Tomorrow i'm considering installing my first Linux distro (granted, i installed Mint way...

Tomorrow i'm considering installing my first Linux distro (granted, i installed Mint way, way back but i don't remember much of it) to replace my Windows 7 installation.

I'm stuck between Arch/Gentoo.
I want to customize my experience as much as possible but i also want a lightweight system (i'm running on a old laptop with a Athlon x2 and 3 GB's of RAM).

If Gentoo, i'm confused which one to download.
My CPU is amd64 obviously (It's a Athlon 64 x2) but i don't have more than 4GB of RAM, so i assume the perfomance would be degraded.
So amd64 or normal x86?

In Arch i can choose between 64-bit and 32-bit (i would choose 32-bit obviously) but Gentoo seems to pander to certain CPU architectures.

Anyways, i already installed Arch in a VM and it was rather easier than expected (however, making OpenBox work with xorg was fucking total hell) but i don't like the package system that much, i would like to download things out in the internet instead of relying on a curated library. (i would like to install a certain font not available in pacman library for example)

I heard Gentoo is different on this and compiles shit from source (ewwww....that takes way longer), does it necessarily occupy more space or make the system, dare i say "slower"?

I'm stuck between the two really, my friend is saying to go for Gentoo but i don't know, really.

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Just install Debian you colossal faggot.

>i'm considering installing my first Linux distro
>I'm stuck between Arch/Gentoo
oh boy here we go again

...

op gotta look cool on Sup Forums for the epeen

Both of your choices are giant wastes of time. I've used arch for years, eventually you will get tired of everything breaking. If anyone disagrees, its because you don't do much with your computer besides webdev and shitpost. Gentoo is fun, but you really have to take a lot of time away from your very short life to make it work. Its the minecraft of operating systems, you will literally accomplish nothing no matter what you do to make it work.

I run funtoo in a vm however, and I realize even that is a waste.

I'd recommend Debian or Ubuntu. You can still modify the shit out of it, you can update software from source and compile it (if the repo is out-dated by default), and it's still a functional distro. Fedora and others are great too, but you'd waste a lot of time getting things working.

Also botnet fags need not apply, if you're a competent user you can remove all unwanted elements from any shitty software.

This guy has a point.
Fedora is also really nice and very stable

yea OP you should just install Debian, unless you want to rice/pimp the fuck out of your system (use arch for that, gentoo takes way too much time compiling shit)

Golden Penguin would be pretty nice, but I'm going to go with crashing the smartphone market so that all of humanity can benefit.

OP, don't try Arch. Don't try Gentoo. Hell, don't even waste your time with Debian. They all have their time and place, but it's not here and not now for you.

Install Ubuntu or Fedora. You will know when you want something more. They represent the "convenient" sector of desktop Linux. Please, if you only listen to one thing in this thread, listen to this post.

lol What the fuck is the point of Gentoo? Just install Antergos, it's basically Arch with a nice GUI installer

>runs ancient hardware
>unironically considers using gentoo

have fun compiling everything on that piece of shit

yep. good luck OP. all i know about Arch is it's bleeding edge. i hate bleeding edge. i want stability.

my recommendations... first of all pick a GUI that you like. Unity, KDE. XFCE, Gnome 2. Then from there pick a distro.

Ubuntu Mate is pretty sweet. old school style Gnome 2 fork of Ubuntu. Linux Mint aint half bad either, or flat-out Ubuntu. I'd look at some Ubuntu forks though, for sure.

distrowatch.com/

If you must gave bleeding edge due to "reasons" or preference. This.
>Debian or its derivatives
Pic related

>NSA Hat Linux

You can choose to compile as much or as little as you want. There is also Sabayon Linux as a baby's first alternative.

He gotta install Gentoo on the school computers to look cool.

get Manjaro unless you're a colossal fag

>first Linux distro
>arch or gentoo

Do fedora. The default desktop environment is gnome. It's somewhat bleeding edge though not really. It's very usable and the best out of the box distro. Just make sure to google what to add on first to make it actually usable. I'm talking about enabling third party repos and how to make gnome not look like garbage. Most articles would have that info.

I used gentoo and flavors for 3 years. It's been a really, really beautiful experience - the package manager is literally perfect, everything is flexible as fuck and you can customize every seemingly frivolous thing to your liking.

If everything goes well.

If something doesn't, then you've got a problem.

And, because of the customizability of your system reproducing your problem is often hard as fuck - given that you're actually taking advantage of your OS features and change stuff around - which means that the maintenance of your OS will take more time than even debian's one. Basically, Gentoo/Arch are both giving you too much choice, which is not always necessary. Eventually you'll get tired of it - that is, unless you've got too much free time.

Go Debian. It's offers the right amount of balance between ubuntu-level crap and gentoo. You will like it, and will eventually understand that the distro doesn't matter that much.

+1

>i would like to download things out in the internet instead of relying on a curated library

Maybe you should stick with Windows op

Why the hell can't you rice Debian?

This.

Install Antergos with the Base install(no DE) and put a window manager like i3 on it.

KDE Neon you giga faggot.

>My CPU is amd64 obviously (It's a Athlon 64 x2) but i don't have more than 4GB of RAM, so i assume the perfomance would be degraded.
So amd64 or normal x86?
Kek

>In Arch i can choose between 64-bit and 32-bit (i would choose 32-bit obviously) but Gentoo seems to pander to certain CPU architectures.
Fucking kek

>i don't like the package system that much, i would like to download things out in the internet instead of relying on a curated library. (i would like to install a certain font not available in pacman library for example)
Holy fucking kek

>I heard Gentoo is different on this and compiles shit from source (ewwww....that takes way longer), does it necessarily occupy more space or make the system, dare i say "slower"?
Fucking hell OP, you want to install Gentoo and you don't even know about the implications of compiling from source.

You have no idea what the fuck you're doing, and I pity your friend for having to bear with that and possibly having to come and unfuck your system up for you, but you sound retarded enough that you're going to do it anyway, so here goes: Install Gentoo or LFS you fucking nigger, do it.

Install bunsen labs

>my first linux distro
>im stuck between Arch/Gentoo

kys u dumb moron

Install Ubuntu and learn how to use the terminal first lmao

>my cpu is Athlon 64 x2

Good luck compiling webkit-gtk or any other C/C++ monster. It will take, at least, ~6-8 hours (and that's being optimistic).