Marc Karasek wrote:
Is this a better solution than having the ramdisk embedded?
This is embedding the ramdisk. Only in a different way.
It seems that most of the MIPS development is embedded designs and this
could be a problem if it is not :
1) Easier
Not exactly easier, initially. I spent near a few weeks figuring initramfs out.
The kernel is rather picky on certain things. The main point is you need
/init, and if it's a script, then the very first line must be a hashbang
(!#/bin/blah). Those two gave me headaches for awhile. Other oddities can
occur that make initramfs a bit of a pain initially.
or
2) Faster
Faster by what? initramfs is unique because it resides on a level above the
arches, so it tends to be a sort of universal ramdisk. SGI Origin system
couldn't use ramdisks originally because of their memory structure. They can,
however, use initramfs. I maintained patches for a time (up until ~2.6.13) that
added embedded ramdisk support back into the kernel, but now that I have
initramfs down pretty well (a tool does the grunt work for my needs, actually),
I'm not going to maintain those patches any longer.
--Kumba
--
Gentoo/MIPS Team Lead
Gentoo Foundation Board of Trustees
"Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands
do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere." --Elrond
