Re: Linux is impossibly complicated

From: Richard Steiner (rsteiner_at_visi.com)
Date: 06/09/04 

Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2004 18:22:26 -0500

Here in comp.os.linux.networking,
Dariusz =?iso-8859-2?Q?Kuli=F1ski?= / TaKeDa <spam_goes_here@takeda.tk>
spake unto us, saying:

>If you want to be efficient, rewrite linux in assembler it will be smaller
>and faster. Currently to fit in a floppy you simply are removing a lot of
>it's functionality, compressing files. Do you believe that's efficient?

If all you want is the kernel, a basic shell, a firewall, and some small
supporting tools, then it's fine. Coyote Linux even includes a small web
server on its single-floppy distribution for remote administration, and
my copy also runs a copy of iptraf so I can monitor network traffic.

>That's just cheating (you're wasting memory and cpu cycles to decompress
>it and storing decompressed version, it doesn't serve any other purpose
>than a demonstration)

The memory and CPU cycles are expended at boot time, but the resulting
running system resides on a RAMdisk and is completely functional (the
floppy diskette is no longer needed or accessed after the boot process).

Since the system isn't rebooted except for upgrades or (in my case) for
power failures which exceed my UPS's ability to protect the system, the
booting process only occurs around once a year (approximately).

In my case, the "demonstration" I'm using has been connecting my entire
LAN to the internet for over four years now. :-)

See this link for more information:

  http://www.coyotelinux.com

>Do you want to see true achievement? Look on demo disc of QNX. It has a
>network support, GUI and even a web browser on ONE floppy.

Yes, the QNX demo diskette is a nice illustration of what can be done
in terms of creating a small client, but it isn't as useful as a more
specialized server version like Coyote. :-) 

-- 
 -Rich Steiner >>>---> http://www.visi.com/~rsteiner >>>---> Eden Prairie, MN
  OS/2 + eCS + Linux + Win95 + DOS + PC/GEOS + Executor = PC Hobbyist Heaven!
     Applications analyst/designer/developer (14 yrs) seeking employment.
              See web site above for resume/CV and background.

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