I don't think you need to recompile your kernel to get comfortable with terminal commands. I was in the same boat when I started using Linux. I just decided to do day to day things in the terminal instead of through the GUI.

When you have something you want to do and you don't know the command Google it. Some very simple ones for moving around your file structure are cd (change directory), ls (list contents of directory), cp (copy), mkdir (make directory) and rm (remove - be very very careful with this one avoid using it as root until you really know what you are doing).

I can do most of my day to day tasks that don't require a program with a GUI (graphic design, surfing the web). You just have to decide that you are going to do it.

Gentoo is a good place to start if you want to learn about the kernel. You can also do recompiles in other systems. I would recommend doing a few customizations before you go hacking away at the source code.

Your xorg.conf looks like mine did after I did a reconfig once. The problem is that there is no information about your card or the driver it should be using. I'm not sure what all would need changed because I have never used an ati card in linux.

I would do a google search on xorg.conf for ati open source driver. I would also try the proprietary driver. I've had better luck with the nvidia drivers than any of the open source ones written for them.

Good luck with your search!

Not a big fan of KDE. I think it is all personal preference. I have a few KDE(QT) apps but can't help bu feel like I'm playing with a child's toy computer when I'm in KDE. Everything seems a little bit to cutesy.

I'm not sure that one is better than the other.

Are you controlling the computer with ssh or are you trying to access files on the computer?

If you want to just access files netatalk has made my Mac, Linux mixed environment work seamlessly. AFP seems to run faster than smb or nfs in my experience. (could be configuration issues)

Fedora has some good "remixing" tools. I know a few people have made custom installs of Fedora.

I would definitely recommend basing it on a distro that supports deb or rpm. That is the easiest way to manage packages.

Definitely Linux Mint. Ubuntu based and very easy to use. They pre-install a lot of codecs so you shouldn't need to go searching a lot.

If you are new to Linux Linux Mint also has a very user friendly interface.

I recently found a few articles about recompiling the kernel in Ubuntu. They would probably work on other distros too but the writers are using Ubuntu.

I'm also assuming you want Ubuntu tutorials since you are running ultimate edition.

Here they are:

http://avinesh.googlepages.com/howtobuildcustomkernelonubuntu
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/how-to-customize-your-ubuntu-kernel/
http://www.howtoforge.com/kernel_compilation_ubuntu

That will get you into some kernel customization without leaving a comfortable disrto like Ubuntu or UE. Hope this helps.

I would expect that netbook remix wouldn't have very good dual monitor support.

Every time I have setup dual monitors or have seen a dual monitor setup the xorg.conf has to be modified at least some. It's not to hard to setup. A few google searches should find you some information.

I don't think that I have every seen a multiheaded setup with gnome panels across multiple screens... You might be out of luck there.

As previous posts have said it shouldn't be to hard to run multiple vms at the same time and put each of them on a different monitor. If you were to use usb mice and keyboards you should be able to connect each set to one virtual machine. I know in vmware and in virtualbox you can connect usb devices and they only operate on that vm.

If you are talking about running multiple x sessions and sending each of those to a different monitor that is a different beast. I don't have any experience with that now have I seen it.

The multiple monitor configuration can be tricky depending on your knowledge and distro you are on. I know on Ubuntu you need to edit the xorg.conf file on your own. There are some GUI tools for ti but none of them have been successful for me.

Please post your solution if you find one. I'm sure most people are interested!