Recommendation needed for a distro

From: Mark Ashley (priv_at_te.com)
Date: 06/20/05 

Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 17:48:39 +0000 (UTC)

Hi all

I am by no means new to Linux, starting out with Slackware a few years ago
then using SuSE for a while as my main OS, before finally being forced to
move to Windows XP. I miss Linux and want to get back in to it.

The only gripe I had with Linux was its complicated dependency tree which
had to be navigated every time I wanted to install a piece of software. ie
Sylpheed requires these 10 packages, they each require three other packages,
and guess what they require... well you get the idea.

I have been impressed with distributions like gentoo, with its emerge
system. Unfortunately, after a week of trying, I am unable to get my
keyboard working in gentoo. I also tried debian after discovering apt-get,
but the supplied kernels would not boot on my laptop.

So really, I am after a recommendation of a good, fast distro with an
apt-get/emerge - like package management and dependency resolution system,
which supports a wide range of hardware. I like the idea of starting with a
basic setup (just support for my hardware and a console) and building
everything else on top of that.

Maybe I'm asking too much - but does such a distro exist?

Thanks in advance for any input
Mark

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