From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-path: Received: from majordomo by infradead.org with local (Exim 3.03 #1) id 13GrrA-0006O9-00 for mtd-list@infradead.org; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 00:41:56 +0100 Received: from cr355197-a.poco1.bc.wave.home.com ([24.112.113.88] helo=whiskey.fireplug.net) by infradead.org with esmtp (Exim 3.03 #1) id 13Grr9-0006O3-00 for mtd@infradead.org; Tue, 25 Jul 2000 00:41:55 +0100 Received: from sl by whiskey.fireplug.net with local (Exim 3.13 #2) id 13Grr6-0003RX-00 for mtd@infradead.org; Mon, 24 Jul 2000 16:41:52 -0700 To: mtd@infradead.org From: sl@whiskey.fireplug.net (Stuart Lynne) Subject: Re: building M-Sys DOC driver as a module Date: 24 Jul 2000 16:41:52 -0700 Message-ID: <8lik80$ctk$1@whiskey.fireplug.net> References: <39781EAE.58A56DA3@zentropix.com> Reply-To: sl@fireplug.net Sender: owner-mtd@infradead.org List-ID: In article <39781EAE.58A56DA3@zentropix.com>, Trevor Woolven wrote: >This is a multi-part message in MIME format. >--------------37FCF4E0556161DE8012872E >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >David Woodhouse wrote: > >> On Thu, 20 Jul 2000, Adi Linden wrote: >> >> > I'd be quite interested in the modular DOC driver as well. So far I've >> > seen it talked about quite a bit but never seen it. >> > >> > I produces a 2.2.14 kernel patch for the M-Systems DOC driver but that's >> > in violation of GPL for a production environment... >> >> Modular drivers and initrd are a horrible waste of space in an embedded >> system, IMO. Far better to cut out module support completely, and even >> also block device support, putting JFFS on the DiskOnChip instead of NFTL. > >Ok, IMHO using an initrd doesn't actually cost you too much, the bulk of it >is used to store the kernel which has to go somewhere, right? I haven't done The kernel is separate from the initrd file. The overhead per module for loading it as a module instead of compiling it in to the kernel is roughly about 2kb. The initrd file must contain enough to load the module. In theory this means a statically linked shell, statically linked insmod, a short script and your modules. Gzipped this ends up around a coupld hundred kb. It may be possible to used a stripped down busy box that knows enough to do this. >a comparison on the relative sizes of a kernel with the driver compiled in vs > >one without to measure what the difference is but that would be quite a >simple >thing to do - especially if space was getting tight. I agree that there's a >bit of >a waste having a DOS partition on the DOC to boot syslinux from but neither >LILO nor GRUB are perfect either. > >I agree that getting JFFS on DOC is a good thing but when will it happen? >I don't see the M-Systems driver being the driver of choice in the long run, >most people would much rather use a GPL one and that's where MTD wins big >time! You also have to support booting from it..... If/when grub can be coaxed into doing that reliably then it starts to sound interesting. -- __O Fireplug - a Lineo company _-\<,_ PGP Fingerprint: 28 E2 A0 15 99 62 9A 00 (_)/ (_) 88 EC A3 EE 2D 1C 15 68 Stuart Lynne www.fireplug.net 604-461-7532 To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe mtd" to majordomo@infradead.org