Hello angstrom-distro-devel, From the previous experience, one of the pressing issues with popularizing an embedded Linux distro was a complex and tangled installation procedure, which not all users can follow. Other problem is that some distros give up inherent Linux flexibility and force users to follow rigid procedure of installation, e.g. providing support only for one installation destination, or supporting different destination in very tangled and inconsistent ways.
During last few months, myself and other contributors worked on bootloading solution which would satisfy the following criteria: 1. Implemented as a Linux-based user-space application, taking advantage of of the contemporary technologies, such as early userspace configuration and initramfs. 1. Light-weight and modular. 2. Easily extensible. 3. Small size. 4. Machine-independent. 5. Supports booting from flash devices, disk partitions, loopback images, and NFS, to start with. These developments have been available in OE as initrdscripts/initramfs-uniboot.bb and friends. The latest addition was initramfs-module-bootmenu module, which scans all available devices, presents user with the list of available boot sources as a simple menu, allows one to make choice, and then boots rootfs from that source. Corresponding image is initramfs-bootmenu-image . Built with uclibc, it sizes 550Kb. So, based on the above functionality, I'd like to propose it as a default bootloading solution for Angstrom, or at least as the default solution for PocketPC- and Palm-based devices. Differences between initramfs-bootmenu-image and other existing solutions: 1. initramfs-bootmenu-image is an early-userspace based implementation, using the same kernel as the productions system, and allowing easy development and testing. 2. initramfs-bootmenu-image is explicitly marketed as a device-independent solution, whereas other known solutions have affinity (or vigor) towards specific device brands. Known issues: 1. Flash boot wasn't really tested. While nothing could preclude it to work, it may require some tweaks and final touches. 2. This is exactly an early-userspace handler for selecting a rootfs, i.e. the same kernel as used by initramfs-bootmenu-image will be used by rootfs. Kexec support can be added at later time. -- Best regards, Paul mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Angstrom-distro-devel mailing list Angstrom-distro-devel@linuxtogo.org http://lists.linuxtogo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/angstrom-distro-devel
