Greetings--may I be of service?

[Ralph Stickley]

Hey,

> I just can't see trying to use all of X, it's whopping huge.
> 
I think there are some smaller graphics libraries... X is not the place to
start if your space constrained...the smallest SVGA server I've seen is about
1MB...

> 
> That makes two of us. I'm wading through lots of docs right now to
> figure
> out the minimal set of components in your distro that will fit on a
> single
> floppy and still boot. 

Check out RH /sbin/mkbootdisk for a minimal set of files...then optimize the
kernel to shrink that too. Of couse, you probably want some applications -
oops, now your floppy is full, fast.

If 1 floppy is your goal, then you can count out X entirely...note that the
older kernels 2.0.36 are supposed to be smaller also.

> Support for a compressed ramdisk image might be useful.
> 
I hope that Adi gets the 0.90 released today...I now have the floppy thing
going but still no Ramdisk.  Hmmm...somebody else was asking about the ramdisk
thing :-)

> In a couple more days I should have a page or two of notes for you on my
> pwlconfig experience. I found one trivial bug so far, most of my items
> are
> just user interface issues.
> 
Great! I'm probably too close to the code to test it throughly or see what
could be improved.  Check out the 0.90 changes for a few new features and bug
fixes :-)


> > 
> > Is a write protected flash drive sufficient ? This would make development
> > a lot easier.  Maybe start here, get it working then migrate to a ROM...
> 
> Oh sure, for development we can do anything we find convenient. Products
> which go into the field can not use run-time writeable program store,
> it's
> a regulatory requirement. There's even a question of whether it's
> permissible
> to load from ROM and execute from RAM. We *may* wind up having to have
> our
> code segments in ROM. I hope not though.
> 
As if your program could run without RAM - either the RAM works or it doesn't.
If it works, then execute from there, if it doesn't, shut the thing off.  If
your program is going in the weeds and overwritting RAM, then nothing is
guarenteed, wether its code or data space, it doesn't matter (try to trash 1
bit on your stack space and see what happens)...

I've seen some regulations that require "NO INTERRUPTS" because its impossible
to test every possible path (since an interrupt path can be added at
anytime)...you just have to wonder...where do these "regulation people:" come
from ?

Anyhow, you might do a search for Linux and XIP (eXecute In Place). 

Later,
Ralph


> --Cheers!
>   Dennis
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> See the list archives at http://adis.on.ca/archives/
> See the PWL homepage at  http://embedded.adis.on.ca
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