creating distribution installation disks with speakup in the kernel

[Jacob Schmude]

First off, the kernel does not do installation. You'll find a file called
"initdisk.gz" (I think, haven't used redhat in a while because I went back
to slackware).  This is a rootdisk file which is loaded into memory during
the loading of the bootdisk, the technical name for this is "initrd". This
file has the installation programs on it. If you want to create your own
bootdisk, all you need to do is replace the kernel. Be careful, however,
as you need to make sure the kernel version is exactly the version redhat
uses and somehow obtain redhat's config file that they used to compile
their kernel. One little problem may be this:
slackware kernel version: 2.2.14
redhat kernel version: 2.2.14-20

You can tell these are not the same kernel versions. I don't know what
kernel version redhat uses now, but to get that build version (the number
after the dash) edit the makefile in /usr/src/linux. Find the
"EXTRAVERSION" line and put that number, including the dash, after the
equals sign and recompile.


On Sat, 8 Apr 2000, Chris Nestrud wrote:

> Hello all..
> 
> I've compiled a kernel which I'm using with slackware, but I'm considering 
> trying out redhat to see which I like better. I've noticed several 
> boot/install disks for several distributions, and am wondering how they 
> were made. I've looked at the redhat installation disk, and can't find much 
> more than the kernel, leading me to believe that some of the installation 
> is done by ther kernel itself? That doesn't make sense, as the kernel 
> should just act as a kernel, but that's all that I can think of.
> 
> Any suggestions on creating the disks?
> 
> Thanks,
> Chris
> 
> 
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