initrd or not?

[jackren]

I have knoppix v. 3.2 installed on my hd and it works quit fine,
but now I wanna install a standard kernel (2.4.22) which I have patched for
xfs and Win4lin. The kernel compiles just fine with no errors, but I can't boot
Can anybody tell when I need to make an initrd...... .img ( and initrd.... .img entry in lilo.config) and when not if I install and compile a new kernel??

ps I installed and compiled kernel before (with debian-way) succesfully which
also gave me an initrd...img file , but then win4lin-patch didn't work , now
I compiled and installed with classic linux-way : make dep, clean , bzImage,
modules , modules install.

When do I need to use initrd?

Thanks,
jackren

[bongski55]

When do I need to use initrd?

You only need initrd if the file system for the partition where knoppix is installed is compiled as a module. Check your .config file if the line for the file system is "m" for example "reiserfs=m". If it is " reiserfs=y" then you don't need initrd.

I recommend that you compile with the fs into the kernel(filesystem=y) as I have done this many times before. Creating the initrd file is a bit difficult.

[colesen]

What I did as part of installing 2.6.0-test11 on SuSE9 is
mkinitrd -k vmlinuz-2.6.0-test11 -i initrd-2.6.0-test11
ln -sf /boot/initrd-2.6.0-test11 /boot/initrd

[bongski55]

Jackren,
I am just curious,2.4.22 kernel comes with the latest 3.3 knoppix. Why do you need to compile with 2.4.22?

[jackren]

because I have installed knoppix 3.2 and done a lot of work to get scanner
working and installed kde 3.2 and amny other programs and don't wanna start all over if I install knoppix 3.3 plus I need to get Win4lin working.

But I do know now when to use initrd, thanks