Let's say I want to put together my own distro.
 

Optimized for i686 architectures, and a kernel precompiled with support for just about every piece of laptop hardware I can put in.

How hard is it to put together a distro? I know you'll ask "Why make one when there's hundreds out there?" Well, my answer is "Just to do it." I wanna learn what goes into making a distro. More importantly, I've been trying to find a great distro for laptops, and haven't found one.

So I'd like to put together what I'll refer to as the "lapKernel", and all the applications I use for its purpose. I fail to see the need for 5 web browsers, 2 or 3 office applications, 3 IM clients, 7 text editors, etc in a distro. So this would cull the weak, so to say. Put together what I think are the best of the best softwares recompiled for 686 architecture for a fast, small, student oriented distro that'd feel right at home on a laptop.

So, are there sites that document the making of a distro? What sort of programming knowledge etc will I need? I'd like this distro to fit on one CD, and perhaps be based off of Slackware.

If I get this to work, I'm considering calling this monster "LapX".

look into Linux From Scratch (LFS)
linuxfromscratch.org
its basically a manual that will help you put together your own distro
there is even a forum on this site for lfs.

have fun.