Distro with the least packages?
 

what are a few somewhat popular linux distributions that have very few packages at the start? I've used Debian, and now i'm trying out Knoppix because it seems to be very customizable. Any ideas as to what might be better choices, Knoppix has way too many programs.

(Cross) Linux from Scratch, Gentoo, or Arch.

is there an easy way to do Linux from scratch or is that difficult, because that probably is the best way.

There is Automated LFS which also supports CLFS (I think). I've never used it 'cause I actually like to build everything myself. The difficult part isn't building the software. If you can read and follows instructions, you can build a (C)LFS system. The hard part is figuring out how to fix something that doesn't go as expected without having to scrap all your work and start from the beginning.

I think some distros let you choose what packages are installed when you install the distro to the drive. I remember Mandriva could be installed from a minimal OS, up to all packages on the DVD. I think Fedora has this installation method as well.