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From
SubjectRe: 2.3 wish: integrate pcmcia into mainstream kernel
Date
Followup to:  <19990602163835.59964@lahmed.Stanford.EDU>
By author: David Hinds <dhinds@lahmed.Stanford.EDU>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
>
> If you can boot from this PCMCIA device (which is a platform specific
> feature, and not something you should necessarily expect to be able to
> do), then you can load an initrd image from it. So the issue reverts
> to the distribution maintainers' choice of supported installation
> modes. I don't know whose CD you were using, but Red Hat has chosen,
> and documented their choice, to support this type of installation
> using boot diskettes.
>
> The *only* strong argument I've heard for putting PCMCIA in the kernel
> from the standpoint of *functionality* is that in systems that are
> severely memory constrained, the overhead of an initrd image can be
> unacceptable.
>

The initrd system is good (conceptually, it makes a helluva lot of
things make sense), although it really could stand some improvements
-- chiefly by using "mount" and be passed a path or a file descriptor
for the root rather than passing a device number, since that doesn't
apply to all filesystems. With initrd done properly, we should be
able to nuke the in-kernel IP configuration and NFSroot support as
well... mounting NFS as root would then simply be a matter of letting
initrd set up your IP stack, mount the root, and switch. This is a
*good thing*.

-hpa
--
"The user's computer downloads the ActiveX code and simulates a 'Blue
Screen' crash, a generally benign event most users are familiar with
and that would not necessarily arouse suspicions."
-- Security exploit description on http://www.zks.net/p3/how.asp

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