Hello
First of all, NO QUESTION IS DUMB, especially in the newbie list ! You
are here to learn... :)
RPM , redhat package management, a sort of automatic installation
system. It contains the files, and info where the files will be put,
and also some scripts, that can manage some configurations. All are
defined and/or written by the one, who creates the package. Normally,
you have a source of a file, and you compile, or, at least, you have
binaries, and you manually decide where to put them, etc. Rpm contains
(as long as it is not SRPM, that is source rpm) binaries, and does
things you need to, automatically, and as they are not sources, they
dont take long time to install. Just files are copied.
Kernel, actually, is a file small in size (mine is 460K :), but big in
use. Kernel is "linux", yes, Mandrake is not a linux, but it is a
linux distribution, that is, it is based on linux (the kernel) !
Basically, kernel is responsible for the organization and
communication between your computers hardware and your shell
(bash,etc), and your shell is responsible for the organization and
communication between you and the kernel.
You dont have to optimize your kernel, if it is working, and does what
you want, leave it there :) Kernel, is a software, so it can be
optimized. It can be told to use your pcs advanced architecture, like,
a pentium 3 is much better than a 486, but, it is not only because of
"how fast" it does jobs, but also it is about "how" it does jobs.
Simply, a kernel can be optimized by compiling for the cpu you have.
Also, in linux, drivers are kernel based. So, you have an ethernet, or
a zip driver, or you want to read the files on a windows partition ?
All use drivers, all are in kernel. But, not all are used all the
time, so, there should be a way to call them only and only when they
are needed, without restarting the system... This is done by the
module system. So modules are, drivers. If you make the less-used
stuff as modules, and most-used ones in your kernel, your kernel will
be smaller, will be busy on less drivers "all the time" , and will
work on the modules, only and only when you need them....
This is optimizing the kernel :)
--
Best regards,
Onur
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