I start using GNU Linux with Slackware 7.1, with the first installation CD. It was a hard time, to have the X server working, but after almost 1 year exploring and testing, I finaly could. After that, I start checking others popular distros, just to see the difference between them. Maybe only BSD systems make me think that something was really different from each others, but naturally each distro follow some specification, on how it looks, what packages have already installed, the different ways to install it, etc.
Years ago, I read the LFS book and I decide to test Gentoo.
Gentoo is the Best if we are focusing how much RAM uses and how this RAM is freeded when applications are terminated. Is amazing. This is the best feature and result of having a Source-based GNU Linux distribution like Gentoo. About time consuming in the compilation process: If you are a person that have more computers to use and have a life outside of that room full of computers, Gentoo is not so hard. You start compiling today and tomorow your system may be is ready to use. If you update your system once per week, the process of waiting can be less. Naturally there are some packages that ask you a “super computer” to compile them in less than 24 hours, but you have alternatives that consume less time of compilation, while Gentoo, already have a way to install pre-compiled packages like Rust, Firefox, Chromium and others, that consume a lot of compilation time. Another aspect I like in Gentoo, is that it uses OpenRC, which Slackware use too, while the majority of distros, change to Systemd.
Right now, I am testing Arch
Linux that use Systemd by default
and it consume a little bit more Memory. For example, the minimal
instalation from Debian and Arch,
use about 200/300MB without using some extra software. We just login and
we open HTOP to see how much memory is
using, while we could use the free -h command, just to see
how much memory the OS is using. The same example using
Gentoo, we will see the result of the same command,
something like: 70MB. But when we compile software, it will consume a
little bit less than any other pre-compiled software.
Something I didn’t realize for long time, is that Arch have the AUR’s repositories, which enable us to compile software from the source. And is always a big big difference. I love to use NChat, a terminal chat-software for Telegram and Whatsapp, and when I compile it it use about 200MB while when installing from pre-compiled sources, it consume almost 500MB.
Sadly if a user don’t update Gentoo every month, the user will have a big big big problem when trying to update, after some months or years. By this aspect, Gentoo is the Bad while Debian is the Good, even if software compatibility is big, Arch Linux is the Ugly.
Gentoo is really nice, if you use the small list of software Gentoo have. Yes, yes, is small if you compare it to Arch or Debian. I am really happy to see how Arch include new packages that are not in the main repositories. One of the package I like to use is Tui-Journal, a Rust application or wiki-tui. Both are already included in the main Arch repositories, while in Debian or Gentoo, we need to install Rust to compile this packages.
I fall in Love with Arch. Sadly it use Systemd, but putting away this little problem, I really love it.