
Show HN: Monolinux – A tiny embedded Linux distro - eerimoq
https://github.com/eerimoq/monolinux
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Gys
As it is 'tiny' I think people expect some kind of size indication?

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eerimoq
The size depends on your Linux kernel configuration and user space
application. My guess is that most distros will be a 5+ MB.

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buserror
The readme isn't really up to date, but many years ago I started minifs to be
the smallest, reproducible linux distro I can get away with. With extra tools
like a 'cross linker' that removes /anything/ that isn't used on a filesystem
before packing it.

It's mostly bash. And a bit of C for tools. Works on ARM, whatever really, as
long as there is a kernel and a toolchain.

[https://github.com/buserror/minifs](https://github.com/buserror/minifs)

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sys_64738
I miss the days of running Linux from a single floppy with a complete
development environment.

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IndrekR
When was that? I started using Linux in mid 90's and never recall a useful
installation of that size. Single floppy _rescue disc distros_ did not have
room for C compiler and standard development libs IIRC.

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tpoindex
MuLinux could boot a Linux to a prompt, with minimal command line utilities.
Extra floppies provided X11, GCC, Tcl, Perl, et. al. MuLinux formatted 3.5"
floppies to 1.7mb and replaced many utilities with "rustic" versions written
in /bin/sh. Fun stuff! Disclosure: I contributed the Tcl floppy and
lpr/lpq/lprm utilities.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuLinux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuLinux)

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rmdashrfstar
What makes this different than Alpine?

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eerimoq
In Monolinux there is a single statically linked user space application (the
init-process). Alpine has the traditional approach of many user space
applications and shared libraries, if I'm not mistaken.

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xbhdhdhd
Cool. ARM?

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mysterydip
I'd love for this to be the case. I have a handful of raspberry pi projects
that I just want to boot and run a single executable. I don't need or want the
rest of the OS included with the likes of raspbian etc. I'm currently working
on a dietpi customization but this would be even better if it worked.

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yyhhsj0521
Have you tried ArchARM? It's pretty lean and fits into those old 512M SD
Cards.

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randie63
If you have a 512mb SD card, you should probably not use it anymore. Even if
you don't need the storage.

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benibela
I use a 64 mb CF card for photos

