Can anyone help me find a good distro ?

[H_TeXMeX_H]

I'm looking for a highly optimized Linux distro but that is also easy to install, configure, and use. I've tried to install Gentoo in the past, but it was such a pain in the ass. Maybe I'll try again ? I hear Arch is pretty good (i686 optimized), but that the packages are not updated regularly and some are broken. Looks like Gentoo is a better choice in that regard. But how long does Gentoo take to install ? I mean it has to compile everything from source doesn't it ?

[WMD]

I installed Gentoo once, on a P3/650.  I was only able to do stuff during a class period at school, but I could leave it to compile overnight.  It took a school week before everything, including KDE, was functional.  I could've probably done it in 2-3 days on that same machine if I had access to it 24/7.

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Shit, I don't have that kind of time, and only one computer. Maybe an i686-optimized distro is better, I'm looking around for a decent one right now ... one that doesn't take forever to install.

[Pathos]

My mate install gentoo overnight on a AMD athlon 1600+

[WMD]

Shit, I don't have that kind of time,

You also have a much more powerful computer than what I did it on.

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Damn, I've been looking all damn day, and not a one good distro Read tons of reviews, went through at least half the distros on Distrowatch ... fuck. I must say, I'm quite disappointed in the state of most Linux distros. I want a distro that is easy to install, configure, and use. I want it at least i586 or i686 optimized. I do NOT want any distro that has a non-free or limited-free marketing sheme ... some examples would be Mandriva, Suse, etc. I don't want a choice between getting a 'limited' free version of Linux and a pay 'full' version (Mandriva and Suse). Fedora's marketing scheme is acceptable, because there are no restrictions ... only problem is it's optimized for i386 ... I feel this may be sapping some power from me. If Fedora had i686 optimized packages, I would stay with it. Really, it looks like I'm gonna stay with it either way.

I also do not want a distro that is on its way out or has very few devs ... most are doomed to fail or have problems ... take CCux for example ... I thought it would be great, but guess what ? The .iso is 702 MB ... and all of my CDs can only hold 700 MB ... fuck !!!

[worker201]

Here's my advice: suffer.  But then in your spare time, make a 686 distro yourself.  I bet it wouldn't be hard to put one together.

[piratePenguin]

I'm using rPath Linux (rPL).

I would use Foresight, but does an OS really need to ship (the non-free) Google Earth?

rPL is quite old, but I bloody well like it. There's nothing wrong with GNOME 2.12! (KDE's also installed, which I like - for K3B, amaroK, kate and some other handy apps)

As for optimisations, I've no idea how rPL works, but I don't think it's a big deal.

Main reason I'm using rPL is for it's package management (conary, which I've mentioned here many a time) of course. If you're not interested in learning about it you probably won't like using rPL - there's no graphical frontend, and everything you want mightn't be packaged (in one of the default repo's anyhow).

If you can figure it out, then you might be able to help me put together my OS (feel free to bloat up the wiki in the mean time)

Time to package GAIM 2.0b4...

[WMD]

I also do not want a distro that is on its way out or has very few devs ... most are doomed to fail or have problems ... take CCux for example ... I thought it would be great, but guess what ? The .iso is 702 MB ... and all of my CDs can only hold 700 MB ... fuck !!!

All my CD-Rs take 703MB.  Are yours really 700?

And seriously, give Gentoo a try if you are having this hard a time finding something.  How fast is your computer?  You could probably do it in one day if it's modern.

[worker201]

btw, they do make 800MB cds

[H_TeXMeX_H]

All my CD-Rs take 703MB.  Are yours really 700?

And seriously, give Gentoo a try if you are having this hard a time finding something.  How fast is your computer?  You could probably do it in one day if it's modern.

I'll probably try Gentoo one day, but is it really that easy to install ? Everytime I look at the install instructions it seriously discourages me to the point were I don't want to install it anymore. Also, do I really have to print out the install instructions ? I'm not sure I have enough ink in my printer. I don't see why they can't make a simple installer (even a text-based prompt would be nice) for it rather than make me type in hundreds of lines into the shell. Not that I couldn't do that, I just don't think it's practical. (I realise there is a quick install guide ... but it's not too much shorter and it doesn't cover every relevant possibility)

All my CD-Rs are reported at 700 MB (slightly less, actually). My computer specs are:

Processor:
model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
stepping        : 9
cpu MHz         : 2806.505
cache size      : 512 KB
bogomips        : 5616.26
RAM:
MemTotal:      1033388 kB (~ 1 GB RAM)
HDD:
/dev/hda:
 Timing cached reads:   1696 MB in  2.00 seconds = 846.53 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   86 MB in  3.06 seconds =  28.09 MB/sec

I suppose it shouldn't take too long, as long as I type fast.

[H_TeXMeX_H]

Well, ok I'm gonna try gentoo again, just cuz I gotta see if there's a difference ... I hope it's worth the time ... here goes nothing ...

[H_TeXMeX_H]

I have a question ... is there a significant difference between say i386 compiled packages and i686 compiled ones ? I mean will I notice a difference on my machine (as described above) ?

There are always trade-offs. I was thinking of installing gentoo, but then I read this quote on Distrowatch about Gentoo (it's probably accurate)

Pros: Painless installation of individual software packages, highly up-to-date, superb documentation, the "geek feeling" of building a distribution tailored to user's needs.
Cons: Long and tedious system installation, occasional instability and risk of breakdown.

I prefer stability to speed. Maybe there is a balance between stability and speed and compatibility. The most of each.

[WMD]

That's the really long install guide you have there.  Here's the shorter one: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gentoo-x86-quickinstall.xml

As for stability, the only time mine crashed was from a failing CPU fan.

[toadlife]

I have a question ... is there a significant difference between say i386 compiled packages and i686 compiled ones ? I mean will I notice a difference on my machine (as described above) ?

In my experience, no. I've compiled an entire FreeBSD system for i386, i686, and even athlon64. Synthetic benchmarks (UNIXBench, ubench) comparisons have never shown a difference to me on my system.