Choosing an Operating System

[ena]

Hello !

I'm thinking of buying a Raspberry Pi soon and join the community.
But I still wonder which operating system I should use, considering some points. I'd like to :
- control my system with a Xbox 360 controller. It seems to be native on Ubuntu, so I guess it can be supported on other operating systems. The point is to navigate like in the Steam "Big Picture" mode, just with the controller. For this, I read about XBMC, could it be a good solution ? (the Raspberry Pi would be connected with HDMI to a big television),
- install Steam and use its streaming mode to play the games installed on my computer (under Windows),
- browse the web, especially with flash support (I often visit twitch or grooveshark for instance),
- install Skype, and have a webcam and microphone compatibility,
- be able to control the Raspberry Pi (if ever its needed) with my portable PC (under Xubuntu 14.04). I know it's possible with SSH, but what I mean is, control the graphical interface with the keyboard and touchpad from my PC.
- use the Raspberry Pi as a NAS, and host some (static) web pages,
- have a Linux-based system. I'd say I have a medium knowledge of Linux, and my experience is mainly on Ubuntu/Xubuntu. I also learnt on Fedora at my university, and I explored a little bit of Archlinux.

Could you tell me which of the points above can be considered, because I think none of these use too many ressources (except Steam, but games would be runned on my windows computer) ?
And considering the OS, I found OpenElec and ArchLinux. I think Archlinux would be too much maintenance with my actual knowledge, but I don't know if OpenElec would be able to do this all ?

Thanks for your reading and suggestions :)

PS : I'm sorry if I made mistakes, I'm not a native english speaker.

[DougieLawson]

Simple answer: choose Raspbian.

More complex answer: choose Retropie

[fruitoftheloom]

The RPi is based on ARMv6 architecture, so be careful choosing software as when they state Linux it is usually for x86 architecture

Adobe Flash has been abandoned by Adobe on the ARM Platform.

Steam is for x86 Linux Platform

Skype is for x86 Linux platform

Agree Raspbian Wheezy is a good start as an all round Operating System

If you want XBMC install OpenElec on a seperate SD Card and swap cards when required..

[ena]

So if I understand what you say, Raspberry Pi may not be the solution I'm looking for ? If all my use cases are not compatible

Thanks again for your explanations :)

[ghans]

Yes , buy an x86 box instead.

ghans

[ena]

Well, it's not in my budget, but thanks anyway :)

Maybe one day I'll need a Raspberry Pi and then I'll come back !