On: Busybox-based Linux distro from scratch

[megous]

Useful compressed x86_64 kernel (trimmed down config to contain only the modules that are normally loaded on my system - only built-in) is about 11MiB.

On one of my less-featured ARM boards zImage can get down to < 6MiB.

[varjag → megous]

We've had 2.6 and 3.x series ARM32 images under 2Mb on our older products. 4.x is around 6Mb indeed, but these are also on hw with more peripherals.

[pimlottc → varjag]

Dang, I remember making kernels that fit in a 1.44mb floppy disk using the Linux Router Project, those were the days!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Router_Project