This is probably in the wrong forum and this is probably a stupid question to ask, so don't get mad at me about it.

I have been using Linux from live CDss and live DVDs as well as embedded linux distros for about a year. I still have very little experience with them. The Linux distros I have used are: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, SUSE, OpenSUSE, Slackware, Slax, DSL, and DSL-N. I have very little knowleedge base when it comes to linux. (ex: what is fstab? whats this about mounting and cd$ and all these stuff I keep hearing). In order to learn more about linux, I went to the LFS project (way before I heard about LQ) and checked it out. i downloaded the PDFs and tried to read them. After becming thoroughly confused and learning nothing, I come here. Is there a customized to tutoria for building a fast, lightweight, good-looking, secure distro? I had considered building off source code from another distro, but none meet my specifications. I just want a personal linux and a knowledge base so that I won't be so clueless when talking to linux geeks. Could anyone help me or point me in the right direction? I need a good tutorial on teaching me everything I need to know about Linux and then about building one to my own specifications. Thanks in advance for the help.

The reason I posted here was becuase the stickies on posting in the general section seemeed to say post in the distribution forum. I might have just misinterpreted them.

Also, this distro I want to build for myself must be primarily for laptops and have good suspend to disk capabilities without all the ACPI problems.

LFS is not easy, and I just don't understand why anyone without a LOT of Linux knowlege, would undertake such a task. Frankly, the specifications you set, could be any distro. Slackware immediately comes to mind. Then Gentoo, DSL, etc..

Good luck

Well, I understand what you mean, I do need so linux knowledge first, but I don't know where to get that as I haven't used command lines in years (thanks to stupid MS) and have almost no linux filesystem or kernel knowledge. I know how to program (been doing it for 4 years) and have some hardware knowledge. I know about BIOS and stuff plus somemore useless stuff. But, I'll try another attempt at LFS. Thanks for the fast reply IndyGunFreak.

If you continue to try LFS as a self-proclaimed Linux newbie, you may get burned out. Take it easy. If you want to jump in to the deep end, try Slackware or Debian, LFS is a little extreme. I don't even worry about it...

I normally learn best from analyzing source code. Also, I started learning alot through these howtos. Stuff like swap, i-node, what a partition REALL is, etc. I already know stuff like sudo su as well as stuff like unpacking and MakeFile. I'm going to attempt it again. I a newb till I am able to understand Linux. Also, I was able to optimize a 35 sec. boot on Linux to about 11 sec! I'm feeling confident.