When the built-in HDD controller in my computer broke down, I decided to try running my computer diskless with LAN booting. I use Ubuntu Linux 6.10 and I have another computer with a large HDD acting as server.

I followed the instructions in this HOWTO. I changed MODULES to “netboot” in initramfs.conf and I had to add a driver for my network adapter to the modules file in the initramfs configuration. It took me a while to realize why it didn’t work without the network adapter driver. I also mounted /tmp as tmpfs.