Andrewski Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 Hi there, I'm trying to compile a kernel for an old laptop of mine. (Hey, it only has 64MB RAM...) I just had a few questions: urpmi kernel-source (2.6.3); make mrproper; make menuconfig; make && make modules_install; copy over to /boot... Is this right? I don't want to overwrite the Mandrake kernel in case I didn't configure it properly. What modules/options are necessary for a laptop? I don't know which bus systems it supports (other than PCMCIA) and don't know how to figure that out. How can I? I'm really trying to keep the kernel small to preserve memory. Lastly, more of a general question: Would another distribution be lighter? I wanted to try Gentoo thereon, as an experiment, but I don't think I have the resources to support it. I'm also thinking of trying LFS, but I imagine that would be a big headache, and would likely take the rest of the summer. :) Thanks in advance for any additional tips you can offer! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewski Posted July 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Bump... anyone have any ideas/answers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYinYeti Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 I thought a lot about this kind of questions, some years ago (for a P150MMX with 32MB RAM). I had Mdk8.2 and got the newer 9.1, which I never installed by lack of time... At the time, I came to the conclusion that Linux is as light as you want it to be. So droping Mandrake in favor of another distribution would have meant, IMHO, no real gain in speed or whatever, and less support. So I went with Mdk8.2 and was happy with it. There's maybe one area where a lighter distribution could improve things: it is boot time. But does it matter so much? IMO, you'd better choose the newest kernel that will run on your laptop, even maybe latest from kernel.org, compiled by yourself. That way, you'll get the most of current Linux support for ACPI, suspend-to-RAM, and suspend-to-disk/swsusp. That's important for a laptop. As for applications, use nice and light ones, such as: - Matchbox, IceWM or XFCE (Note: I tried fluxbox: it is heavier on RAM than IceWM) for the window manager; - GNumeric, AbiWord, LyX for office work; - ROX for desktop and file-browser; - icon-launchers with scripts, instead of full applications, for automatic actions: wvdial for internet... I hope this helps. Yves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewski Posted July 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 At the time, I came to the conclusion that Linux is as light as you want it to be. So droping Mandrake in favor of another distribution would have meant, IMHO, no real gain in speed or whatever, and less support. So I went with Mdk8.2 and was happy with it.There's maybe one area where a lighter distribution could improve things: it is boot time. But does it matter so much? IMO, you'd better choose the newest kernel that will run on your laptop, even maybe latest from kernel.org, compiled by yourself. That way, you'll get the most of current Linux support for ACPI, suspend-to-RAM, and suspend-to-disk/swsusp. That's important for a laptop. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks for your reply. I too am less concerned with boot time, so Mandrake will be the way I stay, especially as I got my Gentoo curiosity out on my desktop. And yes, I've decided it would be in my best interest to compile my own kernel. Vanilla, though? I was just going to use Mandrake's latest 2.6; should I reconsider? As for applications, use nice and light ones, such as:- Matchbox, IceWM or XFCE (Note: I tried fluxbox: it is heavier on RAM than IceWM) for the window manager; - GNumeric, AbiWord, LyX for office work; - ROX for desktop and file-browser; - icon-launchers with scripts, instead of full applications, for automatic actions: wvdial for internet... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ha, I use Xfce and Rox on my Pentium 4 / 256 MB RAM desktop! One more question, though: how can I find out more information on which modules/kernel options to compile? The documentation is decent enough, but when it says "if you have ISA", I'm just clueless. And dell.com was actually no help; this computer is so old that it's service tag is no longer supported. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYinYeti Posted July 24, 2004 Report Share Posted July 24, 2004 I can't be sure, but I think there is no ISA in a laptop. I suggest you take vanilla 2.6.X kernel, because, there are already a lot of things inside. But then, maybe you want to add supermount, or any other thing that is not strictly required, but may be usefull nonetheless. One thing I know: wether you have it or not, consider you HAVE SCCI, because SCSI-emulation is so much used, that even if you don't have it, you may have 50% of your peripherals running as SCSI! Also if you have USB: compile USB of course, as well as any module that you have the hardware for, of for which someone might bring the hardware to your home. Just in case... Yves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted July 24, 2004 Report Share Posted July 24, 2004 (edited) Lastly, more of a general question: Would another distribution be lighter? did you check this distro already? it is especially constructed for old computers (486 to p166 systems). http://delilinux.berlios.de/ Edited July 24, 2004 by arctic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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