Don't over look or forget about Gentoo. I used to only use RH. I looked
into Debian. In the end I am the happiest with Gentoo.

I just can't wait for someone to maintain active ebuilds for the
releases of Firebird.

Then compiling Firebird from source is as easy as

emerge firebird

In fact you can build v 1.x from source however I have not figure out
the use or make flags to pass along to build the ss version instead. The
ss version is available as a binary.

Currently there is no ebuild for Fb 1.5. I can't wait till there is one.
I am sure I could install it without portage. Possible even building
from source. However it's so much easier with portage.

With Gentoo you compile everything with flags and etc specific for your
hardware.

Does it make a difference. You bet it does. A huge one especially with
newer hardware.

If you have two machines that are idential. Install Gentoo on one, and
install any other binary linux distro on the the other.

Do some simply things like unpacking a large tarball or two. Compress a
few things. Or compile something. You will see a difference in the
speed. Maybe a little, maybe allot. But a difference is a difference. If
you have the hardware why not get all you can out of it.

--
Sincerely,
William L. Thomson Jr.
Support Group
Obsidian-Studios, Inc.
http://www.obsidian-studios.com