creating linux distro

As an excercise to help me become better acquainted with linux, I'm going to be building my own private distro.

I have 4 main goals and reasons for this:

1. I need a firewall/gateway for my home network to replace my grandmother's old WinXP box (old: something like 667 or 977 MHz), which is currently acting as the gateway/firewall

3. I also intend to set up a server of various sorts (web, ftp, DNS, DHCP, etc) on the network to learn some of the freeware server and database programs available.

4. This is also intended to become my main use OS (well, at least until I get SuSE 8.2).

2. The current range of choices in most distributions is, to say the least, daunting. By doing this I hope to become better acquainted with at least some of these tools and programs, without having to dig myself out of a slew of programs and tools I may never have a use for.

"OK, great. Now, why should I care?"

As this is in part a learning tool for myself and I'm not familiar with many linux programs, I'd like suggestions for which programs to include. Main areas of interest are:

web/ftp browsers
servers
media programs (sound, video, graphics, etc)
games
office/productivity programs
security programs/tools (firewall, IDS, etc)
administration programs/tools (rpm, user-conf, etc)
desktops (kde, enlightenment, gnome. etc)

This is of course, not a limiting list (mostly just the first things that come to mind). Please suggest whatever you feel should go into this. When I finally set on a solid list, I'll post it here (if this gets enough attention) for review. Thank ahead of time for your comments and suggestions.




NOTES:
1. This is not meant to be a commercial distribution, so programs with liscencing and copyright issues are ok
2. If you'd like a copy when I'm done, PM me. If I get enough support for it, I'll see about getting it mirrored somewhere for use.
3. Yes, I know UnError is working on their own distro, This is just an excercise for myself.
4. I am also aware that this could take until SuSE 9.4 for me to finish. I have several computers and several OSs, so I shall be working on learning how to use linux at the same time as I am learning to create a distro.
5. If it's recieved well enough, who'd like the idea of an (semi)official AO distro?

again, thank you.

I may not understand you correctly ,but are planning on writng an os around the linux kernel ?(there are almost a hundred already) or do you want to put all the best proggys on an iso with your favourite linux distro? If the first ,its gonna take a LOT of time and knowledge and If the second just do a full bloated install of red hat or mandrake and play around and find what you like. Then ditch it for a slimmed down version with what you want. If i have missed the point ,just ignore me .

kinda of a mixture of the two, actually. I'm interested in kernel hacking, so I'll probably be doing a bit of that, and I value the experience and knowledge of many other AO members so, I'd like to get at least a baseline of progs to become familiar with, and see what would be the best to start on. Considering that most linux distros come with 5 or more versions of the same thing (such as webserver or office programs), There is ALOT to sort through to decide what is best. I ask for suggestions in part to acquire a starting point.

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interesting project, i hope you succeed.

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yes, very interesting. Now if only people would REPLY. It's not like I'm asking for much folks...just some fav linux programs and/or tools and/or daemons...Tell me what you like, what you don't like, what might be interesting. And thank you to those that do (if any).

I'm not a linux guru or anything, so i did'nt think i had too much to add in helping you, however i do like the gimp--> http://www.gimp.org/

Sorry if you were offended by my comment, i was only trying to encourage you.:)

Love conquers all.

No, not offended at all, just trying to attract some attention to the thread, I was glad I had support for it. thanks.

I found these in the tutorials forum:

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=222905
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=222955
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=222964
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=223046

I know that you downloaded the attachment in the third link there, but these tuts look very promising.

This is AO. Very very few people here have ever done any kernel hacking. Besides, if you can improve on the kernel, you should be on the dev team.

If you are worried about building around the kernel (ie like redhat/mandrake/suse do) then just figure out what you want it to do, grab the programs, and build your own ISO.

I have to say i think ,you are trying to reinvent the wheel ,what might be something you are interested in is the list on this page www.****microsoft.com they have a huge list of linux distro's and many would probably welcome someone who wanted to help them out. Regardless there are some pretty interesting linux distros ,to say the least. Good luck and keep posting i am curious to see what you do !