Help with initramfs

The validation image is running over the 64M ramdisk size I currently
have configured, to the point that NO files can get created. I'm
worried that this might not even run on Bx boards. Steve Kipisz has a
utility that should let me switch the camera validation from using
mplayer to a small TI test app, but I worry about moving to
non-standard stuff. I believe initramfs will make this far more
flexible, enabling me to make better trade-offs. First, it should be
able to be dynamic in size, up to the available memory. Second, it
should allow me to hand-off the 'init' to another file system if that
ever becomes desired.

I produced a cpio.gz.u-boot image using Open Embedded and uploaded it
as ramfs.img here:
http://beagleboard-validation.s3.amazonaws.com/deploy/201008110419/sd/list.html

Hunyue has told me that without putting it inside the kernel image,
I'm still limited to using it as a ramdisk. I don't understand that,
but I figured I'd at least check the validity of the image by
attempting to use it as a ramdisk. I essentially attempted to boot it
like a ramdisk from u-boot, except that I removed the 'rootfstype'
argument from the command line. Here are the commands I issued to
u-boot:

mmc init
setenv rdaddr 0x81000000
fatload mmc 1 ${rdaddr} ramfs.img
setenv bootargs console=${console} ${optargs} mpurate=${mpurate}
buddy=${buddy} camera=${camera} vram=${vram}
omapfb.mode=dvi:${dvimode} omapdss.def_disp=${defaultdisplay}
root=${ramroot} rw ramdisk_size=65536 initrd=${rdaddr},64M
run loaduimage
bootm ${loadaddr} ${rdaddr}

The result, however, is that the kernel never recognizes the image:
[ 325.043792] RAMDISK: Couldn't find valid RAM disk image starting at 0.
[ 325.051208] hub 2-2:1.0: USB hub found
[ 325.061065] hub 2-2:1.0: 5 ports detected
[ 325.086669] List of all partitions:
[ 325.090209] 1f00 512 mtdblock0 (driver?)
[ 325.095336] 1f01 1920 mtdblock1 (driver?)
[ 325.100372] 1f02 128 mtdblock2 (driver?)
[ 325.105346] 1f03 4096 mtdblock3 (driver?)
[ 325.110382] 1f04 255488 mtdblock4 (driver?)
[ 325.115417] No filesystem could mount root, tried: ext3 ext2 ext4
squashfs vfat msdos
[ 325.123443] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root
fs on unknown-block(1,0)

Here is my defconfig:
http://cgit.openembedded.org/cgit.cgi/openembedded/tree/recipes/linux/linux-omap-psp-2.6.32/beagleboard/defconfig

Any ideas?

An initramfs is by definition part of the *Image the kernel produces. Adding it into the kernel is fairly simple, just point the .config symbol to your initramfs file. You will need to use some trickery to include modules, since the modules won't be built by the time you link the image into the kernel. In angstrom we solve that by having 2 different recipes, one of the kernel(modules) and one of the initramfs kernel.

For the initramfs I would advice keeping it small, and not including everything and the kitchensink.

regards,

Koen