Re: kernels gettin' bigger

On Fri, 2004-01-02 at 20:27, Nick Moffitt wrote:
> So we need to upgrade our kernel, and that means stripping it down to
> a useful size.  This is super tough, and may not even be possible once
> we play with 2.6.

Has cloop been ported to 2.6 yet?

> The time to re-evaluate isolinux is now.  Are there even any linux
> install CDs still using el-torito?  

FWIW, Slackware dropped el-torito in favor of isolinux with version
9.0.  Debian is the only other mainstream distro I can think of with
comparable minimum requirements.  Slackware 9.0 could run on a 386 with
4 or 5 MB of RAM.  9.1 can run on a 486 with comparable amounts of RAM.

> Seth, do you have any quantitative information on support for
> ISOLINUX that would discourage an effort to switch to it?

Some older machines.. upwards of K6-2 class.. cannot boot ISOLINUX CDs. 
Unfortunately, braindead BIOS writers managed to screw up a plethora of
bioses.

I wonder if GRUB could be modified to boot a kernel from a CD?

Alternatively, individuals with such systems will almost always have a
floppy drive in them, I would think.  The only exception to this might
be braindead-bios-writer written BIOSs on laptops.  Folks with such
systems (the ones with floppy drives) can use sbootmanager ... you can
find that at

ftp://$FAVORITE_SLACKWARE_MIRROR/pub/linux/slackware/slackware-9.0/isolinux/sbootmgr/

Where $FAVORITE_SLACKWARE_MIRROR might be ftp.kpn.be, for instance.

That'll boot an ISOLINUX CD on almost anything.  Hmmm... you could even,
I suppose, boot sbootmgr on an el-torito CD, pull out that CD, and pop
in lnx-bbc (booting isolinux style).

My two cents... go for isolinux and kernel 2.6.  :-)

Rob