On 08/02/13 20:10, Andy Brown wrote: [...]
“ kernel panic – not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root FS on unknown block(1,0)”
I do get the “penguin” and a load of text on the E3 screen before the error, so I rekon I’m not far away.
Yup, that means the Linux kernel is running; it just can't find the root filesystem. This does mean it's almost working.
I'd hazard a guess that it means it's failed to correctly upload the initrd image --- it's large and the serial link isn't very reliable. Does pbltool say anything interesting during the upload process?
You could also try copying the ramdisk image (uncompressed) onto a USB key and changing the root= parameter to root=/dev/sda or root=/dev/sda1.
I've always had luck using the E3_release_v2 system at http://the.earth.li/pub/e3 --- this has the advantage that it will also reflash the device for you, so it'll boot automatically into Linux and you don't need to use the serial link each time. (Instructions inside the package.)