> Can you tell me how can make a small linux from redhat
> or other linux distributions.
This is a good question. So far I'm investigating possibilities
myself:
- Using script files to create a pruned filesystem from RedHat Linux
6.0 or Caldera OpenLinux 2.2.
- Adapting the Linux Router Project to my purposes
The ways I know of to make a small footprint system lead me to believe
that I'm going to end up hand-tweaking hundreds of small details to
get a "picoLinux" built"
- All symbols stripped from the kernel (and a re-implemented 'ps'
command since it relies on kernel symbols to print
out process status information)
- All debug info and stack frames out of the standard libraries
- Probably libc5 instead of glibc/libc6
- Only minimal shell utilities (ash instead of bash, etc)
- Strip complexity from init
- Boot to a single logon prompt, no virtual consoles even if Video is
present.
It is easy enough to add utilities back into the system.
There are a few extra features I need too that won't be in any
standard distribution or kernel:
- I would also like to have my kernel detect a VGA card and run with
it, or automatically revert
to a serial console at 38400 bps if the VGA card is not detected.
Can anyone help with that?
(If COM1 is an 8250 UART, instead of a 16550 UART, I might want 9600
bps serial console instead.)
- I'd like to choose from three different "starting points" and build
a system to suit:
1- One with Zero networking (not even dialup) for a truly
small footprint, and no inetd daemons
2- One with Dialup PPP but no ethernet drivers, and simple
inetd setup (telnetd, ftpd, etc).
3- Dialup PPP and NE2000 Ethernet drivers
Ideally I'd like 2MB of Kernel RAM, 2 MB of Application RAM, for a
minimal system, and be able to buy
more RAM only if I really need it for larger applications.
In the office, I'll have a 586-133 CPU self-hosted development system
on PC-104, with all the debug information and kernel symbols. It will
booting from a 1 GIG IDE hard drive. It will build the DiskOnChip and
then I'll just place it into another
fully assembled CPU unit, boot it up and test it out.
Warren
