On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:30:37 +0900
Henry Nelson <netb@yuba.ne.jp> wrote:


> Sorry, maybe we're talking about different things.  I need a TINY
> install floppy image, and then a TINY kernel for the first boot.
> Finally it is very helpful and time-saving to edit a GENERIC_TINY
> configuration file, as opposed to editing a GENERIC file, to get
> ready to build a custom kernel.

Having TINY in arch/i386/config is easy; I see no reason to make it go
away.  The first boot is a more interesting question, but isn't it
possible to insert new media from which you could copy such a kernel?
The INSTALL kernel and userland are running entirely from RAM, I
believe, and don't need the boot medium.
> 
> But in a couple of more years I imagine I won't be using TINY as
> other than a curiosity since people are throwing away perfectly good
> Windows98-class notebooks these days.  (I cannot say anything about
> other parts of the world.)
> 
Yah.


		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb