[lug] mkbootdisk -- no space left on device

[Bear Giles]

David Stepaniak wrote:
> I am attempting to create a boot diskette for RH Enterprise Linux WS v.3,
> kernel 2.4.21-9.0.1, with mkbootdisk which copies over
> /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL to the diskette, but then
> runs out of space during the transfer of initrd-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL.img.
> What is really essential to get my machine booted from a diskette?

A compressed kernel (vmlinuz) and initial ram disk image (initrd) 
on one diskette, and a root filesystem on a second disk.  This 
could be a working hard disk, an image on a floppy or CD-ROM, etc.

> Is it possible to put vmlinuz-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL by itself on one diskette

Nope, with current kernels you need both kernel and initrd.  You 
either need to trim your kernel, or burn a 2.88M floppy (which is 
what a bootable CD-ROM usually emulates).

 > (By the way, after using fdformat to format
> the diskettes, what filesystem type - e.g. ext2, msdos -- should be
> applied to the diskettes with mkfs?)

Boot floppy images often use MSDOS, with a small .sys file that 
knows how to load the kernel & initrd.  See syslinux.

Root floppy images usually use minix FS since it has relatively 
low overhead, but you have to have a kernel that understands it.