On Wed, 25 Apr 2012, Greg Ungerer wrote:
> On 04/25/2012 05:22 AM, Rob Landley wrote:
> > On 04/18/2012 10:25 AM, Gross, Mark wrote:
> > > I'd like to see Linux fit in stuff that this too :
> > > http://olimex.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/unix-on-pic32-meet-retrobsd-for-duinomite/
> >
> > Linux in under 2 megabytes of RAM, even when running from ROM, is not a
> > realistic goal. For context: linux 0.0.1 was developed on a 4 megabyte
> > system in 1991. Swap support was added in december of that year so it
> > could run on a 2 megabyte system.
>
> For further context. The first versions of Linux on ColdFire (so
> uClinux, non-MMU) I ported and put together ran in 1MB of RAM on the
> Arnewsh 5206 ColdFire boards. I still have the binary images I ram
> online at http://www.uclinux.org/ports/coldfire/binary.html. (So that
> was around year 2000).
>
> That was a 2.0.38 kernel, with a serial driver and network driver
> configured - and not much else. That 1MB also contained a RAM root
> filesystem (ie it network loaded, didn't run from FLASH). Looking
> at the image file the kernel load binary was about 305k and there
> was a 75k ramdisk attached to it.
>
> You couldn't really do a lot in userspace - but it ran, you had a
> basic shell to operate. (And all this without shared libraries :-)
>
> So it was once possible to have a Linux system in 1MB of RAM.
And on the MMU front: I once limited Fast RAM on an Amiga to 2 MiB, and
booted Linux into X with twm and xterm. The 2 MiB did not include frame buffer
memory, as that's part of Chip RAM. This was just my day-to-day kernel, so
networking was enabled. Obviously swapping was enabled, and it was dog slow ;-)
So it was once possible to have a Linux system in 2 MiB of RAM.
With kind regards,
Geert Uytterhoeven
Software Architect
Technology and Software Centre Europe
Sony Belgium, bijkantoor van Sony Europe Limited.
Da Vincilaan 7-D1 · B-1935 Zaventem · Belgium
Phone: +32 (0)2 700 8453
Fax: +32 (0)2 700 8622
E-mail: geert.uytterhoe...@sonycom.com
Sony Europe Limited. A company registered in England and Wales.
Registered office: The Heights, Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey. KT13 0XW.
United Kingdom
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