Thanks to the descriptions in the LFS book it is pretty easy to create oneself a customized Linux system from the base, which is not dependant on decision taken by some distriution vendor. LFS itself is not a distribution, just a guide on hot to do it, thus you keep the freedom of doing things differently if you feel inclined to.
This document describes step by step the commands I used to set up a fresh partition with a base linux. When I first wrote this page I based it on the CVS version of 2000-04-13 (LFS 3.0 prerelease). I updated it to use the latest packages and linux kernel. I completly depart from LFS when it comes to the startup and configuration files, as I prefer a much simpler approach.
There is not much explanation in here, because the focus is on collecting the steps I performed. Go to the Linux from scratch site or to the sites of the individual packages to learn the details.
The Linux distribution I had on my Dell Inspiron 5000 Laptop when doing this was a RedHat 7.0.
This is work in progress. I've been able to boot into LFS but not yet set up wireless LAN. I'm currently upgrading kernel and some packages until I retry the wireless setup.