i was wondering what distro is challenging to install. i have a P2 laptop that i use just as a learning tool. i am not worried about wiping the HD and starting again if something goes wrong. ubuntu was easy to install and im really trying to get my hands dirty with linux now. i guess i dont know where to get started. its hard to figure out where to begin when one has such little experience with the system. i know i plan on compiling a kernel sometime in the future. any suggestions on other things that can be done in order to gain a little knowledge?

Oooo.. install Gentoo using the traditional, command line method.

In my early days of Linux, the distro that really got me into Linux and deep into the ins-and-outs of using Linux was Gentoo. Even though I'm not using it at present, it is still probably my favorite distro, and I forsee myself going back to it in the near future.

Gentoo can be a challenge, but it has the best online documentation of any distro that I've found. You'll probably bork the install a few times, but once you get it up and running, you will feel quite accomplished. Give it a shot. http://www.gentoo.org

The Gentoo forums are also some of the best forums out there for getting help. I still visit them on a regular basis.

And if you think Gentoo's not hard enough, try LFS (Linux From Scratch).