I've decided to start using some form of unix and i have a few questions about which flavor and distro, etc.
1. when people say that an os is "more powerful" what exactly does that mean? what can slackware do that red hat cant?
2. what do you recommend? I've mostly been considering slackware, gentoo, or one of the BSD's because everbody says they are the most powerful. I ask you to keep in mind that i am not a total *nix newbie and that i will have a spare partition with windows on it, incase i start getting homesick or whatever, so plz dont just say "get red hat cuz ur a n00b and red hat is close to windoze"
3. Is gentoo really as hard to install as everybody keeps saying? I dont actually know how to code very well... so would that make things more difficult and would it be worthwhile to install gentoo if i cant customize it(i think that requires some programming skill)
4. are there any programs in particular that i should really get that dont come with the installation? maybe a windows emulator to play games with, some kind of music and video player, etc.
5. If you know a good linux installation guide site or something, in case i have a problem during the install that would be very helpful

thanx for the input