On Sun, 2004-03-21 at 18:55 +0000, Gary wrote: > I need to build a newer kernel for my laptop in order that it will support a > parallel network interface I have for it. Since my only way of getting > anything onto the laptop is via floppy, what I did was build a suitable > kernel on my potato box (yes, I know, that's old as well! it is not as old > as 1.3 that is running on the laptop at the moment, however...), and copied > the result onto a floppy. I then try and boot the laptop from the floppy (I > want to be sure the kernel works okay before I replace the one on the hd). > Everything goes well until it reports a kernel panic because it is "unable > to mount root fs". Obviously I've missed a step somewhere. Would someone > please give me a pointer to where? None of my books have anything in them > regarding building kernels on one computer to run on another. > > I think that I can just add an extra lilo entry on the laptop, copy the > kernel on to the lappy's hd and try it out that way, but I think I'd rather > learn what step I am missing first (sometimes it is useful to know how to go > over the mountain as well as knowing the route around). > > Thanks folks.
The default root device is set in the kernel at build time, so it'll be trying to mount / from whichever partition is / on your build machine. You can change this with 'rdev', ie: rdev /dev/fd0 /dev/hda1 where /dev/fd0 is where the kernel image is (the floppy, in this case) and /dev/hda1 is where the root partition is on the laptop. Obviously check and change these values to match your setup. HTH, Shaun -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
