I build custom kernels on my linux systems for speed and to reduce the
memory footprint of the os.
My host system is a macbook pro 2.2 GHz core 2 duo, 2 gb ram,
parallels build 5584, OS X 10.5.1. I have debian etch installed as a
guest os. It boots to the login screen in about 20 s. I don't know if
this is exceptional or not. The memory usage after booting and logging
in on a virtual console is 69124k used (checked with top). I don't
recall what the generic debian etch kernel (2.6.18) was using, but I
recall it was > 100,000 k. It may be the case that further memory
reduction is available by removing more unused config options.
Logging in to X with fluxbox brings the memory footprint up to
234,000k. The cpu in the host os (leopard) stays around 85-90%
idle with linux idling along in parallels.
The kernel config file is published from google docs. It has support
for ext2 and ext3 filesystems. If you have a different fs deployed in
your guest system you will need to edit the config or you won't be
able to boot or access some of your partitions. I have not done
extensive testing with this kernel. It boots up fine, gets a DHCP
lease, and accesses the network without problems. I make no warranty
for this configuration. You're on your own.
I had to build an initrd with mkinitrd to boot the kernel. Is initrd required for linux guest OS?
The URL for the config is
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcmj99xc_6fsh35wdt
memory footprint of the os.
My host system is a macbook pro 2.2 GHz core 2 duo, 2 gb ram,
parallels build 5584, OS X 10.5.1. I have debian etch installed as a
guest os. It boots to the login screen in about 20 s. I don't know if
this is exceptional or not. The memory usage after booting and logging
in on a virtual console is 69124k used (checked with top). I don't
recall what the generic debian etch kernel (2.6.18) was using, but I
recall it was > 100,000 k. It may be the case that further memory
reduction is available by removing more unused config options.
Logging in to X with fluxbox brings the memory footprint up to
234,000k. The cpu in the host os (leopard) stays around 85-90%
idle with linux idling along in parallels.
The kernel config file is published from google docs. It has support
for ext2 and ext3 filesystems. If you have a different fs deployed in
your guest system you will need to edit the config or you won't be
able to boot or access some of your partitions. I have not done
extensive testing with this kernel. It boots up fine, gets a DHCP
lease, and accesses the network without problems. I make no warranty
for this configuration. You're on your own.
I had to build an initrd with mkinitrd to boot the kernel. Is initrd required for linux guest OS?
The URL for the config is
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcmj99xc_6fsh35wdt
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