[SGVLUG] Booting various kernel versions. Bloat (was Survey Sez...)

[David Lawyer]

I've only got one system on my boot menu: Debian.  But the menu gives
me the choice of kernels: 2.2, 2.4, or 2.6.  For interface, I've got
command line and X-windows w/ice-window-manager (low resource use).  I
tried Gnome but it's way too slow on my Pentium I PC with 48 MB ram.
The only GUI browser that works fast for me is Dillo.  There are
problems since different kernel versions put my dumb terminal on
different serial ports (since the serial port I'm using is PCI).  

I've worked around this by using "secondary" run levels A, B, and C in
my /etc/inittab file.  Kernel 2.2 will enter what one might call
runlevel 2A, since at boot-time it executes all lines in /etc/inittab
which are designated as run-level 2 or run-level A.  The A, B, and C
"runlevels" aren't documented in the runlevel man pages, but are
documented in the telinit page.  They are what I call a "secondary"
type of run level.  Kernel 2.4 runs under runlevel 2B, and 2.6 under
runlevel 2C.

I had to put my two HDs on hdc and hdd since I damaged the electronics
by once plugging in my HD ribbon cable reversed for hda and hdb.  What
finally destroyed the primary HD interface (hda, hdb) was flashing my
BIOS.  After that the BIOS couldn't find hda and hdb.  But kernel 2.2
seems to expect that the root system is on hda, even if I put
root=/dev/hdc2 on the command line.  It will still boot, but takes
about 3 times as long since it has long waits while it searches for
hda and finally says it can't find it.

Why do I need 3 kernels?  Sometimes a program that will not work
correctly on 2.6 will work on OK on 2.4.  This was more likely when
2.6 was new.  Also, 2.2 used to boot in about half the time of 2.6.
There's a lot of bloat in newer versions of Linux, and if I get time,
I'd like to help track down the specifics and try to get them fixed.
Keeping old versions around is like having a history of Linux on ones
PC.  And considering time-to-boot, older versions were better.
Regarding module bloat, in 2.2 it only loads a few modules on my PC.
Now with 2.6, I find multitudes of modules loaded that are never used
and for hardware that I don't have.  I hope to look into this some more.

			David Lawyer