'll know it when you use it. For me, it's always been Slackware Linux, for Electro it seems to be (at the moment) Gentoo (must love spending days compiling), for someone else it could be Billy Bob's Country Linux and Vienna Sausages. Spend some time checking out as many different distros as you can, spend enough time with each (at least a couple of months) to really get a feel for them, and see what best meets YOUR needs.
