This is what I want from a distro. I like Debian but it's headed in a direction I dont like. In Lenny run levels 2,3,4 and 5 are exactly the same. Can someone say 'upstart', yuck! Nor do I need that new sound daemon. Debian is starting to look like Ubuntu. Ubuntu is good for the masses but not me.

Slackware is cool but I cant stand Kde, need my Gnome.

As far as GNU/Linux goes I've not done to bad considering I'm a deseil mechanick by trade.

Spent weeks installing Linux From Scratch so this should be fairlly straight forward. Just need to figure how things are done.

Like others have said, Gentoo can be used in servers. Gentoo requires a compiler to install, so you have to take more time to remove it. To update programs, you then use a separate computer that is setup as a Gentoo binary server. Next you tell the server to install the programs from the binary server.

Like others have said, the good of Gentoo is installing programs with features that you need and do not want. The bad is the time it takes to install. Personally, I do not mind this because Gentoo provides what is Linux all about which is installing the desire programs and selecting features that you want for the program. The ugly of Gentoo is its utilities is written in Python, so be careful upgrading Python. I would not say Gentoo is hard for anybody. If the user can read, think, and follow directions, installing Gentoo can be easy and tedious.

Overall, Gentoo is the best distribution that Linux has to offer. It might be hard to get at first, but the best is always hard.

Thanks for the reply guys i will now try Gentoo

Upstart.

Ubuntu is also good for Donald Knuth [replying to your "random facts" by more "random facts"].

Good you made up your mind. You seem to be quite active in the forum. Mostly are an advanced user. Take up the Gentoo challenge, you will enjoy it.

As a P.S. I would like to add that we should be asking 'am I good for the distro' than 'is the distro good'. Coz, distros like Gentoo, Slackware, Arch, LFS are not for 'HELLLLPPPP.... ME!!!!' kind of users. They demand certain amount of maturity from us. But once we dip into them there is nirvana for sure.

Gentoo is about someone who wants and also who has the time to learn.

So everybody can learn how to use Gentoo.

I had a Gentoo class in 2009, and I had maybe 10/24 peoples who it was their first Linux distro : http://www.linuxcrazy.com/?q=blog&page=1

If everythings works fine out of the box Ubuntu is great, If it doesn't then Gentoo is better.

In fact, I always like to debug my thing inside a console instead of using a GUI.

And with Gentoo, you don't need at all a GUI to configure something.

Give me a LiveCD, then I chroot my box and now I can start debugging my box with a console :P

It is subjective, but basically - yes. Gentoo is a very quality distribution and very customizable.