[gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Michael Mair-Keimberger]

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Hi List,

Since a few days i'm trying to install gentoo on a kvm guest from edis.at. 
They support to boot from a gentoo minimal live-cd in order to install your 
own gentoo. The system has 5GB storage and 256MB ram. Actually that 
should be enough for a minimal installation. However, till now i couldn't get 
over that point where i'm trying to install the kernel sources...

The partition of the hd looks like this right now:

64MB		/boot
256MB	swap
~4,3GB	/

Swap is active and i also made sure there are enough inodes on / (i had to 
raised them).

Even though there is enough space and 256mb ram + 256mb swap should 
be enough ram i can't install (copy) the kernel sources. They just stop 
suddenly. There is nothing in the build.log. Last view lines are:

>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-ac97.c
>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-pcm.c
>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa-ssp.c
>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-i2s.c

However i'll get errors in dmesg and it seems i'll get out of memory while 
installing:

[snip]
[63599.551452] emerge invoked oom-killer: gfp_mask=0x201da, order=0, 
oom_score_adj=0
[63599.551466] Pid: 12358, comm: emerge Not tainted 3.8.13-gentoo #1
.
.
.
[63599.552434] Out of memory: Kill process 13382 (emerge) score 635 or 
sacrifice child
[63599.552435] Killed process 13382 (emerge) total-vm:438472kB, anon-
rss:206552kB, file-rss:0kB
[snip]

Any idea what i can do here, except buying an better kvm? From the docs 
256MB should be fine so i don't know why it doesn't work? 

thx
mmike

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Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Mick]

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On Sunday 25 Aug 2013 14:51:33 Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
> Hi List,
> 
> Since a few days i'm trying to install gentoo on a kvm guest from edis.at.
> They support to boot from a gentoo minimal live-cd in order to install your
> own gentoo. The system has 5GB storage and 256MB ram. Actually that
> should be enough for a minimal installation. However, till now i couldn't
> get over that point where i'm trying to install the kernel sources...
> 
> The partition of the hd looks like this right now:
> 
> 64MB		/boot
> 256MB	swap
> ~4,3GB	/
> 
> Swap is active and i also made sure there are enough inodes on / (i had to
> raised them).
> 
> Even though there is enough space and 256mb ram + 256mb swap should
> be enough ram i can't install (copy) the kernel sources. They just stop
> 
> suddenly. There is nothing in the build.log. Last view lines are:
> >>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-ac97.c
> >>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-pcm.c
> >>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa-ssp.c
> >>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-i2s.c
> 
> However i'll get errors in dmesg and it seems i'll get out of memory while
> installing:
> 
> [snip]
> [63599.551452] emerge invoked oom-killer: gfp_mask=0x201da, order=0,
> oom_score_adj=0
> [63599.551466] Pid: 12358, comm: emerge Not tainted 3.8.13-gentoo #1
> .
> .
> .
> [63599.552434] Out of memory: Kill process 13382 (emerge) score 635 or
> sacrifice child
> [63599.552435] Killed process 13382 (emerge) total-vm:438472kB, anon-
> rss:206552kB, file-rss:0kB
> [snip]
> 
> Any idea what i can do here, except buying an better kvm? From the docs
> 256MB should be fine so i don't know why it doesn't work?
> 
> thx
> mmike

I don't know why the docs say 256MB is enough, or if the statement is out of 
date.  Did you try increasing swap just for now to see if it completes the 
installation?  Some packages like gcc would eat up a lot RAM and it may never 
be able to finish compiling without more memory and/or swap.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[the]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 08/25/13 17:51, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
> Hi List,
> 
> 
> 
> Since a few days i'm trying to install gentoo on a kvm guest from 
> edis.at. They support to boot from a gentoo minimal live-cd in
> order to install your own gentoo. The system has 5GB storage and
> 256MB ram. Actually that should be enough for a minimal
> installation. However, till now i couldn't get over that point
> where i'm trying to install the kernel sources...

IMHO, 5Gb is not enough, have you tried df -h?


- -- 
Stop talking and start compiling.
Linux user #557897
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Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Frank Steinmetzger]

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On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 07:33:03PM +0400, the wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> On 08/25/13 17:51, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
> > Hi List,
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Since a few days i'm trying to install gentoo on a kvm guest from 
> > edis.at. They support to boot from a gentoo minimal live-cd in
> > order to install your own gentoo. The system has 5GB storage and
> > 256MB ram. Actually that should be enough for a minimal
> > installation. However, till now i couldn't get over that point
> > where i'm trying to install the kernel sources...
> 
> IMHO, 5Gb is not enough, have you tried df -h?

