Creating a complete linux image

[Terra854]

Hi,

I'm a real newbie to embedded linux. I have some experience with C programming and a Freescale development board but lack direction on where to start regarding building my own system for my pine board.

I've read about u-boot, file systems, kernels, libc and gcc but can't find a practical explanation on what to do and with what tools to do it with. For example, how to tweak and compile longsleep's kernel and build tool to make my own image? Or how do I build my own kernel? What are the actual steps and actions to take? Which files do I need? How do I manipulate them? Where does the work take place? What software is used? And other questions of this sort.

I'd like to build my own system to utilize GPIO pins, SPI, I2C and other modules on the board.

Can anyone offer some advice or point me to the right reference or eBook?

ANY help at all would be great.
Thanks

You can start from here to build the kernel, then go here to build your own Ubuntu/Arch/Debian image.