I've got SuSe 9.3 on my system right now, and got it because A) It was in a store nearby, and B) Had documentation. I'm far enough along to be comfortable with Linux for the most part, but I would like something lighter and faster (as SuSe has become rather slow for one reason or another).

Like I said, what I want is something light and fast. C/C++ development tools are pretty much a requirement as I do some programing on my system, plus the basics (web browser, Window Manager, ect.). I've looked into a few distros, mostly Gentoo, DSL, Knoppix, and maybe a few others.

Gentoos basic concept I like, but I don't know that much about it, plus it seems to be a bit over-sized.

DSL seems like a rather good choice, as does LFS, but LFS is something I'd rather wait on till I know what I'm doing better and know more about what I want.

System I'm on:
Dual-boot of SuSe 9.3 and 'doze(though 'doze may be going bye bye soon, depending)
2.53 Ghz P4
35 Gb for Linux
512 MB DDR SDRAM

I'm also about to upgrade to DSL, and we have a Lynsky Firewall Router that we're going to use to hook the 2 home PCs into, but back to what I'd like:

Personally, I like command line programs (mp3blaster, centericq I'd like to try) as I play MUDs occationally, and I don't see why I should keep a GUI going when all I need it text.

Anything else you need to know, ask. I'm still looking into everything, and if possible would like to keep the install to 1G or less, as SuSe takes up I think about 3.5 Gb atm.

P.S.
Also would like something I could use for a LiveCD incase all hell breaks loose and I need to do major fixes to the system. Alot of what I've seen seems gears toward a CD-based OS, when what I'd like is more or less a system repair tool that, if needed, I could recompile the whole blooming system.

I think you should look into Ubuntu.

I'd recommend Debian 3.1, the current Debian Stable--after you upgrade to that high speed internet connection. IMHO, the main advantages for your purposes are:

1. Unbeatable package management, with excellent GTK AND QT support. (In contrast, Ubuntu is slanted toward GNOME, and KDE can have issue.)

2. You can stay current with the latest security updates, and ONLY security updates. Debian Stable is unique in this. As a programmer, you don't have to worry about your software libraries upgrading without warning.

Gentoo uses source based package management, which has the potential advantage that you don't have to explicitely install the development versions of software libraries. However, I feel this advantage is outweighed by the disadvantage of never really knowing when those libraries might be updated to newer versions. Also, you could find yourself spending more time compiling Gentoo software packages than your own programs.

Arch may be a good fit. The base install is very minimal, so you end up just adding what you want. The main philosophy is to keep things to a minimal state, which means text configuration for everything, which it seems like you're comfortable with. It's also optimized for i686 which is supposed to make things faster, though personally I haven't noticed a huge difference for that.

Gentoo might also be good from what I've heard, though I haven't used it myself. Slackware and Debian are also probably good to look into.

In what I program, refrences to libraries outside of the C libs aren't used.

From what I've read, Debian seems like a good distro, but I'd rather have something that is more up to date, and from what I can tell Debian is more or less out of date, and although it may be stable, being out of date kind of bothers me. I'll look into Arch some, and I'll look into Debian a bit more.

If anyone knows of one, I'd still like good LiveCD distro I could use for system repair incase all hell were to break loose.

I have tried more than 40 different distro's and made my
own dos compatiable os.Here are my suggestions
1)I dont think u have an outdated pc out there,ur pc is
quite good---try increasing swap while installation
but suse is usually pretty slow
2)If ur trying to install a light weight distro
with all basic features try Vector Linux---hey i beleive DSL is uClibc & busybox based is'nt it......(means a stripped down vesion of all utils-basically for embedded
system)
3)Vector Linux is a quite compleate distro -wit all nuts
and bolts, takes only 900mb on full installation,It ran
quite will on my whooping 500Mhz pc wit 64 mb of RAM!!
includes 2.6 kernel too....,fluxbox and other wm's
...pretty cool huh?( little buggy installer - so watch out!)
4)Slackware is a good distro for pc wit modest requiremets
and slackware philosophy seems to suit ur style too....
But the problem is that it might require a lot of tweaking in some systems(esp laptops) to get it working.......
5)I have made my own distro named Chatten Linux--(not
quite matured yet...)basically for recyling old pc's
When its fully matured i will inform u...
6)Debian and Debian based distros are OKay...,installer
absolutely sucks!!!!.It takes a lot of time to install
Debian,.......I lost my patience and turned the pc..off!!!
But pretty okay once setup....Be Careful on Package
Selection ...if u select everything ,.....it wil take
a looooong time to insatll
4)Cool Live Distros:PCLinuxOS-Simply Rocks
Knoppix,Live LAMP(basically knoppix),Puppy Linux,DSL,
Ubuntu Live,SLAX,ByzantineOs,Gnoppix,WOMP,
EMovix,Chatten Linux(will be released soon..),MuLinux.....
5)Linux for recycled pc:tiny linux,peanut Linux,MuLinux,
Chatten Linux,........
6)Floppy based:hal91,blueflops,xwoaf(includes x server
as well cool! huh?),1diskxwin,floppix,Coyote Linux,
LRP,tomscrt,muLinux......lots

I saw the Pacman installer, and kind of like the idea. I'm a bit into the source thing, just cause I can look over how things are done if I want to. LFS seems like an interesting proposition, but I am still pretty much a newbie with a brain and a book, lol (An intelligent person knows something, a smart one knows where to find it).

I've looked into alot of the distros out there, but not alot of them seem to fit well. I'll look into Slackware, though from my understanding its pretty much an elitist version of Linux in the sense you really need to know what you're doing, which honestly kind of scares me off, at least for the moment.

Thanks for the comments everyone

Also try vector man,it's slackware based and easy to use

Okay--trying to build ur distribution from source is a
frustrating experinece ,i have made Chatten This way,U can also
make distribution by remastering Knoppix,This process doesnt
require much expertise....

Debian has three branches to choose from. If you want the most up-to-date packages, then Debian Unstable (Debian Sid) is for you. This is REALLY up-to-date, so don't be surprised if something you need gets broken and you have to wait for it to get fixed and/or need to work on it yourself to fix it. This really isn't any different from Gentoo or Ubuntu, except that with Debian it's your choice.

Then there's Debian Testing (Debian Etch). This is a compromise between having the absolute latest packages and having what's been reasonably tested. It's a rather popular choice, but it can be frustrating waiting for all of a package's dependencies in Sid to be considered sufficiently tested to enter Debian Testing.

I favor Knoppix and Mepis, both of which are Debian based.