How about putting the sources into a squashfs? I've been doing so with
/usr/portage on my netbook with its small HDD for a long time now to save a
couple o’ 100 megs.
Since /usr/src will then be read-only, you’ll have to prepare the image
outside of the system, which also means that you can’t use portage’s *sources
on the system in question.

My 3.10 vanilla sources of about 605 megs (du -sch) get steamed down to a 120
MB image.
-- 
Gruß | Greetings | Qapla’
Please do not share anything from, with or about me with any Facebook service.

GNU jokes are not UNIX jokes.

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Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Alan McKinnon]

On 25/08/2013 15:51, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
> Hi List,
> 
>  
> 
> Since a few days i'm trying to install gentoo on a kvm guest from
> edis.at. They support to boot from a gentoo minimal live-cd in order to
> install your own gentoo. The system has 5GB storage and 256MB ram.
> Actually that should be enough for a minimal installation. However, till
> now i couldn't get over that point where i'm trying to install the
> kernel sources...
> 
>  
> 
> The partition of the hd looks like this right now:
> 
>  
> 
> 64MB /boot
> 
> 256MB swap
> 
> ~4,3GB /
> 
>  
> 
> Swap is active and i also made sure there are enough inodes on / (i had
> to raised them).
> 
>  
> 
> Even though there is enough space and 256mb ram + 256mb swap should be
> enough ram i can't install (copy) the kernel sources. They just stop
> suddenly. There is nothing in the build.log. Last view lines are:
> 
>  
> 
>>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-ac97.c
> 
>>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-pcm.c
> 
>>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa-ssp.c
> 
>>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-i2s.c
> 
>  
> 
> However i'll get errors in dmesg and it seems i'll get out of memory
> while installing:
> 
>  
> 
> [snip]
> 
> [63599.551452] emerge invoked oom-killer: gfp_mask=0x201da, order=0,
> oom_score_adj=0
> 
> [63599.551466] Pid: 12358, comm: emerge Not tainted 3.8.13-gentoo #1
> 
> .
> 
> .
> 
> .
> 
> [63599.552434] Out of memory: Kill process 13382 (emerge) score 635 or
> sacrifice child
> 
> [63599.552435] Killed process 13382 (emerge) total-vm:438472kB,
> anon-rss:206552kB, file-rss:0kB
> 
> [snip]
> 
>  
> 
> Any idea what i can do here, except buying an better kvm? From the docs
> 256MB should be fine so i don't know why it doesn't work?


I cannot untar kernel sources on my virtualbox VMs with <=256M either,
and that goes back at least 18 months. tar just consumes too much
memory. Your options:

- untar somewhere else and copy the uncompressed sources over
- get more memory

when you build the kernel, you will find the same issue. gcc is going to
use much more ram than 256M to get the job done.

Do keep in mind that you can probably get that VM to *run* in teeny
amounts of memory - maybe even only 64M - but building a kernel is a
hugely memory-intensive task


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Michael Mair-Keimberger]

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On Sunday 25 August 2013 18:23:07 Alan McKinnon wrote:
> On 25/08/2013 15:51, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
> > Hi List,
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Since a few days i'm trying to install gentoo on a kvm guest from
> > edis.at. They support to boot from a gentoo minimal live-cd in order to
> > install your own gentoo. The system has 5GB storage and 256MB ram.
> > Actually that should be enough for a minimal installation. However, till
> > now i couldn't get over that point where i'm trying to install the
> > kernel sources...
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > The partition of the hd looks like this right now:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 64MB /boot
> > 
> > 256MB swap
> > 
> > ~4,3GB /
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Swap is active and i also made sure there are enough inodes on / (i 
had
> > to raised them).
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Even though there is enough space and 256mb ram + 256mb swap 
should be
> > enough ram i can't install (copy) the kernel sources. They just stop
> > 
> > suddenly. There is nothing in the build.log. Last view lines are:
> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-ac97.c
> >>>> 
> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-pcm.c
> >>>> 
> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa-ssp.c
> >>>> 
> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-i2s.c
> > 
> > However i'll get errors in dmesg and it seems i'll get out of memory
> > while installing:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > [snip]
> > 
> > [63599.551452] emerge invoked oom-killer: gfp_mask=0x201da, 
order=0,
> > oom_score_adj=0
> > 
> > [63599.551466] Pid: 12358, comm: emerge Not tainted 3.8.13-gentoo 
#1
> > 
> > .
> > 
> > .
> > 
> > .
> > 
> > [63599.552434] Out of memory: Kill process 13382 (emerge) score 
635 or
> > sacrifice child
> > 
> > [63599.552435] Killed process 13382 (emerge) total-vm:438472kB,
> > anon-rss:206552kB, file-rss:0kB
> > 
> > [snip]
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Any idea what i can do here, except buying an better kvm? From the 
docs
> > 256MB should be fine so i don't know why it doesn't work?
> 
> I cannot untar kernel sources on my virtualbox VMs with <=256M either,
> and that goes back at least 18 months. tar just consumes too much
> memory. Your options:
> 
> - untar somewhere else and copy the uncompressed sources over
> - get more memory
> 
> when you build the kernel, you will find the same issue. gcc is going to
> use much more ram than 256M to get the job done.
> 
> Do keep in mind that you can probably get that VM to *run* in teeny
> amounts of memory - maybe even only 64M - but building a kernel is a
> hugely memory-intensive task

