How to boot with Initrd for Pinebook?
by shelldweller from LinuxQuestions.org on (#4ZPAC)
In my quest to fully Slackify my 1080P Pinebook (which is usually my daily driver and main laptop when it is not being hacked on, as it currently is, just FYI....), I have come across another tiny snag that I need some help on, despite my best efforts to figure this one out on my own. Any hints would be greatly appreciated, as always.
I am trying to set up a fully encrypted installation (minus the /boot directory) as mentioned in the README_CRYPT.txt. I am able to create the encrypted volume group containing a root directory and a swap partition. I have left a full copy of the base installation of Slarm64 for the Pinebook in the unencrypted partition, which I can currently boot into without needing any other partitions.
I am basically stuck at the part where I create the initrd.gz initial ramdisk. I can create one, no problem. And I even found a list of SoC related modules that probably need to be added to the initrd.gz that is generated.
However, I am having trouble getting u-boot to recognize the initrd.gz. I have specified the file in uEnv.txt. I have tried the gzipped version, I have tried an unzipped version. I have used mkimage to convert it (both as a gzipped file and an unzipped file) into u-boot format. So far, nothing I have tried will allow the kernel to load the initrd.
Searching around on the web was less than fruitful. There seem to be a lot of old dated pages that mention using an initrd with u-boot on some older devices (such as first gen BeagleBones, for reference), but they seem radically different than the Pinebook hardware. Most of the other references say to use an initramfs instead. I see way more on the 'net about using an initramfs on ARM boards than I see mentioning the use of initrd on ARM boards. Perhaps I got a skewed view of things but I did not see much in the way of using initrd with u-boot, nothing I could apply to my situation at least.
I have exhausted my ideas, which leaves me with a few questions for the community, if I may...:
1) Is there an easy way to make an initramfs (rather than initrd) from inside of Slackware-ARM?
2) Is there a way to convert an initrd to an initramfs?
3) Is there an easy way to have u-boot utilize the initrd.gz that is output by the mkinitrd command?
4) Are there any other modules I should be adding to the initrd besides the defaults and besides the ones mentioned in the SoC list above?
Any hints, tips, or links would be greatly appreciated.
Rock Over London, Rock On Chicago.
I am trying to set up a fully encrypted installation (minus the /boot directory) as mentioned in the README_CRYPT.txt. I am able to create the encrypted volume group containing a root directory and a swap partition. I have left a full copy of the base installation of Slarm64 for the Pinebook in the unencrypted partition, which I can currently boot into without needing any other partitions.
I am basically stuck at the part where I create the initrd.gz initial ramdisk. I can create one, no problem. And I even found a list of SoC related modules that probably need to be added to the initrd.gz that is generated.
However, I am having trouble getting u-boot to recognize the initrd.gz. I have specified the file in uEnv.txt. I have tried the gzipped version, I have tried an unzipped version. I have used mkimage to convert it (both as a gzipped file and an unzipped file) into u-boot format. So far, nothing I have tried will allow the kernel to load the initrd.
Searching around on the web was less than fruitful. There seem to be a lot of old dated pages that mention using an initrd with u-boot on some older devices (such as first gen BeagleBones, for reference), but they seem radically different than the Pinebook hardware. Most of the other references say to use an initramfs instead. I see way more on the 'net about using an initramfs on ARM boards than I see mentioning the use of initrd on ARM boards. Perhaps I got a skewed view of things but I did not see much in the way of using initrd with u-boot, nothing I could apply to my situation at least.
I have exhausted my ideas, which leaves me with a few questions for the community, if I may...:
1) Is there an easy way to make an initramfs (rather than initrd) from inside of Slackware-ARM?
2) Is there a way to convert an initrd to an initramfs?
3) Is there an easy way to have u-boot utilize the initrd.gz that is output by the mkinitrd command?
4) Are there any other modules I should be adding to the initrd besides the defaults and besides the ones mentioned in the SoC list above?
Any hints, tips, or links would be greatly appreciated.
Rock Over London, Rock On Chicago.