From the documentation I've read, and which I may have misunderstood, there is a core Drupal installation which you can reach by following your nose, and there are distributions that bundle the core together with added software to make a starting-point forum / CRM / blog / ... site.

Two questions:

  1. Is my understanding correct? (If it isn't, please clarify.)
  2. Is there a download of Drupal core with all added functionality so you can turn features on and off and perhaps with configuration make a starting-point forum / CRM / blog / ... site?

Thanks,
C.J.S. Hayward