Thx for crosschecking.

Well it looks like docs are out of date, 256MB ram is definitely not enough. I 
already though about to extract it here and than copy it to the vm. 
However, uploading uncompressed kernel sources would take quite some 
time over my slow internet connection and i really wanted to avoid that.

Anyway, either copy or buy a better vm. I guess i'll gonna make my own vm 
at home and copy the full system over...

thx
mmike

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Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Yohan Pereira]

On 25/08/13 at 07:01pm, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
> Thx for crosschecking.
> 
> Well it looks like docs are out of date, 256MB ram is definitely not enough. I 
> already though about to extract it here and than copy it to the vm. 
> However, uploading uncompressed kernel sources would take quite some 
> time over my slow internet connection and i really wanted to avoid that.
> 
> Anyway, either copy or buy a better vm. I guess i'll gonna make my own vm 
> at home and copy the full system over...
> 
> thx
> mmike

Alternatively you can build the kernel and maybe bin packages of things
that are too heavy to compile on the VM and just copy those. 
-- 

- Yohan Pereira

The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference
between a mermaid and a seal.
                -- Mark Twain

Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Alan McKinnon]

On 25/08/2013 19:01, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
>  
> 
> On Sunday 25 August 2013 18:23:07 Alan McKinnon wrote:
> 
>> On 25/08/2013 15:51, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
> 
>> > Hi List,
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> > Since a few days i'm trying to install gentoo on a kvm guest from
> 
>> > edis.at. They support to boot from a gentoo minimal live-cd in order to
> 
>> > install your own gentoo. The system has 5GB storage and 256MB ram.
> 
>> > Actually that should be enough for a minimal installation. However, till
> 
>> > now i couldn't get over that point where i'm trying to install the
> 
>> > kernel sources...
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> > The partition of the hd looks like this right now:
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> > 64MB /boot
> 
>> >
> 
>> > 256MB swap
> 
>> >
> 
>> > ~4,3GB /
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> > Swap is active and i also made sure there are enough inodes on / (i had
> 
>> > to raised them).
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> > Even though there is enough space and 256mb ram + 256mb swap should be
> 
>> > enough ram i can't install (copy) the kernel sources. They just stop
> 
>> >
> 
>> > suddenly. There is nothing in the build.log. Last view lines are:
> 
>> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-ac97.c
> 
>> >>>>
> 
>> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-pcm.c
> 
>> >>>>
> 
>> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa-ssp.c
> 
>> >>>>
> 
>> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-i2s.c
> 
>> >
> 
>> > However i'll get errors in dmesg and it seems i'll get out of memory
> 
>> > while installing:
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> > [snip]
> 
>> >
> 
>> > [63599.551452] emerge invoked oom-killer: gfp_mask=0x201da, order=0,
> 
>> > oom_score_adj=0
> 
>> >
> 
>> > [63599.551466] Pid: 12358, comm: emerge Not tainted 3.8.13-gentoo #1
> 
>> >
> 
>> > .
> 
>> >
> 
>> > .
> 
>> >
> 
>> > .
> 
>> >
> 
>> > [63599.552434] Out of memory: Kill process 13382 (emerge) score 635 or
> 
>> > sacrifice child
> 
>> >
> 
>> > [63599.552435] Killed process 13382 (emerge) total-vm:438472kB,
> 
>> > anon-rss:206552kB, file-rss:0kB
> 
>> >
> 
>> > [snip]
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> > Any idea what i can do here, except buying an better kvm? From the docs
> 
>> > 256MB should be fine so i don't know why it doesn't work?
> 
>>
> 
>> I cannot untar kernel sources on my virtualbox VMs with <=256M either,
> 
>> and that goes back at least 18 months. tar just consumes too much
> 
>> memory. Your options:
> 
>>
> 
>> - untar somewhere else and copy the uncompressed sources over
> 
>> - get more memory
> 
>>
> 
>> when you build the kernel, you will find the same issue. gcc is going to
> 
>> use much more ram than 256M to get the job done.
> 
>>
> 
>> Do keep in mind that you can probably get that VM to *run* in teeny
> 
>> amounts of memory - maybe even only 64M - but building a kernel is a
> 
>> hugely memory-intensive task
> 
>  
> 
> Thx for crosschecking.
> 
>  
> 
> Well it looks like docs are out of date, 256MB ram is definitely not
> enough. I already though about to extract it here and than copy it to
> the vm. However, uploading uncompressed kernel sources would take quite
> some time over my slow internet connection and i really wanted to avoid
> that.
> 
>  
> 
> Anyway, either copy or buy a better vm. I guess i'll gonna make my own
> vm at home and copy the full system over...


