After many many googles... I have come to the conclusion that compiling your own kernel isnt that hard, but no one explains exactly whats going on. (well, sorta)

What I want to do:

1. Compile the kernel with the correct modules only needed for my hardware.
2. Compile a new kernel with just the basics to hit a prompt. Absolutely no "extra fat."
3. Install the packages I need to run things like x, word processing, email etc. for a simple workstation. (Because thats all I need it to do)

As quoted from Capt_Caveman


It seems on most distros and installations, even the very minimalistic of installs gives you a lot of "extra" that you really do not need or use. And thats exactly what I want to eliminate.

Just go ahead and do it? what exactly is your question?

My question is how do I get rid of everything else? When I compile the new kernel all my pre-existing packages will be there in some file, directory, tree etc.. I was wondering how to make it fresh, I mean completely fresh. Not, install linux, then got to a terminal, compile etc.. I do not even want a "pre-existing" install to be there.

Sounds like Gentoo is the right distro for you, when you do a stage1 install you start completely fresh, nothing is installed by default (besides necessary tools to get you up and running), you compile your kernel then add the packages you want one by one. Though this process can be time consuming.

Mmm Gentoo. As I have heard of this distro and as you say it seems to be what I want, the only problem is that's a "work-around" for my problem.

I was just wondering if it's possible to do what I had proposed. I am pretty sure it is, but it may be way out of my league for the moment.

I will, however, look into Gentoo. Thanks for the quick response Demonbane, I really do appriciate it.

Well if you want to trim your current system it's still pretty easy, compile the kernel selecting only minimal options as you mentioned earlier, then find and remove unnecessary packages.

Thats one of the advantages of linux, right? No crap buildup because of no registry?

You want to do it from scratch. All by yourself...for the experience...not just the end product. Here's a site for you:

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

and another:


http://users.netwit.net.au/~pursang/lofat.html


if they don't fully meet your needs keep searching with any old engine.