Ok lets get linux up and running. I have provided the basic parts necessary to get a ramdisk based linux system running from a dos/fat medium. (HD, FD, or USB stick) In order for linux to run, it needs a kernel (the linux program itself) and a file system. Our file system will be in the form of a ramdisk called an "initial ram disk".
We need a kernel.
A compiled/working kernel can be obtained from a number of places. This one I built myself and I use it for installation. It contains most of the stuff needed to get started. for now we will use only a couple of modules/drivers that are inserted at boot by the ramdisk image startup. Later we will build a kernel and a ramdisk. You pretty much need a running system to do this.
We need a ramdisk image.
Again this is the one I use for installation. I built it with some scripts I will share with you in a later step. For now we will use this one. It is called initrd.gz for gzipped initial ram disk. Be careful with this one. Do a "save as" Windows will likley try to unzip it for you. This you don't want.
We also need a boot loader.
There are a number of popular boot loaders available which are well suited for specific tasks, but for our current use, this one is most appropriot. This loader is called syslinux. You can find a link to it on the packages page. You could actually download it from here but it comes in source form. There is instructions for building it on everything from linux to windows. I built it for you to save you the trouble.
You will also need a configuration file.
It tells the loader which kernel file and which ramdisk file to load as well as a couple of other parameters. (ramdisk size, mount read/write) I have created this for you. For this application it is called syslinux.cfg.
Now go to the download section and download the CD. All the files you need are on it in the isolinux directory.
Follow the steps in the appropriot booting section to follow.
