[musicale]

Linux distributions might be a lot smaller if a) the kernel only included drivers for a single hardware platform, single file system, text terminals, and no network devices or protocols, b) /usr/lib only included libc, and c) everything was still 32-bit.

There are certainly examples of very compact Unix-like OSes that nonetheless offer memory protection, paging/virtual memory, preemptive multitasking, and a system call interface.

[msla]

> Linux distributions might be a lot smaller if a) the kernel only included drivers for a single hardware platform, single file system, text terminals, and no network devices or protocols, b) /usr/lib only included libc, and c) everything was still 32-bit.

As for that last: The PDP-11 was a 16-bit architecture, which got somewhat interesting to work with when software began to grow functionality beyond what would comfortably fit in that address space. The 32-bit PDP-11 was going to be called the Virtual Address Extension, or the VAX; instead, the VAX was turned into a machine rather more elaborate than a "better PDP-11".