On Oct 12, 2008, at 7:29 PM, Nick Scholtes wrote: > Hi guys, > > Thank you so much for all this useful info! I did go to my local > Barnes and Noble and took a good look at what they had, and that > helped me figure out what I wanted (something more CLI-oriented). > I'll also take a look a the online references you all gave. --- > Have goals - > Yes, I agree with having a goal in mind first. I was thinking about > this. What about re-building the kernel? Or maybe de-compiling (you > can do that, yes?) and re-compiling several programs would give me > good practice. > Thoughts? Why would you compile or decompile the kernel? Compiling the kernel isn't a goal - it's the means to a specific end - a static module for hardware, reducing the memory footprint for some specific hardware requirement. The days of recompiling a kernel 'just because' are gone. Why are you going to decompile software? Something you're looking for? By goals, I mean something such as a specific driver, or a piece of software that doesn't have a package for your OS of choice. Or, learn how to configure your Xorg for dual monitors. That sort of thing. Hope this helps. --- Eric Crist