Linux distro for getting down 'n' dirty!

[darthsabbath]

I'm looking to add another Linux partition to my hard drive just for experimentation. I love my Ubuntu, but I was curious about how customized it is, as I want my "playtoy" partition to be fairly standard Linux (does such a thing exist? :D).

I'm considering a distro that I can build from the ground up, like Gentoo/Arch, or something a little more old school and vanilla, like Slackware.

Basically I just want a distro that I can shape to my wants and desires to learn how the GNU/Linux system as a whole works (rather than say, Debian-based, Redhat-based, etc.)

Phil

[Stormy Eyes]

Linux from Scratch (http://lfs.130th.net/lfs/news.html)

[bored2k]

Gentoo is good. Slackware nowadays has pkg tools, so it's not what you're looking for. If you ever decide to give gentoo a try, make sure you wont use your computer for a week or more.

[az]

What do you mean by "be fairly standard Linux "

You could install a Sarge base system and add on a few packages like some exotic window managers. You could use your time to report bugs since they are getting close to releasing...

[jerome bettis]

gentoo sounds like exactly what you're looking for. do a stage 1 install. start with nothing, and only add what you want.

but if you're on a slow machine, you'll need a lot of time for compiling, so it may not be what you want.

[bored2k]

How much time does a stage 1 install take ? On a medium performance P IV ?

[jerome bettis]

How much time does a stage 1 install take ? On a medium performance P IV ?
ehhh that's really hard to say. on my pentium M 1.7 (should be comparable to a P4) bootstrapping took about an hour, hour and a half. then you're at a stage two install. emerging the base system took umm probably an hour and 45 minutes. then you've got to compile all the apps you want.

i would guess about 5 - 8 hours from putting the cd in to being up and running with XFCE, firefox, and a few other essential apps. if you're going to do kde and open office plan on a few days :-P

i rebuilt my entire system once and it took about 22 hours to recompile everything i added.

[darthsabbath]

I guess by standard Linux distro... well, I really don't know. :D

Lemme try and explain. I downloaded PCLinuxOS once(pretty good distro for it being KDE and Mandrake based, little on the slow side, but it's a beta and could be a good "newbie" distro), and found that, for example, the /etc directory was just full of.... garbage. It was like someone took the /etc directory and put whatever they wanted in there. I couldn't find my way around for nothing. With Ubuntu, it was very easy to find my way around.

Other distros, like SUSE, seem to add in a lot of mess in places that just winds up confusing me and plain does not make sense. Does it really vary this much from distro to distro?

I've always been told that Slackware is really old school, and is the most "UNIX like" and traditional of the Linux distros. I want to find something that adheres to some standard about what goes where (if such exists).

Gentoo seems to be the front runner, with Debian Sarge a close second. Arch seems to basically be an easier Gentoo after going back over my options.

Linux From Scratch... wow... that looks like it's an interesting challenge. Anyone here done that? Just might have to give that one a try one of these days. ;-)

Phil

[TravisNewman]

I've done LFS, but a VERY basic system. Just enough to say that it was an operating system ;)

[poofyhairguy]

Gentoo seems to be the front runner,

should be considering what you want.