a development Machine in VirtualBox - (debian-min vs ArchLinux vs recommend-one).
I have few years of exp on linux, mainly ubuntu (dual-boot). Now i am shifting to windows, and installing linux in VirtualBox (PUEL). I am looking for a light-weight distro for development machine setup. Thought of using debian-unstable-minimum, and installing build-essentials, openbox(or a little more feature light-WM), ssh-server, ethereal, iptables, nmap(maybe), vim, python3. That is all what i can think of now mainly.  

Options I can think of -- 

- Debian-unstable minimum, and then using apt-get to do the rest. Is there also recommended version of ubuntu-lite. I read Ulite is not good, some-others are also not that good.  
- ArchLinux, reading a great deal about it. Wikipedia says it is mainly a binary-based distro, but everywhere on net/community only talk about its source-based approach. If it is binary I think I can have a quick setup. (For guest-OS-ArchLinux guys in VBox ) is your guest-additions working fine in archLinux.  
- FreeBSD 8, is it possible for minimum install. And recommended. 
- Recommendations for other i686 optimized linux, if any, or lets say i386 is also fine, as will only use it for coding.

For system admins  -   
I would like to know if ArchLinux keeps the potential to penetrate companies for production systems, and replace redhat/debian/bsd in servers for hosting apps/portals.
a development Machine in VirtualBox - (debian-min vs ArchLinux vs recommend-one).
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I have few years of exp on linux, mainly ubuntu (dual-boot). Now i am shifting to windows, and installing linux in VirtualBox (PUEL). I am looking for a light-weight distro for development machine setup. Thought of using debian-unstable-minimum, and installing build-essentials, openbox(or a little more feature light-WM), ssh-server, ethereal, iptables, nmap(maybe), vim, python3. That is all what i can think of now mainly.  

Options I can think of -- 

- Debian-unstable minimum, and then using apt-get to do the rest. Is there also recommended version of ubuntu-lite. I read Ulite is not good, some-others are also not that good.  
- ArchLinux, reading a great deal about it. Wikipedia says it is mainly a binary-based distro, but everywhere on net/community only talk about its source-based approach. If it is binary I think I can have a quick setup. (For guest-OS-ArchLinux guys in VBox ) is your guest-additions working fine in archLinux.  
- FreeBSD 8, is it possible for minimum install. And recommended. 
- Recommendations for other i686 optimized linux, if any, or lets say i386 is also fine, as will only use it for coding.

For system admins  -   
I would like to know if ArchLinux keeps the potential to penetrate companies for production systems, and replace redhat/debian/bsd in servers for hosting apps/portals.