Just a note to report I've just tested gpe-image (gpe-image-akita-20060102193451.rootfs.img + zImage-2.6.14+2.6.15-rc7-akita-20060102193451.bin) generated in .dev on my akita.
The kernel stops the boot with the following messages when booted without the compact flash inserted :
VFS: Cannot open root device "hda1" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable ro mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
And with the CF inserted, more or less the same :
Probing IDE interface ide0...
hda: SAMSUNG CF/ATA, CFA DISK drive
...
ide0: reset: success
hda1
ide-cs: hda: Vcc = 3.3, Vpp = 0.0
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable ro mount root fs on unknown-block(3,1)
As far as I understand that, it looks like the kernel is told to boot off an IDE drive... maybe the config for a SL-C3x00 ? ... but on the akita, no IDE boot device : only JFFS flash, I think...
Hope this helps,