On Jan 7, 11:09am, "Perry E. Metzger" wrote:
} John Nemeth <jnemeth@cue.bc.ca> writes:
}
} >      This begs the question of why it is getting bigger.
} 
} There are new pieces of hardware released for the i386 series all the
} time. Each of these demands drivers. People get upset when their

     Yes, this is a problem.  Although, there aren't that many new
drivers.  I just looked at all the INSTALL* config files to see if
anything could be trimmed.  I would say trim COMPAT_1[0123], and have
only 1 ppp, 1 sl, and 8 pty's.  I don't know how much of a difference
all this will make, but every little bit helps.

} ethernet card or disk controller isn't supported. They get upset when

     It might be possible to get rid of some of the really esoteric,
or prehistoric ones (i.e. 3c501).

} the new feature they need in order to get bootstrapped won't
} work. That's why they keep growing, and will keep growing for the
} forseeable future.

     Unfortunately.  I don't really see a lot that could be trimmed.
Looks like 1.4 will have to be two disks.  Hopefully, it can be held
at two for a while, and won't grow out of control.

} BTW, having kernels with only limited hardware support doesn't work
} well. You end up with situations like needing an NxN matrix of disk
} and ethernet controllers and such.

     Yeah, I definitely don't want this.  Reminds me of doing
Slackware Linux installs (I don't do them anymore).

}-- End of excerpt from "Perry E. Metzger"