Something OC said in a PM got me thinking. I used to compile kernels before Linux and FreeBSD supplied generic kernels that supported SMP. While enabling SMP I would strip out support for hardware and services I did not have or use. This made for a smaller kernel.

Anyone ever try this on a cruncher and compare before and after, same hardware generic kernel vs custom complied? It's been a few years but I may try it if no one else has. Be interesting to see if there would be a performance gain. I doubt it would be significant but might be interesting just the same.