loaded module waste

[Felix Miata <mrmazda@ij.net>]

lsmod shows many more than the hardware seems to require. The following
are the lsmod output from 4 of my systems:

http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/tmp/lsmod/lsmod.m5114.etch 81
http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/tmp/lsmod/lsmod.s2846.knoppix 37
http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/tmp/lsmod/lsmod.a-865.suse 64
http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/tmp/lsmod/lsmod.a-p2b.ubuntu 87

The shortest has 37 entries, the longest 87, and all use kernels 2.6.1x.
Man lsmod really doesn't describe the output.

1-How does one determine exactly which modules are required?
2-How does one either prevent unnecessary modules from loading, or
automatically unload unneeded ones?
3-Will keeping unnecessary modules unloaded noticeably improve
performance?
-- 
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord."        Psalm 33:12 NIV

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409

Felix Miata  ***  http://mrmazda.no-ip.com/