One is always free to implement a initrd of one’s choice.
I’ m working on a much more functional, more tailor suited, initrd, with many possibilities For now it is running on R3, but when all functional I will add R4.
Just a few things working on:
Uboot Distro-boot sd/emmc - nvme - nand. Scanning for extlinux.conf on the devices in that order. Where on nand there is also a resque initrd.
This initrd can make connection through dhcp-client. Run my installscript or debootstrap, to install any linux on the R3 directly from initrd.
Anyway, still in development, partly functional. Maybe in a month or so it is usable.
It is all tested and looks good, setting up a usefull NAND image, from where it is quite easy to install any linux distro on nvme (or emmc), or use some linux tools to fix the reason the board is not booting correctly.
In case the R3-Mini (or any other board) is bricked, this is how to get linux running and fix whatever is needed: