[NMLUG] Minimalist kernel

[andres at paglayan.com (Andres Paglayan)]

Hi folks,

I have couple of questions, just because your answers are much better 
than google's

I already know the basics of re-compiling a kernel, load the right 
modules, and so on, but my kernels look as a big 14MB monkey, is there 
any how-to, or documentation to read (besides kernel code), on how to 
compile a minimalistic kernel for your system? so it has all it needs to 
run but nothing more.

The other,
I have little project involving a mini-itx via epia booting from a 
compact flash card.
I am trying to minimize the read write cycles on the card.
for doing so I am enabling laptop-mode, doing logs in a ram disk (cp 
them at boot and back at shutdown, still trying to figure this out), and 
I'd like to adjust the commit interval in the ext3 from 5 seconds to 
something higher, but: I don't know which file system will be 
recommended for a CF card; I checked man tune2fs and I don't see an  
explanation about how to do it.

Thank you,

Andres