Distribution Knock-Down

[RobinVossen]

Hello and Welcome,
I am in a Stuggle between two Distrubutions.
Gentoo and Debian.
Since the both support ARM..
And now I'd like to know.. What one to use?

Ok, here is the deal.
There are a couple or rounds and you just post your Opinion..

Round 1: Deb vs Portage.
Round 2: Speed
Round 3: Compact
Round 4: Stable
Round 5: Support
Round 6: Documentation
Round 7: FileTree
Round 8: Software
Round 9: Installer
Round 10: Hardware Support
Round 11: Smack Down.

Well, my opinions will be like this:
1. Portage, since I dont know deb.. Deb, Since its faster..
2. Speed. I have no idea.. (Thats why I post this Topic)
3. Same I dont know
4. I guess they are both pretty stable
5. The Gentoo support is WAY better
6. So is the Documentation
7. I have never saw the debian file stucture
8. Debian is very wide.. Though its easy to make a ebuild your self.
9. I can Intsall Gentoo (no problem done it a couple of times.. As a matter of fact it was the first disto I installed without help.) Never was able to install Debian..
10. No, idea
11. Well Gentoo wins here.. But thats since I didnt have all the answers..

Well, can some people please put there there opinions?
Since that will help me alot by picking a OS for my DIY PDA ^^ (That is a 64 MB RAM, 4 GIG HD and 512MB SWAP.. and I want to run XFCE :P)

(I have seen this on another Forum. I dont know any of the rights on this. But I dont think you can have owner rights on something like this.. anywho if you have please tell me and i remove this..)

[carlosponti]

try both create two partitions and use them both on each partition.

[RobinVossen]

So you are saying...?
That I just should install a complete Gentoo System and a complete Debian System on one 4GIG HD?
Do you think I can still put all my programs next from it?

Cheers,
Robin

ps. I know I can try both.. though if I finaly got a system running on my DIY PDA I am not planning of destroying my work.. Since well Installing everything with 64MB really takes a lot of time.. And certain when I use Gentoo.
What of the OS'es has the least "junk" files I dont need anymore AFTER install?

[techieMoe]

What of the OS'es has the least "junk" files I dont need anymore AFTER install?

One man's "junk" is another man's treasure. If you're concerned about the OS installing something you might not want to use, then Gentoo would probably be better for you. It will only install what you tell it to install.

You could also install the Debian "net-install" disc, which just installs a base system and lets you add whatever else you want with apt-get. It's probably as slim as Gentoo at the outset.

[RobinVossen]

Yea, I know that but thanks for pointing it out.
That is the reason why I think that Ubuntu is Junk.. to much programs pre-installed..
And well that was the Debian I ment.. the net-install..
I just need the best OS for my device. Since I really want to get the most out of it. I have heard that Arch Linux is Basicly Gentoo but uses Binary Packages..?
Is that true? Since then Arch really sounds like a treasure from Heaven.. ^^
I just want to have a Stable System that is Bareboned. And runs on an "old" (new, but low ram etc) hardware..
Ofcourse it should good with new hardware and well.. I guess you people now know what I want.. ^^

[techieMoe]

I just want to have a Stable System that is Bareboned. And runs on an "old" (new, but low ram etc) hardware..
Ofcourse it should good with new hardware and well.. I guess you people now know what I want.. ^^

Damn Small Linux is based on Debian (well, technically Knoppix, which is based on Debian) and is certainly lightweight. You might give that one a try.

[RobinVossen]

heh Already have done.
Had to much "in my eyes" junk on in..
I think that when I remove all the programs from DSL that I dont like and install my own Software I still get somekind of debian/knoppix system
Thanks for helping me out btw

[carlosponti]

oops didnt see that you had only a 4 gb hard drive.

[RobinVossen]

heh yea, it is for a Handheld PC.
So I cant put in a 200GB hd.. :/

[devils casper]

I am using Debian Lenny these days. Go for netinstall and you will have minimal system. You can install any package after that. I installed Gnome, KDE and Fvwm ( selective packages only ) and it has taken 1.5GB disk space only.
Debian Netinstall + KDE will take around 900MB disk space.