Date: Sun, 1 Oct 1995 15:57:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Brian Tao <taob@io.org> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: hackers@freefall.freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD 2.1 will require a minimum of 8MB for installation. Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.951001155023.19034U-100000@trepan.io.org> In-Reply-To: <15228.812444517@time.cdrom.com>
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On Sat, 30 Sep 1995, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: > > Well folks, we've hit that wall we all knew was there and heading for > us at 120Mph.. The GENERIC kernel has simply gotten too big to fit > within 4MB now and no amount of paring back will deny a basic fact of > life: > > To fit in all the drivers we need to cover a reasonable set > of devices required at installation-time, we need more than > 4MB and if we didn't need it today, we'd need it tomorrow. Requiring more than 4 megabytes of RAM just to install an operating system (of any kind) is ridiculous. I don't care what Win95 or OS/2 Warp or anyone else requires. If they need at least 8 megs of RAM to run, then that leaves the whole 4-meg market open to us and You-Know-How in the alternative UNIX-like OS segment. We should be able to at least produce a bootable floppy with the CD-ROM that does not have any networking drivers and a minimal set of device drivers. Then, as I suggested a short while ago, the user can pick from a set of customized kernels on the CD-ROM to install permanently on disk. Or leave a full kernel on the floppy, but disable all the drivers and include instructions to the user on re-enabling just the ones that are needed. Will that save on memory usage? Or how about using the 2.0.5 boot floppy image? That works on a 4-meg machine, doesn't it? It shouldn't matter which kernel release is used for installation. -- Brian Tao <taob@io.org> System Administrator, Internex Online Inc. "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't"
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