grub2 EFI boot loader internal/external booting

[pxwpxw]

@dsbrooks

Check 'About rEFIt' to see if you have Graphics Output Protocaol Gop, which needs the later bean123 post #844 grub64.efi. (as mentioned in that post).

Talk about menuentry later.

[alexmurray]

Alex,

any success on this one? How do you (really) use the proper xorg.conf depending on whether you boot on EFI or BIOS-mode? Currently I have a copy of xorg.conf for nvidia9600 and one for nvidia9400 and copy them over accordingly using the terminal whenever I "switch" from one boot-mode to the other.

Is there a way to have both in the xorg.conf? Or, is there a way to use the "correct" xorg.conf depending the boot-mode? I am confused... there is only one xorg.conf after all.

Regards, Nikos

Nikos - I just edit my xorg.conf to specify a different PCI device id (2 vs 3) when changing, so its basically the same.

Also, the reason nvidia_bl and applesmc are not working is because using fakebios (I think) means that we can't read the dmi product info from the bios (since we faked it) and so the machine is not correctly identified as a MacBookPro5,1

So hopefully running a later kernel (such as 2.6.31 in karmic), where we don't need noefi and hence no fakebios will allow it to id the machine correctly, but I havent yet tested this.

[Nikos.Alexandris]

Nikos - I just edit my xorg.conf to specify a different PCI device id (2 vs 3) when changing, so its basically the same.

Also, the reason nvidia_bl and applesmc are not working is because using fakebios (I think) means that we can't read the dmi product info from the bios (since we faked it) and so the machine is not correctly identified as a MacBookPro5,1

So hopefully running a later kernel (such as 2.6.31 in karmic), where we don't need noefi and hence no fakebios will allow it to id the machine correctly, but I havent yet tested this.

OK I got it (more or less). Thanks for the explanations.

[dsbrooks]

@dsbrooks

Check 'About rEFIt' to see if you have Graphics Output Protocaol Gop, which needs the later bean123 post #844 grub64.efi. (as mentioned in that post).

EFI Revision 1.10
Platform: x86_64 (64 bit)
Firmware: Apple 1.10
Screen Output: Graphics Output (UEFI), 1920x1200

the later grub64.efi from #844 got me past the error and to a root@localhost prompt!

thank you.

[dsbrooks]

EFI Revision 1.10
Platform: x86_64 (64 bit)
Firmware: Apple 1.10
Screen Output: Graphics Output (UEFI), 1920x1200

the later grub64.efi from #844 got me past the error and to a root@localhost prompt!

suggestions for xorg.conf contents? haven't been able to get X11 running yet.

[pxwpxw]

suggestions for xorg.conf contents? haven't been able to get X11 running yet.

Thanks for confirming grub.efi working on Xseve3,1 and
Screen Output: Graphics Output (UEFI), 1920x1200

Once you get to root console then -

Procedure as used here, fedora live CD is quite slow to get to desktop:

1. At the Live CD root console -

[root@localhost]# 
[root@localhost]# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
 Identifier "fbdev driver"
 Driver "fbdev"
EndSection

[root@localhost]# ls -l /etc/X11

[root@localhost]# exit

( list /etc/X11 to check xorg,conf before exit. Then
exit or control d will then carry on with the startup to desktop )

2. After a few minutes this gets to a working Desktop with all apps and Install Option. Network should work if a wired network is connected (eth0).

EDIT: for some graphics chips/mac models, fbdev may not be suitable or necessary. So inititally try starting to desktop without stopping at root console.
-----

[dsbrooks]

Thanks for confirming grub.efi working on Xseve3,1 and
Screen Output: Graphics Output (UEFI), 1920x1200

Once you get to root console then -

Procedure as used here, fedora live CD is quite slow to get to desktop:

1. At the Live CD root console -

[root@localhost]# 
[root@localhost]# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
 Identifier "fbdev driver"
 Driver "fbdev"
EndSection

[root@localhost]# ls -l /etc/X11

[root@localhost]# exit

( list /etc/X11 to check xorg,conf before exit. Then
exit or control d will then carry on with the startup to desktop )

2. After a few minutes this gets to a working Desktop with all apps and Install Option. Network should work if a wired network is connected (eth0).

