I'm considering building my own linux from scratch system for a couple of reasons, having only programs I want, learning exp etc.

The main reason is speed, however. I'm currently running Suse 9.2 and am moderately happy, but have heard from others that kde is not as fast as it could be. So here's the question:

If I compile all the programs will I see an appreciable increase in speed? Will there be a major difference from programs installed via packages? Will I be happy? ;o)

Dave

in any distro, it all depends on the services you have running.........I did notice a difference in
way KDE loads and runs when I compare LFS and Slackware..............LFS is a tad faster yes.......and some games like Tux Racer do play better on my LFS box!!

That's all I needed to hear, thanks!!

and then if you pass optimizations, such as -O2 and -O3 (I pass -O2 on my core system through the LFS specification, and the -O3 for anything after that such as X11 or stuff found in the BLFS specification). I also pass architecture optimizations (-march=pentium4 for my p4 or higher, and -march=athlon-xp for that or higher)

Doing an a few optimizations by themselves will not make a huge difference, but when the entire system is passed with optimizations and processor specific optimizations, you can begin to feel the system go faster.

(BTW, for I do not optimizie glibc - it loves to crash on optimization compiles)

also you typed the word "kde" if you ever attempt to refer to KDE then say the word speed. You have made a fatal mistake. KDE's desktop however wonderful and powerful it may be, it will absorb your CPU's cycles. So if you intend to use KDE, make sure you have a fast processor and a lot of ram!