I'd recommend cross-building just a kernel and modules locally and
copying that to the vm, it will only be about 6 to 8M


Some food for thought:

I do question the wisdom though of running Gentoo on a VM like that.
I've always found that Gentoo (despite all it's fantastic awesomeness
elsewhere) is really not fitted for that specific task very well - it
tends to be a lot of pain and not much gain.

Why do you want Gentoo on the vm? Is there a very good reason, or is it
because you are familiar with it?

If the second reason, you might want to have a look at FreeBSD or one of
the binary distros based of Gentoo like Sabayon. You might find the best
of both worlds in that space.


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Yohan Pereira]

On 25/08/13 at 09:50pm, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> I'd recommend cross-building just a kernel and modules locally and
> copying that to the vm, it will only be about 6 to 8M
> 
> 
> Some food for thought:
> 
> I do question the wisdom though of running Gentoo on a VM like that.
> I've always found that Gentoo (despite all it's fantastic awesomeness
> elsewhere) is really not fitted for that specific task very well - it
> tends to be a lot of pain and not much gain.
> 
> Why do you want Gentoo on the vm? Is there a very good reason, or is it
> because you are familiar with it?
> 
> If the second reason, you might want to have a look at FreeBSD or one of
> the binary distros based of Gentoo like Sabayon. You might find the best
> of both worlds in that space.

Well I have a couple VM's running on 256 mb of RAM. While I'll admit I
initially chose gentoo because of familiarity. It seemed to work out fine
although I'll admit I've I haven't updated the kernel, just using the
kernel provided by the host. AFAIR the heaviest(memory wise) thing I did 
on such a VM was running a java stock trading application in a virtual 
screen that was accessed via VNC. 
 
I've never had problems(yet) compiling gcc etc. I remeber being able to
compile faster than my laptop's aging core 2 due processor.

Currently I use one for my personal a mail server, quassel (irc client), tt-rss,
git/mecurial collaboration, development web hosting and other random stuff.
It hasn't borked on me yet but YMMV. Heres the output of free from the
VM.

$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers
	     cached
	     Mem:           246        231         15          0
	     14        157
	     -/+ buffers/cache:         59        187
	     Swap:          494         57        437

-- 

- Yohan Pereira

The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference
between a mermaid and a seal.
                -- Mark Twain

Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Michael Mair-Keimberger]

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On Monday 26 August 2013 01:49:17 Yohan Pereira wrote:
> On 25/08/13 at 09:50pm, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> > I'd recommend cross-building just a kernel and modules locally and
> > copying that to the vm, it will only be about 6 to 8M
> > 
> > 
> > Some food for thought:
> > 
> > I do question the wisdom though of running Gentoo on a VM like that.
> > I've always found that Gentoo (despite all it's fantastic awesomeness
> > elsewhere) is really not fitted for that specific task very well - it
> > tends to be a lot of pain and not much gain.
> > 
> > Why do you want Gentoo on the vm? Is there a very good reason, or is 
it
> > because you are familiar with it?
> > 
> > If the second reason, you might want to have a look at FreeBSD or one 
of
> > the binary distros based of Gentoo like Sabayon. You might find the 
best
> > of both worlds in that space.
> 
> Well I have a couple VM's running on 256 mb of RAM. While I'll admit I
> initially chose gentoo because of familiarity. It seemed to work out fine
> although I'll admit I've I haven't updated the kernel, just using the
> kernel provided by the host. AFAIR the heaviest(memory wise) thing I did
> on such a VM was running a java stock trading application in a virtual
> screen that was accessed via VNC.
> 
> I've never had problems(yet) compiling gcc etc. I remeber being able to
> compile faster than my laptop's aging core 2 due processor.
> 
> Currently I use one for my personal a mail server, quassel (irc client),
> tt-rss, git/mecurial collaboration, development web hosting and other
> random stuff. It hasn't borked on me yet but YMMV. Heres the output of 
free
> from the VM.
> 
> $ free -m
>              total       used       free     shared    buffers
> 	     cached
> 	     Mem:           246        231         15          0
> 	     14        157
> 	     -/+ buffers/cache:         59        187
> 	     Swap:          494         57        437

