[syslinux] Memory usage with memdisk vs initrd a squashfs

[H. Peter Anvin]

On 03/13/2014 12:31 PM, Ian Bannerman wrote:
> Question, 
> 
> Some Linux distributions I support show two approaches for pxe
> booting them. One uses memdisk to boot an ISO file. The other uses
> pxelinux to boot kernel and initrd a squashfs file. I'm unfamiliar
> with the impact to memory either approach has. Like, does using
> memdisk permanently squirrel away a chunk of memory for the ISO file
> that the OS will be unable to use? Is using initrd to pull down the
> squashfs file more or less efficient?

Yes it does.  If you are using initrd, the best thing to use is a cpio
archive (initramfs), which only uses up as little RAM as possible.

	-hpa