Starting from scratch

[Knoble]

I've been using Ubuntu as my first *nix OS and I'm pretty comfortable with commands, permissions...all the basics, but there is just so much *EXTRA shit that I don't use, and more importantly don't understand. I want to start out with the bare minimum and I was just wondering: 1. What are the bare essentials for a unix machine. i.e. kernel, drivers...and how can I delve into understanding them more thoroughly? 2. What Unix flavor is most fitted for what I'm looking for?

THx

[dist0rted]

Slackware would definitely be what you're looking for. The install and such runs at a low level and you can choose specifically what you want installed without any sort of extra software that is out-of-the-ordinary.

(If you can get over the learning hump, you're probably better off with a form of BSD. However, most people find those difficult to get running. I had this problem when I was first learning to use UNIX-based OSes.)

For more information on what it takes to have a system up and running with the bare minimum, check out http://www.gnu.org/ - the GNU Foundation. I recently noticed a page they did on GNU/Linux that will get you in the right direction.

Hope this helps

[b33tr00t]

Hey, I guess you could try Micro Core linux. It's only the bare essentials, no GUI though! There is a delux version called Tiny Core which comes with a basic GUI.