Stuck before first fai-client install is done

[George VerDuin]

Greetings

As a newbie I have reached the point of bombing out with my first 
client.  In FAI-Guide my failure is listed under section 5.7.1 as:

    Begin: Mounting root file system... ...
    Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

with the suggestion "Check initrd ... for a missing driver." [I 
paraphrased].  This makes sense, I will eventually figure out what is 
missing, but I'm missing the tools that make this job easy.

The kernel module tools [lsmod, modinfo, modprobe, ...] don't function 
on the nfsroot for me.  They work nicely on the host kernel.  But I feel 
stuck on the bigger question: What module "should" be in place based on 
the hardware of fai-client.  Since fai builds without the client 
hardware present, there can be no "self discovery" in the OS build 
process?  I have not modified the "simple" example so it appears my 
demohost may be built with strange hardware.

I hope to be easily trainable and my question: "Is there a toolkit for 
looking into a cold metal machine for matching up hardware and 
drivers?"  In the absence of a tool, is BIOS output adequate for the 
purpose of a manual search?

Thanks IN ADVANCE if this is a quick answer.
If not -- I'll slog away until I have joy in holding my first fai-built 
client.

Cheers
Geo


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