>
> On Fri, Aug 06, 1999 at 01:51:30PM +0000, Richard Adams wrote:
> > >
> > As to "who said what" does'nt matter.
> >
> > >
> > > Erm.. where's the speed advantage come from? How does making the
> > > kernel smaller speed it up?
> >
> > The speed advantage is because the "_biggest and best advantage_" of kernel
> > modules is memory usage, the smaller the kernel the more memory below 640K
> > that gets freed at bootime.
>
> Yerk. I thought we didn't need to bother with that? Is this where you
> have to copy a chunk of ram below 640k to execute it? I'd like a clear
> explanation if one is possible.
Dont misunderstand me, the kernel itself does not have all the dos
limitations, however what i said was the more memory below 640k the faster
the kernel is because it has more memory space.
>
> > However no one has mentioned another very important thing with makeing a
> > large kernel, if one makes a large kernel with bzImage then the following
> > problem comes when lilo is rerun, remember the thread a while ago,
> >
> > lilo "kernel Too Large".
>
> I've never had that. Ofcourse, if it does get too large that's where
> you trim it either by getting rid of stuff or using modules.
>
> > On another note, using Redhat 6.0 for my example, the kernel 2.2.5-15 which
> > is supplied is very small in itself, it has just about all kernel-modules
> > one could want, execpt for Radio hams, but thats another story.
>
> And it's STILL bigger then the monolithic kernel I make.
>
> 544 -rw------- 1 root root 552504 Aug 6 21:24 vmlinuz-2.2.11ppre4-1
> 607 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 617288 Apr 20 13:16 vmlinuz-2.2.5-15
> 549 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 557651 Aug 3 17:32 vmlinuz-2.2.7-1
>
> 2.2.7 and 2.2.11ppre4 are both monolithic kernels. Everything I need is
> compiled into them. 2.2.5 is redhat's original which is mostly (and
> frighteningly IMO ;) modular. I had a nice shock of suprise when I saw the
> file size differences. I totally figured that my monolithic kernel
> would be bigger then redhat's modular one...
>
> (This is from RedHat 6.0)
What you have is a large kernel without supporting most hardware, 2.2.5-15
on the otherhand is a little larger than your mono kernel and has support
for a wide range of hardware. There is a big differance.
What you have made is a large kernel, however i make kernels as well, when
one gains experiance and (most important) confidance one starts to play with
the kernel, now i consider my kernel to be _large_, 381283k, i could get
that down by 60k or so and still have all i need but then in module form.
What is the advantage of that, once again memory, if we were both to have
64M of memory we would then compare our memory with 'free'.
Your system would use much more memory (to be seen in the Total field), mine
uses 63668 from the 64M i have, so my kernel uses up the rest, what you
would see is possably 62999 (just to explain a point), i hope you now see
what i mean with memory usage and therefor a faster kernel and have general
support for different hardware and use _less_ memory.
There is one important point which must be stated here before others start
_thinking_ i need a smaller kernel, no you dont, the suplyed kernel caters
for just about every newcommers needs, what we are disscussing here are the
_fine_ points which experianced linux users go for.
>
> --
> CaT ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) URL: http://www.zip.com.au/dev/null
>
--
Regards Richard.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
