grub2 EFI boot loader internal/external booting

[pxwpxw]

Hmmm,

My understanding was that to get the mac too boot from usb it was necessary to use the grub-efi. As the normal grub would be trying to use a normal PC bios.

CC

That is correct. And grub.efi can be on the internal HD or on the USB.

[step21]

Apple firmware can boot from mbr partition

yes, i know that support for efi under linux is experimental but i want to try. i don't think that creating some files on hidden vfat partion could broke something. this way works elilo when you install it (i mean that elilo install script creates caltalog on hidden partition, puts thete elilo.efi, elilo.conf, boot catalog, and README.txt file ), so whay it could break something ?

I don't know of anything, but why put it on a seperate partition if it just works with the os x partition?

As my macbook is my only machine I will not be able to pause half-way and refer to the thread.

Yeah, that's what refit is for. If you install an mbr-grub, it can't overwrite any EFI stuff anyway, so booting to os x/refit at least should not be compromised.

AFAIK Apple EFI system can boot system for mbr partiotn table, so you don't have to install grub-efi or elilo or even rEFIt. It take some time to boot (using original Apple efi boot mgr) but it boot's.

Yes it can, in fact it's quite fast, at least for me.

... instead of playing with efi and brub on efi and non-efi systems.

Yes, second that, however iirc it is not possible with the apple firmware too boot "legacy os's" (everything non-EFI) from a usb stick, only from cd or disk.

[CaptainChickenpants]

A MacBook 2,1 is one of the lucky ones that will run grub.efi very well, the 32bit version as in the top of the thread. You just got to get it installed and configured correctly as described and use an i386 2.6.27 kernel (ubuntu 810). Whatever you do, get rEFIt installed and on a CD FIRST.

I have refit installed. Why do I need it on a CD? Looking through the thread I am under the impresssion that refit jiggles around the drive numbers when booted from a CD. If I wan't to be able to boot without the refit CD surely I need to be booting through the refit installed on my internal hd?

Or have I completly got the wrong end of the stick?

[pxwpxw]

I have refit installed. Why do I need it on a CD? Looking through the thread I am under the impresssion that refit jiggles around the drive numbers when booted from a CD. If I wan't to be able to boot without the refit CD surely I need to be booting through the refit installed on my internal hd?

Or have I completly got the wrong end of the stick?

Yes. You install refit to the HD and use that normally for boot manager and to update (resync ) the MBR for Windows or Grub-pc.
You also make a rescue copy of refit on the CD for the times when you cant boot the HD (it happens sometimes after using the ubuntu partitioning tools ). You don't normally us the refit CD. If you have a blessed copy of grub.efi on external USB, you probably won't have those problems.

[cyberdork33]

AFAIK Apple EFI system can boot system for mbr partiotn table, so you don't have to install grub-efi or elilo or even rEFIt. It take some time to boot (using original Apple efi boot mgr) but it boot's.

AFAIR my macbook boots gentoo from mbr partion using grub but that take some time (2-3 minutes of white screen but it runs).

I personaly recommend you keep it as simple as it is possible, so better (if you want to boot yours srick on efi and bios systems) solution would be have normal MBR partion and boot system (like grub or lilo) instead of playing with efi and brub on efi and non-efi systems.

The boot delay can be shortened by blessing the Linux partition as bootable.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...8&postcount=21

[pxwpxw]

@step21: yes, i know that support for efi under linux is experimental but i want to try. i don't think that creating some files on hidden vfat partion could broke something. this way works elilo when you install it (i mean that elilo install script creates caltalog on hidden partition, puts thete elilo.efi, elilo.conf, boot catalog, and README.txt file ), so whay it could break something ?

I have a grub.efi on the 200MB EFI FAT32 partition on both internal HD and external.

Then rEFIt can load grub.efi, or Mac OSX can bless it --setBoot and the Apple firmware will load grub.efi directly. This could be a way to boot a Linux only installation.
But I also have other grub.efi available, and Mac OSX installed.
The FAT32 installation can be difficult to manage unless there is an alternative boot loader or rescue CD. Mac OSX will also use the FAT32 EFI partition for firmware upgrades.

