Why Configure a Custom Kernel?
FreeBSD comes with the GENERIC kernel installed by default. This kernel is tuned to support as wide a user base as possible so that FreeBSD will work out of the box on as many different machines as there are users in the world. Given the nature of x 86-based hardware, this means that the FreeBSD kernel must hold a truly astounding number of built-in drivers. An operating system built for a tightly controlled set of hardware (such as SGI’s IRIX or Apple’s Mac OS X) can afford to get away with much less of this generic support, but FreeBSD is stuck with it. The GENERIC kernel also has various options for memory allocation and optimization set to lowest-common-denominator levels, and other optional elements are left ...
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