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by e12e 85 days ago
Nice series! Really takes me back to the days of Linux 1.x kernel, Lilo and trying to fit a kernel and initrd on a single floppy disk.

So ending up at:

> From a 292MB initramfs, we now have a 6.1MB initramfs, smaller than almost every other distro's initramfs and made entirely to run busybox wget dd.

Is pretty great achievement today - but way bigger than something that can fit on a floppy.

2 comments

To be honest, even this has plenty of room to go down. I get the feeling I could have squeezed a couple more MB off if I had actually cut things off of the default Nixpkgs busybox, and possibly also cut a couple of kernel drivers out.
Modern "floppy" is just any USB thumbdrive you found lying around. Just giggles checked my 'to go' retailer - there are whopping 3 variants of 4GB no-name drives for $6. For $12 you would get a Kingston one with 64GB.

"Floppy" image size is not important now nor for the last 15 years.