My Ideal Linux - Can it be done with little to no experience.
 

I think this would be cool for me to do. All I want is a kernel with NOTHING built in driver wise. I just want this streamlined, uber kernel. Any hardware drivers I want as a module, all on their own.

Lemme clarify that - I would want the drivers neccessary for a bootup to be in the kernel, like chipset, minimal display, or anything I need to boot. That is all I want in the kernel. That would be fine, and preferred. But anything else, I want a separate module. So, if I boot up in Linux, and I'm at a LAN party. And someone says "We need a CS server!" I can do the job right there. I wouldnt have sound drivers loaded into the kernel, or 3d card drivers. All I would do is load up my NIC driver, start eth0, and I'm off. Nothing in the kernel that shouldnt be there. IF I want to listen to music, bust out the sound card module, and listen. If I want to PLAY on a CS server, I can bust out the nic module, sound module, nvidia module, and play. Nothing that doesnt need to be there at the moment is there. When it is needed, its there.

So, basically, idealy, just a minimal kernel, and everything modulated. That is my idea goal, and I would love to do it. Although its not the most useful goal, it's something that I would feel good about.

So, can it be done? How would I go about doing it?

It can be done. Of course to a certain point. Dependancies of a module to another option may occur and so forth. There isn't one specific set of options that you can use as a template so to speak. Best thing to do is go into the kernel config and read the help file on each option to see if it CAN be a module, if it has dependancies and how it needs to be setup. On the average though, the sound/ether cards servers and the like can be loaded and unloaded at will. Make a list of your requirments and then go from there in the kernel.

but wouldn't putting everythign in modules slow the kernel down a hell of a lot? sure hack out any drivers you don't really need, or use that much.. but compiliuing them directly into the kernel is surely a much faster option.

Does it slow down that much?
 

I've read other places that modules arent slower at all, since they are being put into the kernel. Is the speed difference all that great?

The more you compile INTO the kernel, the bigger your kernel is going to be and slower. Modules are just for that purpose, to lean up the kernel in return speeding it up. Modules allow you to leave things out of the kernel and load on demand. All in all, the more NOT compiled into the kernel the smaller and faster it'll be.