Linux Kernel options

Hello,

    I noticed that the Debian system floppies and a newly compiled kernel for the 
80386, both require 4MB of RAM when booting.  The newly compiled kernel was only 
594kb, but when booting choked out "Less than 4MB of memory".  So, I've read 
about using an ELKS, among many other things on this laptop with only 2MB.  But 
my question is, did I miss an option in the kernel config that could have 
prepared the kernel for this limitation?

Thanks,

Rod