[plug] Debian .vs. Gentoo

[scott at linuxit.com.au]

> I don't want to start a flame war, I am looking for advice.
<snip>
Not much chance of that :)

> I really am looking for advice to choosing between Debian and Gentoo on
> a  686 on a limited Internet connection. It needs to be poweruser
> enabled and  easy package management. Is their a 686 debian cd set?
> I am looking for advice. Please keep flames to yourself. Also I know I
> can  get reviews off the net but I want personal and local
> opinions/experiances. A bit of info about the Gentoo installer would
> also be nice, hardware  detection, preferred bootloader, speed. I would
> probably start with a  precompiled stage 3.

Gentoo is good if you have a few weeks free to compile packages. If you
compile them wrong, you are wasting your time - See distro day1 on
linmagau.org). If you compile them correctly you are saving a few percent
:) Bill may disagree, but that is what makes Linux good.
Personally i don't recommend Dial-up if you want to use Gentoo, the true
power of Gentoo comes from downloading and updating. The CDs are
out-of-date in about 5 minutes.
Updating is quite easy but then so is URPMI from Mandrake or APT from
Debian. In-Fact i have yet to have a problem with URPMI.
> p.s. This is a chance for Debian users to convince me to stay and
> Gentoo  users to try and persuade me to convert WITHOUT flaming ;)

Why not run both and decide yourself :)
I run Mandrake 9.2 at home, Debian Woody/Sarge/Sid on my work workstation,
Mandrake 9.1 on the reception machine and Redhat 9 on my test machine (for
a laugh). I don't run Gentoo because i only want to install in  couple of
hours not a couple of weeks :)
If you don't want to do anything; just install Mandrake. If you add PLF to
you URPMI sources you will have a constantly current distro that just
works.
Seriously try Mandrake it may surprise you :-0) Get your head around URPMI
and i am sure you wont go back.
Try CRUX for a 686 optimised Distro.

Regards
Scott Middleton




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