661K assembly version of linux

[silverpig]

Got this on the gentoo forums.

Check this out...

linux = 661K
(includes http and ftp servers!)

"Welcome to the smallest x86 Linux distribution - a-Linux,
where assembly code meets Linux kernel.

It is based on usual Linux kernel and asmutils, and contains
only programs written in (x86) assembly language."

Download

Crazy.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

The kernel seems to just be a normal linux kernel. It's basically a normal linux kernel plus some assembly utilities. Or am I missing something?

 

[silverpig]

audio playback, video streaming... a few other things... all in 661k.

 

[Nothinman]

Assembly is a waste of time, writing things in higher languages like C is what makes them portable and being someone with 3 difference architectures at home, that's something I care about.

 

[cessna152]

Has anyone tried this yet?

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
The kernel seems to just be a normal linux kernel. It's basically a normal linux kernel plus some assembly utilities. Or am I missing something?

I didn't look, but I doubt you're missing anything. Rewriting the whole linux kernel in assembly would be a HUGE (and largely pointless) undertaking. Porting it to the Intel or MS compiler would produce faster, better code, and be a lot easier to do 😉.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: CTho9305

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
The kernel seems to just be a normal linux kernel. It's basically a normal linux kernel plus some assembly utilities. Or am I missing something?

I didn't look, but I doubt you're missing anything. Rewriting the whole linux kernel in assembly would be a HUGE (and largely pointless) undertaking. Porting it to the Intel or MS compiler would produce faster, better code, and be a lot easier to do 😉.

icc supposedly compiles the kernel just fine.

 

[Nothinman]

I didn't look, but I doubt you're missing anything. Rewriting the whole linux kernel in assembly would be a HUGE (and largely pointless) undertaking. Porting it to the Intel or MS compiler would produce faster, better code, and be a lot easier to do

Like n0c said there's not much to do, people have been attempting to compile the kernel with icc for a while now and I believe all the major problems have been ironed out already.

 

[sciencewhiz]

When you go to the main site: http://linuxassembly.org/ you notice that they want to port it to x86, x86-64, itanium, and sparc. Seems to me that those are the platforms least likely to need a 661k linux port. How about ARM, M68K, or Mips?

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

"661k Linux port"? This isn't linux in assembly, it's just some command line utilities written in linux. The kernel is just normal linux, written in C.