[debian-non-standard] 2.4 kernel on Asus WL500G Premium

[Luci Stanescu]

Hello,

Tomasz Chmielewski wrote:
> I guess you're unable to boot a 2.4 kernel off a built-in flash and then 
> continue booting the system from a USB-stick?
Yes, exactly.

> USB mass-storage devices (USB-sticks etc.) need some time (3-4 seconds) 
> before they are fully available to the kernel.
> Therefore, with a 2.6 kernel we use rootdelay=10 to delay booting for 10 
> seconds (10 seconds just to make sure it's long enough) - only then a 
> /dev/sda device is detected and is usable.
> 
> 2.4 kernel lacks a "rootdelay=" kernel parameter, so it tries to boot 
> the system immediately after the kernel is booted, and with no device, 
> it fails (no root found, kernel panic).
Thank you! It worked without problems. Can't imagine how I forgot about 
this (I actually had such a problem with an IBM xSeries server with the 
SCSI disks).

> There were some patches for 2.4 kernel to add a similar functionality, 
> if you look well enough in google.
Indeed, I found a patch, seems it was a bit old since it didn't actually 
apply, but there wasn't much to modify so I did by hand. I'll put an 
image online at one point. If there's anyone interested in it before I 
actually do that, I'd be happy to provide it.

--
Luci Stanescu