trimming RAM usage

Hi all,

I guess this may not be HPCARM-specific, so feel free to tell me off for that.
I have been searching for info on lowering memory usage on my J720,
running NetBSD 3.0-RELEASE.
I didn't find any given page, but googling and a bit of embedded Linux
experience helped. My aim is to be able to run the meta-port of
matchbox-0.9.5 (wm, panel, etc) with dillo together and not having any
app killed for want of RAM.
I do have NFS-Swap, but it's neither fast nor always available.

So far these are the points that I figured could be acted upon:

1. recompile the kernel, remove unnecessary drivers and features.
      My kernel is 2.6 MB because I've had to include APM + IPSec, and
uses 4236K.
      It is 2.2MB without. Anyone managed to trim it further?

2. replace the built-in SSH with dropbear? Anyone done that?

3. is there a low-memory alternative shell, that uses less RAM than
ksh or bash? (doubt it but thought I'd ask, I surely didn't find one
that claimed to)

4. only have one or two gettys

5. don't use xdm (uses 1.2-1.5MB)

6. if using PF as a firewall, disable pflogd (~3MB!)

7. any recommendation for sysctl vm tuning?
    my sysctl.conf has got this:
     vm.anonmin=5
     vm.execmin=5
     vm.filemin=0
     vm.anonmax=95
     vm.execmax=10
     vm.filemax=5
     vm.bufcache=5
   But I feel something is wrong. It works better than the default though.

8. use mount_mfs sparingly :)

9. avoid using dhclient (almost 1MB)

Anything else that I have overlooked?

Thanks,

M.