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  • From: 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org
  • To: BasicLinux List <baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [BL] The Fast-Food Syndrome: The Linux Platform is Getting Fat
  • Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 11:29:45 +1200

DAVID L. ORMAND wrote:
>
> I think the kernel has been making great strides
> in responsiveness and quality, but I suspect the
> 2.6 kernel is too big to go on my 4Mb 486, no
> matter how barebones I configure.

It is true that the 2.6 kernel has more overhead than the
2.2. However, I'm pretty sure that (with a bit of work)
you could strip down a 2.6 enough to get it running on that
486. After all, the current BL3 kernel will boot in 2.5mb
RAM, so your 4mb RAM should be enough for a stripped 2.6.

> This is why BL is based on an old kernel, no?

I wanted to find the best combination of functionality and
size. Initially I tried doing BL3 on the latest 2.0 kernel
(which was released at the beginning of this year), but it
didn't support all the functionality I wanted. So I moved
up a notch to 2.2. I considered using the latest version,
but decided to maintain some continuity with BL2 by using
2.2.16. That makes it a bit simpler for BL2 users to use
BL3.

There was also the practical problem of downloading the
kernel source and fitting it into the limited space on
my HD. I only have a 33.6 modem, so a big download is
not nice. Since I already had the 2.2.16 kernel source
(for BL2), it was the easiest option for BL3.

Cheers,
Steven







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