I changed the APPEND line in the /home/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file to read
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APPEND initrd=initrd.gz pfix=noram
I had a look into the "init" file which is in the initrd.gz and found some interesting options. I think the new boot menu perhaps has some different boot parameters
Lines 167-184
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#now supporting a boot menu...
if [ "$pfix" ];then
for ONEFIX in `echo -n "$pfix" | tr ',' ' '`
do
case $ONEFIX in
ram) PRAMONLY="yes";; #run in ram only (do not load pup_save).
rdsh) RDSH="yes";; #exit to shell in initial ramdisk.
nox) PNOX="yes";; #do not start X.
clean) PCLEAN="yes";; #force version upgrade and cleanup.
purge) PPURGE="yes";; #radical cleanup for broken system.
copy) PCOPY="yes";; #copy .sfs files into ram.
noram) PNORAM="yes";; #v412 partial restore no copy sfs to ram.
fsck) PFSCK="yes";; #do a fsck of pup_save file.
[0-9]*) PIGNORELAST=$ONEFIX;; #blacklist last $ONEFIX folders (multisession).
esac
done
fi
[ "$PNORAM" = "yes" ] && PCOPY="no" #v412
Ive had a quick scan of the "init" file (man that is some piece of engineering!) and in parts it refers to to humungous initrd's. I will attach it to this post, because Im having some real trouble deciphering it for now.
If it does turn out that it is "double-loading" the pup_420.sfs file (once while it loads the initrd.gz via PXE and then again during bootup proper (the tmpfs?) then this is a bug in puppy's implementation of netbooting. In netbooting, it should be able to call programmes directly from the pup_420.sfs inside the initrd.gz, otherwise client computers will waste RAM that could be used for running programs once puppy has PXE booted. It could also just be that the size of the free RAM in the final netbooted puppy is reported as larger, because I did hear that if Linux does find extra ram then it just uses it. If it is a bug(let) then it would be good to iron out and give and extra 100mb or so RAM for applications.
Im also going to have to add code to this file to autodhcp eth0 at bootup, to connect back to the smoothwall server for an i.p. address for the internet connection. That way the internet will "just work" when they launch seamonkey. Is this along the lines of
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dhcpcd eth0