Well, familiarity was my main reason but actually i though gentoo fits 
anyway quite good on such weak systems? (well besides compiling on it) 
You get a small system which needs not much space and performs quite 
good. (thats why 5GB is actually enough for me - i don't store anything 
there). 
FreeBSD might be a good alternative and in case gentoo is to much pain i'll 
give it a try. :)

BTW, i have an alix device at home which also has just 256MB Ram and 
while the CF-Card (where the gentoo system is stored) has 8GB now, i've 
started with an 4GB CF-Card and i did compile on this device - even 
(hardened)kernels :)
That was ~3 years ago, now i cross-compile for this device. However, 
gentoo on such devices runs perfectly well and rock stable. :)

mmike

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Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Alan McKinnon]

On 25/08/2013 23:33, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
>  
> 
> On Monday 26 August 2013 01:49:17 Yohan Pereira wrote:
> 
>> On 25/08/13 at 09:50pm, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> 
>> > I'd recommend cross-building just a kernel and modules locally and
> 
>> > copying that to the vm, it will only be about 6 to 8M
> 
>> >
> 
>> >
> 
>> > Some food for thought:
> 
>> >
> 
>> > I do question the wisdom though of running Gentoo on a VM like that.
> 
>> > I've always found that Gentoo (despite all it's fantastic awesomeness
> 
>> > elsewhere) is really not fitted for that specific task very well - it
> 
>> > tends to be a lot of pain and not much gain.
> 
>> >
> 
>> > Why do you want Gentoo on the vm? Is there a very good reason, or is it
> 
>> > because you are familiar with it?
> 
>> >
> 
>> > If the second reason, you might want to have a look at FreeBSD or one of
> 
>> > the binary distros based of Gentoo like Sabayon. You might find the best
> 
>> > of both worlds in that space.
> 
>>
> 
>> Well I have a couple VM's running on 256 mb of RAM. While I'll admit I
> 
>> initially chose gentoo because of familiarity. It seemed to work out fine
> 
>> although I'll admit I've I haven't updated the kernel, just using the
> 
>> kernel provided by the host. AFAIR the heaviest(memory wise) thing I did
> 
>> on such a VM was running a java stock trading application in a virtual
> 
>> screen that was accessed via VNC.
> 
>>
> 
>> I've never had problems(yet) compiling gcc etc. I remeber being able to
> 
>> compile faster than my laptop's aging core 2 due processor.
> 
>>
> 
>> Currently I use one for my personal a mail server, quassel (irc client),
> 
>> tt-rss, git/mecurial collaboration, development web hosting and other
> 
>> random stuff. It hasn't borked on me yet but YMMV. Heres the output of
> free
> 
>> from the VM.
> 
>>
> 
>> $ free -m
> 
>> total used free shared buffers
> 
>> cached
> 
>> Mem: 246 231 15 0
> 
>> 14 157
> 
>> -/+ buffers/cache: 59 187
> 
>> Swap: 494 57 437
> 
>  
> 
> Well, familiarity was my main reason but actually i though gentoo fits
> anyway quite good on such weak systems? (well besides compiling on it)
> You get a small system which needs not much space and performs quite
> good. (thats why 5GB is actually enough for me - i don't store anything
> there).
> 
> FreeBSD might be a good alternative and in case gentoo is to much pain
> i'll give it a try. :)
> 
>  
> 
> BTW, i have an alix device at home which also has just 256MB Ram and
> while the CF-Card (where the gentoo system is stored) has 8GB now, i've
> started with an 4GB CF-Card and i did compile on this device - even
> (hardened)kernels :)
> 
> That was ~3 years ago, now i cross-compile for this device. However,
> gentoo on such devices runs perfectly well and rock stable. :)


If it works for you then it works :-)


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com