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An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

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Re: An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

#21

Post by EvanAnderson »

dcminter wrote: post #19
muppetman wrote: post #11

I wonder why it needs 20MB minimum. Back in the day linux 2.0.33 would boot happily into a GUI and everything on an 8MB machine. Or maybe I misremember... I know my machine at the time got upgraded to 24MB so maybe it was that machine I was running. Anyway it's neat this can still be done.

You could run X11 in 4Mb at one point, although I rather wished I didn't.

Yikes-- bringing back memories of frustration. X11 on my 486SX w/ 4MB was excruciating. It would swap like crazy. Adding 8MB more RAM made such a difference. Kernel compiles were much less swappy, too. (I can still the buy I bought the four 2MB 30-pin SIMMs secondhand from but I can't remember how much I gave for them in 1993 or 1994. I feel like it was more than $100, though...)

Re: An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

#22

Post by userbinator »

d3Xt3r wrote: post #16
smilespray wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Full network stack and a web server on a 1.44MB floppy!

And a Javascript capable HTML4 browser, and a decent-looking and performant GUI desktop too. It's a shame QNX (desktop) died, used to be way more performant and stable compared to Linux or anything else back in the day.

The problem is it wasn't really compatible with anything else, at a time when DOS/Windows and Unix-likes were the most common.

Re: An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

#23

Post by frrlpp »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #2

I remember around 2002 running my home router without any hdd on fli4l - a single floppy linux router distribution. I slept in the same room as the router was, hence I wanted a solution without a noisy hdd from that era.

Freesco router floppy disk distro in 386 with 2MB of RAM and no hard disk. You could pull the floppy for a secure read only router.

Re: An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

#24

Post by ErroneousBosh »

elevation wrote: post #3
littlecranky67 wrote: post #2

I remember around 2002 running my home router without any hdd on fli4l - a single floppy linux router distribution. I slept in the same room as the router was, hence I wanted a solution without a noisy hdd from that era.

Was the floppy quieter than an HD?

When it wasn't in use, yes. Even when it was the noise it made was a lot softer than the dentist's drill of a hard disk spinning up.

Re: An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

#25

Post by Wowfunhappy »

walrus01 wrote: post #15
muppetman wrote: post #11

I wonder why it needs 20MB minimum. Back in the day linux 2.0.33 would boot happily into a GUI and everything on an 8MB machine. Or maybe I misremember... I know my machine at the time got upgraded to 24MB so maybe it was that machine I was running. Anyway it's neat this can still be done.

I'm going to guess from the size of the kernel, since for distribution it has to be a fairly 'generic' kernel with just about every driver built into it. If one were to compile a custom 6.14 kernel for a specific hardware target with only 1 model of NIC (3c509b for example), etc, it could be a lot smaller.

Why does the number of drivers compiled in affect memory use? Shouldn't the kernel just load what it needs and ignore the rest?

Re: An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

#26

Post by nycerrrrrrrrrr »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #25
walrus01 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to guess from the size of the kernel, since for distribution it has to be a fairly 'generic' kernel with just about every driver built into it. If one were to compile a custom 6.14 kernel for a specific hardware target with only 1 model of NIC (3c509b for example), etc, it could be a lot smaller.

Why does the number of drivers compiled in affect memory use? Shouldn't the kernel just load what it needs and ignore the rest?

If it's compiled into the kernel it'll occupy memory regardless if it's being used. If it's built as a kernel module then it doesn't occupy memory until loaded.

Re: An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

#29

Post by dredmorbius »

d3Xt3r wrote: post #18
littlecranky67 wrote: post #2

I remember around 2002 running my home router without any hdd on fli4l - a single floppy linux router distribution. I slept in the same room as the router was, hence I wanted a solution without a noisy hdd from that era.

There was also tomsrtbt[1], which was a staple in my "rescue" floppy collection. Along with the QNX floppy[2], which came in super handy when using a cyber café or a friend's PC, and you wanted to avoid all the keyloggers and malware. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomsrtbt [2] http://toastytech.com/guis/qnxdemo.html

Trinux was another such utility. It spanned multiple floppies, but booted to RAM and could effectively run from one. The additional disks were for additional tools/utilities.

Still apparently available on Sourceforge.net, though last updated in 2013:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/trinux/>

Re: An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy

#30

Post by dredmorbius »

smilespray wrote: post #9
dddw wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember qnx

Full network stack and a web server on a 1.44MB floppy!

Do you recall which browser?

BrowseX, written mostly in Tcl/Tk, was included in one microdistro. Probably LNX-BBC, per Wikipedia.

https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/BrowseX>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootable_business_card#Operati...>

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