In college they ran Unix. I want to try running Linux, and I want to have some compilers, and interpreters. I'd like to be able to recompile the system.

I bought a 1/2 terabyte WD external drive, it is connected to my machine with a USB cable. It works fine, and nothing has been saved to it yet.

Which version of Linux do you suggest, and which download of it do you suggest? Thanks much.

I recommend one from this list: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

If you use the LQ search, you will find many threads where the same question has been asked and answered. You may find them useful.

If you want a full set of programming tools out-of-the-box, I'd suggest Slackware of the mainstream distros. It's got an undeserved reputation as being difficult to install, I think because it doesn't automate partitioning and formatting the disk, but expects user to do that. Once the disk is partitioned, the install is straightforward and well annotated.

If you want to compile everything from scratch, there's Gentoo, but it would be a very very good idea to practice with other distros a bit before tackling it.

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I don't know your level of linux but If you really want to compile a system then go for Linux from Scratch. If you ask me this is OVERKILL and it will take a long, long time.

Slackware is your best option as favored by others

Slackware. Learn with elegance

Slackware or FreeBSD

http://www.slackware.com/

http://www.freebsd.org/

Good luck to you

Ultimately it's up to you. Everyone has their own preference... and you will find yours. The best place to get started with some solid stats is from distrowatch.com. I personally prefer Debian 7.1.