Boot disk and root floppy

I tried to create a boot disk and rescue disk with yast but it didn't work. I need to use a custom kernel anyway so I created a boot disk that works fine but it asks for a root floppy. I would like to create a root fs on a floppy but yast and the suse knowledge base don't help with that. I copied basic files from /etc, /etc/init.d, /etc/init.d/rcx.d, /bin/, /sbin, /usr/bin but the boot process stops with "Unable to open initial console." Can anyone tell me exactly what I need to make a root fs on a floppy or where I can see a workable fs image? Any docs, readme's, or web sites? Thanks. John S.