Right now I have Gentoo and Slackware installed. I like Slackware because it's more stable and more fixable when something breaks. I don't need the internet either when doing a fresh install or fixing something broken. I also have more direct customization of the OS. I don't like Slackware because it's much heavier on resources and isn't source optimized. If I do rebuild all packages from source it takes longer. Package management is very abusive to user because of no dependency tracking too. I think most users are forced to use third party packages because they can't be the package manager or it's too much work.* Package management is very painful and not exactly fun, especially if you're not paid for it. I have to make my own script to build a package that doesn't exist in third party form. Building 32-bit packages on 64-bit is very hacky and inconsistent. I like Gentoo because it is a source optimized distribution and has a very intelligent and supportive community. It's also a rolling distribution so you can stay up to date with the latest technology. It is the lightest OS on resources and allows control of all packages via a single variable called "USE" flag with its package manager. It handles dependencies and professionally supports multilib. It's very easy to manage Gentoo while having total control of every package, and allows me to focus on more important tasks. I don't like Gentoo because it can break and be unfixable. If portage breaks then the whole system breaks and I end up without a system. This happened to me when updating python some years back. It also necessitates the internet when doing a clean install. You also have to work through the portage system to add packages that don't exist, but it's not that bad. So which OS should I use for learning and programming. So far I've learned the most from Gentoo and its community, but I'm afraid of it breaking. Slackware is very stable and fixable but support is very lackluster, and you have to be the package manager which is a huge task sometimes, and third party packages and support isn't too good. Thoughts? EDIT: Okay I decide to stay with Gentoo. It's stable and direct control of every single package with USE flags way better! If break I should make backup DVD just in case!
I always recommend Arch, It has all the third party support you want and afaik the community is good but I just bug a friend of mine if I have any questions so IDK.
