@wyatt Also glancing from the #PC98 architecture and specific quirks that #Linux accounts for in menuconfig it's most likely not gonna be enough to "just boot the #i486 version of @OS1337"...
https://github.com/OS-1337/OS1337/blob/main/OS1337-core-prerelease.img

• Tho given the fact this is just a #toybox + #musl / Linux Distro that is barely booting using #syslinux and able to spit out a 80x25 MDA console, it is in an early infancy.

As for the specifics of the #PC9821+ and their detailed hardware I'm clueless beyond the Wikipedia Article and can only Assume anything before a (RAM-upgraded) #9821Ap & #9801BA is off the table and a #9821Af or better is desireable as the 14,6MB RAM limit will really become a problem quickly, as I'm pretty shure it's impossible to get linux-6.6.6 run on anything below 8MB at all and most recommendations hint that 16MB is more often than not a practical limit (tho that may be becaise 10/12/14 and other "asymetric" configurations were already avoided back then)...

• The #9821Ce should be workable in theory tho again that's just me reading a specsheet.

On the flipside I did manage to install #WindowsXP on machines with 32MB RAM and actually get them to display a desktop (abeit with seconds per frame instead of frames per second) so this is more likely a question of chipping down things.

• Worst-Case one could see to build a bootable CD-ROM or dd something on a #BlueSCSI or similar...

@wyatt +9001%

I want shit to be as brutally simple as #C because I can just take #musl, #toybox, #linux & #syslinux and with a few config files make a booting #distro like @OS1337 …

@Yuki @OS1337 @bjornsdottirs no need to go beyond 1440kB when using mlb instead of #syslinux (which wastes 200kB on it's own!)

• Also including the #initramfs into the #Kernel can save more due to better compression than two seperate files.

Needless to say the core idea is to be a continuation of #tmsrtbt and a "minimalist #linux distro" as in "#SSH #Terminal #Firmware"...

@OS1337 @Yuki @bjornsdottirs well, it does work given aggressive #xz compression.

Problem is rather to shove more on a 1440kB FDD than initramfs+kernel.

Tho a bootfloppy w/ #syslinux that then bootstraps multiple splitted initramfs parts in RAM from multiple disks should be possible.

#TinyCore shows that a minimalist distro can be featureful!
http://tinycorelinux.net

@dalias +1

I avoid #Rust because it adds #complexity.

• In fact I'm yeeting #SYSLINUX from @OS1337 because it's ~200kB of #bloat and #Perl...

I really want things to be KISS - principled...

@starchy I mean, I don't have #xz as a tool in it, I merely use xz compression for the #Linux #Kernel and #initramfs, and the latter one is scheduled to be integrated into the Kernel Build Pipeline to save space and being able to use #mlb instead of #syslinux so @OS1337 fits on a #1440kB #Floppy and neither @SweetAIBelle nor I are failing builds be a few kB...

https://github.com/OS-1337/mlb/releases/tag/v0.0.1

#OS1337 #EmbeddedLinux #Distro