Thanks. I should have replied earlier, I was able to get it to work. The issue I had is that my LiveCD doesn't have a xorg.conf file so I had to generate one via "Xorg -configure :1" and then modify the device info as above. With that I was able to get it running.

I assume fbdev is non-accelerated graphics, so eventually want to try to get the right NVIDIA drivers installed.

I don't have networking for some reason so am working on that. And also need to clean everything up so it boots reliably each time.

[pxwpxw]

Thanks. I should have replied earlier, I was able to get it to work. The issue I had is that my LiveCD doesn't have a xorg.conf file so I had to generate one via "Xorg -configure :1" and then modify the device info as above. With that I was able to get it running.

I assume fbdev is non-accelerated graphics, so eventually want to try to get the right NVIDIA drivers installed.

I don't have networking for some reason so am working on that. And also need to clean everything up so it boots reliably each time.

There is often no xorg.conf or an empty one, the hardware detects the driver.
An xorg.conf created by nano as above i.e. with just the Section "Device", is sufficient, there is no need to generate one first.

You should always try without editing, using the default video driver, which should be detected for your hardware. The fbdev driver may be t wrong for some, for which it is wrong to stop at root console using the 'single' option if the console text is hidden - you get stuck there. This happens for Ubuntu with Radeon 2600HD on imac, where the radeon driver works with efi, but fbdev hangs X.

Possibly the Xserve3,1 with Gop and other refinements will support the Nvidia driver with efi boot.

[pxwpxw]

Booting ubuntu live iso with grub.efi

Should also work for grub2-pc, with pc options replacing the efi options.
Useful for Xserve, MacBookAir, external drives and to avoid burning CD.

uses ubuntu iso-scan/filename=/u904-64-live.iso

grub2.efi, on apple imac81,

booted u904-amd64-live.iso with grub.efi on imac86
using grub loopback and the ubuntu option 'iso-scan/filename=....iso'

iso was at /dev/sda4/u904-64-live.iso

menuentry "u904-64-live.iso" {
 fakebios
 search --set -f /u904-64-live.iso
 loopback loop /u904-64-live.iso
 linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/u904-64-live.iso video=efifb noefi
 initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.gz
}

(fakebios,video=efifb, noefi are grub.efi options).

Note that iso was not found when on hfsplus (although installers do find iso's on hfplsu), had to move to ext3 , probably ok on fat32.

Very good reference found -
http://www.panticz.de/MultiBootUSB
MultiBoot USB with Grub2 (boot directly from iso files)

[dsbrooks]

There is often no xorg.conf or an empty one, the hardware detects the driver.
An xorg.conf created by nano as above i.e. with just the Section "Device", is sufficient, there is no need to generate one first.

You should always try without editing, using the default video driver, which should be detected for your hardware. The fbdev driver may be t wrong for some, for which it is wrong to stop at root console using the 'single' option if the console text is hidden - you get stuck there. This happens for Ubuntu with Radeon 2600HD on imac, where the radeon driver works with efi, but fbdev hangs X.

Possibly the Xserve3,1 with Gop and other refinements will support the Nvidia driver with efi boot.

I tried without an xorg.conf file and as I recall got garbage on the screen. I tried just a minimal driver block with fbdev and got X11 running but no mouse/keyboard.

Xorg -config :1 plus fbdev edits worked great.

From there I was able to load the NVIDIA drivers and got accelerated video and 3D.

The last piece for functionality was downloading the latest Intel e1000/e1000e drivers and building and installing it to get networking.

So bean's grub.efi + correct menuentry for boot params + NVIDIA drivers + Intel e1000e driver seems to be the magic recipe for Xserve3,1.