[cechmaster]

My understanding is that the OS is a few gigs in size and uses a lot of memory, and neves compiles to about 20 megabytes while still being resilient and easy to update.

[Cyph0n]

Actually, a compiled Linux kernel is on the order of ~5 MB. A minimal root filesystem adds another ~50 MB to that. It starts to get bloated once you add kernel modules, drivers, etc.

[lomnakkus]

That's 5MB compressed and also doesn't account for the fact that you'd also need an actual userspace of some description.