ever heard of one?

In what sense?

Hm, I'd say any distribution that does little auto-configuring for you. You would be learning many specifics only applicable to that distribution in addition to learning linux, but that comes with the package. Examples: gentoo, slackware, debian, LFS (?). I haven't heard of a distribution specifically oriented towards learning the command line, running services, configuring package installs, etc. You learn as you go, pretty much (and by using this forum ).

All of them.....

LFS (Linux From Scratch) http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
teaches you how to build your own distro from source, and you can learn a lot about how linux works. If you're looking to learn desktop or command line basics, there are plenty of online tutorials and forums (just google "linux command line") and use any distro you like.

Gentoo.

Like LFS ... after the initial installation you are left with a command prompt.
Everything else must be installed and configured, that includes networking, X Windows, Users ... etc.
User's are instructed to manually modify configuration files.
Gentoo instructional guides are very extensive.

This is exactly the direction I'd like to head in, Do you have any personal experience with LFS?

I've done some brief reading on LFS, and it seems like it's what I'm going for in terms of needing to learn from the ground up...
You would say that gentoo is in this same category?

'll list them for you in order (major distros only):

LFS
Slackware
Gentoo
Debian

After that they are all much of a much, for example I am always rolling my own packages in Fedora and if you read the docs it tells you how to do it. This means I'm experiencing as much about the process as a LFS user.

What I think you want it something that *forces* you to learn. If you are a total Linux newbie, LFS is a tall order and the knowledge you gain from it is mostly only relevant if you want to be a C programmer (compared to other "low-help" distros) I'd start with Gentoo (complicated packaging system which reveals much of the internals), migrate to Slackware (which is like Gentoo without the packaging infrastructure) then move to a distribution which actually has proper package support like Fedora (or Debian) - the old yum vs apt, it's apples and apples really..

senseproof: ducks flamatov cocktails from annnoyed Slacktoo users

K, you leave me wondering alot of questions:
1.What does the term 'roll your own package' mean?
2.How is it that LFS is mostly relevant to C programmers?
3.In what sense does Gentoo reveal the internals?

You are correct with your statement of me wanting an OS that 'forces me to learn'. Really that's what I want, the option that's going to force me to learn the most.

slackware or debian or gentoo

I agree that you will learn more about C than about Linux with LFS. And this may not be a bad thing, but maybe not what you are looking for and not the best way to learn C either. LFS and Gentoo are time consuming, and most of the time will be spent compiling, so you are not going to get much from watching lines of gcc instructions flowing down the screen.

I would personally recommend Archlinux because pretty much everything Linux-related is simple and written in Bash. That allows you to modify or read how it works. It is a binary distro, so that you need a few minutes to install X + Gnome (instead of 2 days for source distros). The package manager still allows you to (re)compile whatever you feel like compiling.

But in the end, it all comes down to how much time you want to invest in learning what goes on under the hood, not on the distro you are using. There is a lot of information online, about the kernel, shell scripting, udev, apache, etc. Reading this will do more for you than spending 2 weeks installing LFS.

I agree with you that those are things certainly worth reading and looking into, but for someone like me, I'm not good with abstraction and I don't really get a grasp on something until i've done it myself... I suppose that's the main appeal I have with something like LFS. The books are great but until i've done and seen it. I just doesn't register...

Theres also a couple LIVE CD training Options.. for a true beginner LFS is probably a bit much..

Ubuntu Desktop Course Course companion for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

Privare Learn Linux Course Live CD with Linux Turorials. Watch the video then do it yourself.

elpicx_2.0 Dual boot Live CD used to prepare for the LPI Certification..


Just to throw them out there.

Awesome find! I'd been wondering if such a thing existed... but from what i gather, the freeloaderlinux and ubuntu cds seem to be very very basic introductions. Not sure about the LPI cert one...