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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