I've been thinking gor quite some time now about building my own Linux distro despite having little experience in this area. As a result, distros like LFS look way over my head, as they require building the build tools from source.

What I'm after is a complete distro, including all the core files such as gcc, bash etc. but no X server. I've looked at Toms Root And Boot (as it was recommend by Linux Format), but the packages included look out dated. I would simply go for Slackware, but like the above it has not had a new release for a few months now.

I already have around 12 different distro's on CD but non seem to fit the bill.

Can anyone suggest a distro to use as a base. Thx in advance.

Just pick one, choose custom ( or similar ) install and don't install X packages, remember, Linux *is* text based. You just add X and window managers to it.