If you are new to linux as I am, although I have tried it every year or so since the mid 90's to see how it is, you probably have heard about Gentoo and Slackware as being the hard core linux user's choice and wondered why that would be. I sure wondered and finally I came across an interesting post posted as a reply to a cry for help in learning linux.
The writer made the point that in Gentoo everything is open and customizable in simple text files. The user has total control over the OS and hardware. He also mentioned that Gentoo has the best install documentation and that if you read through this install documentation and do a full custom install of Gentoo you will be well on your way to understanding how linux works and how to use it.
I haven't tried it yet as I am focusing on other things for now and I realize that XP is the OS for me so I will focus on it. But when I am in an experimenting mood, I sure will give it a try.
http://www.gentoo.org/