What's the best Linux system to Modify?

Question

Let's say I wanted to modify, hack, tweak, and basically change the entire source code of a linux OS to "make it my own"....what's the best one to get started doing this with? Ubuntu, Mint, Mandrake, etc.?

I'm a programmer so if you're gonna respond saying it's "too hard", save it. I'm just looking for suggestions, possibly from other developers. Thanks.

Answer 1

I thoroughly recommend Linux Mint Debian Edition 201101



Linux Mint Debian Edition 201101 Download

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=66



Linux Mint Debian Edition Manual Partitioning Guide

http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2010/12/28/manual-disk-partitioning-guide-for-linux-mint-debian-edition/



You download the ISO. then you need to create a Bootable LiveDVD

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto



Linux Mint Debian Edition 201101 comes with the Gnome 2 Desktop Environment. Linux Mint Debian Edition is based on Debian Testing. To avoid the less stable GNOME 3 Desktop Environment I recommend switching sources to the Debian Stable Repository



Open the Terminal and submit the following commands



su



sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list



Delete all sources and replace with these



deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free

deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib non-free

deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib non-free

deb ftp://ftp.debian-multimedia.org/ squeeze main



Save and Close



Back in the Terminal



sudo apt-get update



Apply updates using Mint Update then remaining updates using Synaptic



REBOOT



Enable Debian Squeeze Backport repositories



su



sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list



deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backp… squeeze-backports main



sudo apt-get update



Point to backports in Synaptic and apply updates





REBOOT







LUg.

Answer 2

At their core, all Linux distributions are essentially the same: the Linux kernel and the GNU tools.



What sets the distros apart are mostly cosmetic: desktop environment, default software selection, etc etc; under-the-hood differences would be which package manager they use (apt, yum, pacman, zypper) and whether they are based on .deb (Debian and it's derivatives) or .rpm (Red Hat and it's derivatives).



So...if you're looking to customize from the ground up, it honestly doesn't matter which particular distro you start with. You can write scripts, add custom code, and optimize the kernel in them all.

Answer 3

Slackware Linux is highly customizable. Since you're an advanced user, you should feel right at home.

Answer 4

RedHat, FreeBSD, CentOs are good.