However with your MacBook 3,1 there seems to be the problem booting the linux kernel with grub.efi - the same problem with other 64bit EFI Macs, so that is the main problem you have if you want to experiment. (same as my problem on imac8,1 - it does not depend on where grub.efi is installed).

[CaptainChickenpants]

The USB stick has been formatted in osx with a single fat parition, using MBR partition mode.

I then booted the Intepid live CD and did a usb installation, I then put the EFI folder onto the drive,

When trying to boot directly to the usb drive using refit without the grub-efi I get an error saying that Apple firmware has compatability problems booting legacy drives.

I can run the efi-grub fine from rEFIt. and see a bunch of menu options (list partition, search hd0 etc).

When I try and run any of the search/set options I get an error saying I need to launch the kernel first.


Examining the layout of the usb stick it looks like the path to vmlinuz is /casper/vmlinuz I can't find an initrd.img but there is a initrd.gz also in the /casper folder (prezumably this is compressed to save space on a usb stick install?).
I am wondering if with this information I can simply edit the /EFI/grub/grub.cfg.

Any suggestions how I progress this?

[edit] Ok a little more progress.
I modified the grub.cfg like so
menuentry "sdb1" {
linux (hd0,1)/casper/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb1 agp=off video=efifb
initrd (hd0,1)/casper/initrd.gz
}

This certainly looks like it is doing linuxy stuff.
It is going through the boot process and gets as far as

running scripts/init-bottom...
mount: mounting /root/dev on /dev/.static/dev failed no such file or directory
mount: mounting /root/dev on /dev/.static/dev failed no such file or directory
mount: mounting /proc on /root/proc failed no such file or directory
Target files system doesn't have /sbin/init
no init found try passing init= bootarg

busybox built in shell....
(initramfs)


Wondering if this is because the filesystem is maybe laid out differently because of the usb persistant storage stuff. If so how do I install on a usb drive as though it were a disk drive?

[pxwpxw]

CaptainChickenpants

You seem to have put a live cd on the usb stick for a persistent live usb.
I prefer a standard full installation to the usb stick (i.e. no casper) just like an install to the HD. Never bothered with the persistent live usb approach.

The kernel is linked to /vmlinuz and /initrd.img and now that you know how to boot linux, you should have no trouble if you do it that way.
That is the type of installation expected by the sample grub.cfg.

[CaptainChickenpants]

CaptainChickenpants

You seem to have put a live cd on the usb stick for a persistent live usb.
I prefer a standard full installation to the usb stick (i.e. no casper) just like an install to the HD. Never bothered with the persistent live usb approach.

The kernel is linked to /vmlinuz and /initrd.img and now that you know how to boot linux, you should have no trouble if you do it that way.
That is the type of installation expected by the sample grub.cfg.

Yes that is exactly what I have done. When I try and do a straight install, then Ibex doesn't show the USB key as an option to install on.

I seem to recall when I was trying with Hardy Heron, that it would accept the key as a drive but it wants to partition it. I feel like I am frustratingly clos to having this working!

Cheers,
CC

[pxwpxw]

Yes that is exactly what I have done. When I try and do a straight install, then Ibex doesn't show the USB key as an option to install on.

I seem to recall when I was trying with Hardy Heron, that it would accept the key as a drive but it wants to partition it. I feel like I am frustratingly clos to having this working!

Cheers,
CC

Try partitioning the usb stick again using Mac OSX Disk Utility.

Select GUID partition scheme.

Make 1 small hfsplus (MacOS Extended) partition about 100MB

Make the rest MSDOS - you can delete that in the installer and then use it as ext3 root, no swap.

That may also produce an EFI FAT32 200MB in the USB as a by product - if so just leave it there, but check the partiton numbers.

Try to avoid getting grub-pc in the HD MBR - you can continue without bootloader.

After the ubuntu install, you can install the EFI/grub2 in the hfsplus partition and boot /vmlinuz /initrd.img


If the installer messes up the usb MBR, it will need the ubuntu refit gptsync utility to check and update, but I dont think it should be needed.