[Gen8, Gen9, Gen10 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] shalkam:
Thanks for your post!! Finally I have been able to make some progress after googling around for a couple of weeks :)

I went through the guide you posted and it turned out to be very helpful ..

I ended up with the file -> new_initrd.lzo

and I have been able to edit the init file

#!/bin/sh

# kr's init script.

if [ -e /etc/debug_build ] ; then
debug=1
verbose=1
enable_adb=1
#set -x
else
debug=0
verbose=0
enable_adb=0
fi

# source init_lib
. /etc/scripts/init_lib.sh

# source recovery_lib
. /etc/scripts/recovery_lib.sh

if [ -e /etc/scripts/platform_lib.sh ] ; then
. /etc/scripts/platform_lib.sh
fi

# archosboxes
ACAT=/bin/acat
ADBD=/bin/adbd
ADEV=/bin/adev
AOSPARSER=/bin/aosparser
AUI=/bin/aui
AUID=/bin/auid
AUTODIM=/bin/autodim
CREATE_SYSID=/bin/create_sysid
FB_WRITE=/bin/fb_write
FLASH_PARTITION_ERASE=/bin/flash_partition_erase
FSCK_EXT3_PARSER=/bin/fsck.ext3_parser
GET_INFO=/bin/get_info
KD_FLASHER=/bin/kd_flasher
KX_CHECKER=/bin/kx_checker
MKFSEXT3_PARSER=/bin/mkfs.ext3_parser
REBOOT_INTO=/bin/reboot_into
RFBI_REFRESH=/bin/rfbi_refresh
USB_TS_CALIB=/bin/usb_ts_calib

FSCK_EXT3=/sbin/e2fsck.static
FSCK_VFAT=/sbin/dosfsck.static

# busybox
CAT=/bin/cat
CHMOD=/bin/chmod
DD=/bin/dd
INSMOD=/sbin/insmod
LOSETUP=/sbin/losetup
MKDIR=/bin/mkdir
MOUNT=/bin/mount
RM=/bin/rm
RMMOD=/sbin/rmmod
TOUCH=/bin/touch
UMOUNT=/bin/umount
ZCAT=/bin/zcat

AAS_PRESENT=0

# Prepare filesystem
mount_pseudo_fs

ln -s /proc/mounts /etc/mtab

# Get board and product information
PRODUCT_NAME=`$GET_INFO p`
PRODUCT_REVISION=`$GET_INFO r`
PRODUCT_PK=`$GET_INFO P`
AOS_FILENAME=`$GET_INFO f`
AOS_EXTENSION="aos"

log "recovery get_info - PRODUCT $PRODUCT_NAME ($PRODUCT_REVISION) - AOSFILENAME $AOS_FILENAME"

$ADEV -d

platform_init

wait_block_devices rawfs

mount_p rawfs

display_banner $PRODUCT_NAME $PRODUCT_REVISION

$KX_CHECKER -f /mnt/rawfs/init
ki_status=$?

$KX_CHECKER -m -f /mnt/rawfs/custom
kd_status=$?

umount_p rawfs

auid_start $PRODUCT_NAME $PRODUCT_REVISION

$AUI -c message -T "Archos $PRODUCT_NAME" -a centered -t "~ Hello world ~"

wait_block_devices storage

if [ "$ki_status" = "0" ] && [ "$kd_status" = "0" ] ; then
recovery_cmd="boot_menu"
else
recovery_cmd="-"
fi

if [ $enable_adb -eq 1 ] ; then
$ADBD
fi

# enter recovery app main loop :
# check for automatic tasks and process, or ask user what to do
#
# if manual or auto task fail, recovery_loop will try to repair
# (for $COUNTER times) and reloop...
#
COUNTER=4
while [ $COUNTER -gt 0 ]; do

# check for automatic update to perform.
# repair disk silently if AAS present. (double update case)
mount_p storage
aas_fullfilename=`get_mount_info p storage`"/firmware_$AOS_FILENAME.aas"
if [ -e $aas_fullfilename ] ; then
recovery_cmd="flash_aas $aas_fullfilename"
fi
umount_p storage

do_recovery_loop $recovery_cmd
result=$?

case "$result" in
$RECOVERY_RECOVERED)
log "recovery recovered system ($COUNTER)"
;;

$RECOVERY_DONE)
COUNTER=4
;;

$RECOVERY_FINISH)
log "recovery_loop go reboot"
COUNTER=0
;;

$RECOVERY_FINISH_HALT)
log "recovery_loop go shutdown"
COUNTER=0
;;

$RECOVERY_FINISH_NO_NOTIFICATION)
log "recovery_loop go reboot"
COUNTER=0
;;

*)
log "recovery_loop failed go reboot"
if [ $debug -eq 1 ] ; then
# give debug informations
COUNTER=0
else
COUNTER=0
fi
;;
esac

recovery_cmd="-"
let COUNTER-=1
done

case "$result" in
"$RECOVERY_FINISH_NO_NOTIFICATION")
log_and_reboot "reboot"
;;
"$RECOVERY_FINISH_HALT")
aui_message "Device will now halt."
log_and_shutdown "shutdown"
;;
*)
aui_message "Device will now reboot."
log_and_reboot "reboot"
;;
esac

# EOF

all the changes that I made are

$AUI -c message -T "Archos $PRODUCT_NAME" -a centered -t "~ Hello world ~"

just added "hello world" instead of "starting..." just for now.

So what I need to know is :

1- how to use the "new_initrd.lzo" file should I get renamed to "initramfs.cpio.lzo" and create an empty file called zimage then do the "Flash Kernel and Initramfs"

2- I guess the guide was made before sde was released for archos g9, so do I need to keep all the coding for the recovery menu or just keep the code for mounting the hard disk and loading the system/image ?

3- could you post an example code of how to mount the hard disk and boot from there if you can ?

Thanks