Compiling a bare bones kernel

galapogos · 07-16-2008, 01:16 AM

Hi,

I'm currently working on a project that is basically a small SATA based storage device that boots into a very simple linux kernel and runs a predefined program.

I'm trying to get the kernel as small and yet compatible with as many laptops as possible, so I'm wondering which parts of menuconfig I should enable and which parts I can safely disable.

The device will be running on x86 based laptops, and will require SATA, USB, PCMCIA and Expresscard support.

The kernel used is 2.6.22.19.

Thanks!

MS3FGX · 07-17-2008, 08:22 PM

Well there isn't a whole lot to it, basically just disable everything except what you need. The only thing you will definitely need is generic x86 support and the new SATA driver. If you don't need video output, that is even better.

What sort of hardware are you looking to support over USB/PCMCIA? Network devices I guess?

pinniped · 07-17-2008, 08:25 PM

You probably also want to cut the toolset down to the absolute minimum; have a look at the Linux From Scratch project and the "CLFS" sub-project. The only down side is that you can spend many days patching and building various tools which you need and aren't provided by CLFS.

galapogos · 07-18-2008, 02:42 AM

Well the thing about disabling everything I don't need is that, there are so many options there whose functions I'm not sure of. Wondering if there's a primer or something that explains in detail what each option is?

I won't need video output. The application running is a simple text based program with ncurses.

I'm looking to supports smart card readers over USB/Expresscard/PCMCIA. I've already installed the relevant libraries and verified that they work, except for the PCMCIA which I have yet to test.