Hello! I'm trying to get a laptop to boot using a bootfloppy and then mount FAI:s nfsroot using a PCMCIA card. Unfortunately, this seem to be a terribly hard task to solve. I have searched the mailing list and many others have the same problem as me.
Problem 1: FAI:s default kernel doesn't include PCMCIA support so you need to compile your own kernel. But that's not all. Because the PCMCIA drivers can only be activated by executing some scripts from a file system, you also need an initrd ram disk. Problem 2: FAI doesn't need and doesn't use an initrd. Plus it needs to fit in 1024kb so it can be placed on a boot floppy. So it is not exactly trivial and if it is possible (which, according to Thomas Lange, it might not be: http://archives.free.net.ph/message/20040521.055200.d191daa2.en.html) it requires some hacking. Maybe something like: http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/linux/linux-kernel/2002-49/0912.html. Anyway I have started this wiki page: http://faiwiki.informatik.uni-koeln.de/index.php?title=Installing_laptops_with_PCMCIA_cards_using_a_floppy_disk in an attempt to solve this issue for me and to save it for future generations. So if anyone know how to do it, reply to this thread or write your findings at that page. I'll complete the howto with how it should be done when I find out. -- mvh Björn
