9
Gentoo-based distros
(lemm.ee)
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I've used Gentoo in the past for 6 years on my desktop and was quite happy with it. I was pretty much in your boat, I knew my way around, could fix problems and knew where to ask for help. All fine and well until time became an issue.
I went with windows for a couple of years until I was fed up with it (again) and switched back to Linux. After some testing, I went with arch. It gives me the closest feeling to Gentoo, without the endlessly long compile times. It requires some learning of the ins and outs but once you're settled, the experience is on par with Gentoo (at least for me).
I am using Gentoo for more than 10 years now, on two machines. I set it up in a way, so that the more powerful desktop compiles packages that can run on both machines, so that I at least have to wait only longer once for each world update. Use-flags need to be the same on both for that to work.