Messages in this thread |  | | Subject | Re: boot/root floppies in modern times? | Date | Sat, 29 Sep 2001 23:55:00 +0100 (BST) | From | Alan Cox <> |
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> Obviously (but not to me initally) the USB floppy isn't a real floppy > controlled by a floppy controller, but it is a USB mass storage device.
Correct.
> I've seen the initrd option in the kernel config along with the other RAM > disk stuff. I have a feeling that is the path I'm going to need to go > down, but I've never delt with it before (I know Linus is gung-ho about > initrd from posts I've seen by him here). So I figure I'd better learn > about it sooner or later.
initrd is basically a ramdisk image loaded by the bios before control is transferred from the loader to the kernel. Thus you can have a floppy with a file system, lilo and a kernel on it (if you squeeze).
Then you can set it up so that
The boot loads the initd It runs the needed USB drivers It mounts the /dev/sda disk and copies it to /dev/ram1 ramdisk It transfers control - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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