Peter Chubb wrote:
(I compile kernels for the small boxen to get rid of modules I don't
need --- in fact I don't compile modular kernels for these things, as
then there's a whole heap of userspace I can do without, and neither
has more than 1G disc)
There is a 'multi-call' binary named busybox (http://www.busybox.net) with
open source and has GPL. Busybox combines many linux utilities and tools
into a single binary and hence producing linux distribution with tiny
footprint.
In fact this distribution is so tiny that it can be implemented in
embedded chips
and no need to have peripherals like hard disk. Will also work happily
on systems
with ide hard disk, cdrom, etc. if anyone requires these.
I have a proto-type for i386 using Linux kernel 2.4.32 that fits in a
single-floppy.
#free
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 127996 12168 115020 0 0
Swap: 0 0 0
Total: 127996 12168 115020
I have another proto-type for i386 using Linux kernel 2.4.32 that is even
smaller in footprint though somewhat inflexible because unlike Busybox with
many utilities written in C-language, assembly codes are used instead.
(Of course, there are tools these days that translate assembly of one chip to
another).
I can use utilities written in C-language instead of assembly if the assembly
version
is not available yet. The footprint will be somewhat larger.
#free
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 127996 2268 125672 0 12
Swap: 0 0 0
Total: 127996 2268 125672
Comparing Codes as follows:
Utility /bin/ls
Fedora Core 3 -
# ls -l /bin/ls
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 85232 Oct 6 2004 /bin/ls
Busybox -
# ls -l /bin/ls
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7 Aug 2005 /bin/ls -> busybox
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 208080 7 Aug 2005 /bin/busybox (all utilities)
Assembly -
# ls -l /bin/ls
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1018 2d /bin/ls
My proto-types will run on i486 or better on Linux kernel 2.0 or better.
Not sure if 2.6 will fit in 1.44M floppy. Have not tried.
On salamander (the 486 firewall; no GUI here):
$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 21676 19296 2380 0 956 8504
-/+ buffers/cache: 9836 11840
Swap: 32592 6456 26136
30 BogoMIPS.
On piggle (the laptop):
$ free
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 78392 75920 2472 0 848 34440
-/+ buffers/cache: 40632 37760
Swap: 64504 16544 47960
323 BogoMIPS.
FYI
O Plameras
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
