Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Trying FatDog64. Why kernel panic? What is wrong with my grub entry?

menuentry 'FatDog64 on (sda2/ext4)'{
search --no-floppy --set=root --fs-uuid 93881cd4-d29c-4637-a643-a895d1f3db9d
linux /fatdog64/vmlinuz waitdev=5 rootfstype=ramfs savefile=none
initrd /fatdog64/initrd
}

I've also tried all of these both ram and direct:
- linux /fatdog64/vmlinuz waitdev=5 rootfstype=ramfs savefile=ram:uuid:93881cd4-d29c-4637-a643-a895d1f3db9d:fatdog64
- linux /fatdog64/vmlinuz waitdev=5 rootfstype=ramfs savefile=ram:uuid:93881cd4-d29c-4637-a643-a895d1f3db9d:/fatdog64
- linux /fatdog64/vmlinuz waitdev=5 rootfstype=ramfs savefile=ram:device:sda2:/fatdog64
- linux /fatdog64/vmlinuz waitdev=5 rootfstype=ramfs savefile=ram:device:sda2:fatdog64

Whch FD64 version?

FatDog64-902. When I try to boot, before it gives me the kernel panic screen, I noticed something about "cant find suitable memory target". Then on kernel panic screen, "no working init found"

I noticed the file initrd is a huge 572MB while initrd-nano is 19MB. I compared to other distro and initrd-nano is more on par with, say bookwormpup's initrd.gz, when it comes to file size. Should I use initrd-nano instead?

[EDIT] So I tried using the initrd-nano and it booted to prompt (No X). Then I rebooted and tried initrd again and got the kernel panic

Two options to try.

1. If you have a spare USB, please "dd" the ISO to the USB and boot from there. Fatdog64's initrd is what is called as the "huge-initrd". Most grub2 versions will refuse to load initrd larger than 462MB, and hence you get the kernel panic. If you boot from USB, you're using Fatdog's specially patched grub2, so it should work.

2. Otherwise, if you want to use initrd-nano, you need to configure it so that after booting, initrd-nano will load the full initrd.

The way to do it is:

menuentry 'FatDog64 on (sda2/ext4)'{
search --no-floppy --set=root --fs-uuid 93881cd4-d29c-4637-a643-a895d1f3db9d
linux /fatdog64/vmlinuz waitdev=5 rootfstype=ramfs savefile=none mergeinitrd1=uuid:93881cd4-d29c-4637-a643-a895d1f3db9d:/fatdog64/initrd
initrd /fatdog64/initrd-nano
}
[code]

Thanks @jamesbond . Learned something new today.