Simplest possible linux

[asadujjaman]

How can I build my own simplest possible linux - that boots up, shows up the console and is capaple of performing basic commands such as cp, rm etc.?

I have downloaded the latest kernel source from kernel.org. Now what? It would be better if I could build it as a live CD.

Additionally, I don't wish to use any pre-existing distro and also don't prefer to try LFS at this moment.

Can anybody help me. Plz...

[Dude500]

Wouldn't you just compile what you need from the kernel for your own perosnal prefernces?

[asadujjaman]

Wouldn't you just compile what you need from the kernel for your own perosnal prefernces?

I'm not sure. Compiling the kernel is so simple. But is the kernel enough itself? I mean does it contain programs such as cp, mv, mount etc?

Another thing, suppose I have detached my HDD for I don't wanna loose valuable data accidentally. And I want to boot my custom distro from CD. Probably something like ramdisk is necessary. But how to tell the kernel to use ramdisk instead of hard disk?

I will be greatful for any useful information...

[dilbert]

I presume your platform would be a PC with an existent BIOS. So, it would already try to boot from hard drive or CD/DVD.

If you don't mind the academical question it "it is really the simplest possible Linux", you could try busybox.

Many people use this on their embedded boards. We run this on a diskless board with a MIPS processor.

I guess you can use it with a default PC, too. It has different levels of a shell, i.e. shell commands.

BusyBox