Greetings,

I want to trim down my Linux kernel to only support a tty and ethernet card, I don’t need any other features, has anyone done something similar of trimming down the linux kernel. I know that “make tinyconfig” exist but it’s not what I want.

can anyone suggest me something? or provide me some documentation to do it?

Thanks in advance!

  • frankenswine@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    28 days ago

    make menuconfig should guide you through all possible options and enable you to browse and navigate all the dependencies. maybe deselect all first and then select only the ones you want?

    • china🇨🇳@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      1·
      28 days ago

      yes that could work but I don’t know where is the option to only enabled tty and the internet ( Ethernet card ). all options I see seems cryptic and doesn’t make any sense, it’s maybe because I am new to Linux Kernel tinkering…

      • frankenswine@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        28 days ago

        you might have to read what all those options are about. also, what you are referring to as ethernet may or may not be a specific driver, and tty itself is a somewhat abstract concept, maybe you mean serial - which is often addressed by or attached to TTYs?

  • 9point6@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    28 days ago

    I think it’s worth understanding that tinyconfig is the result of a lot of effort into finding how much you can strip back the kernel and have it still (kinda) work. It’s realistically as stripped back as you can get—you don’t even get access to storage devices by default.

    I’m curious about where your requirements have come from, as if the kernel was literally just tty and ethernet, you basically wouldn’t be able to do anything with it.

  • pelya@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    28 days ago

    If you want to run Linux on a toaster with 16 MB flash, your best option is probably OpenWRT.
    If you are running it on a regular PC, just turn off the monitor and plug out the speakers I guess. Recompiling Linux kernel looks too much like a hassle, you’ll need to disable specific device drivers to deactivate videocard and soundcard but keep the keyboard running. Or boot into a recovery mode, the OS will disable everything except for the terminal, and you’ll need to enable networking using shell commands.