grub2 EFI boot loader internal/external booting

[pxwpxw]

You can see how the grub drive name allocation is affected if you use the grub> command line
Some useful commands (which should also work for grub2-pc) -

grub> TAB
grub> set
grub> set pager=1
grub> help
grub> ls
grub> ls -l
grub> search -f /vmlinuz
grub> lspci
grub> lsmod

Any drive plugged in at restart affects result.

[Nikos.Alexandris]

You can see how the grub drive name allocation is affected if you use the grub> command line

...

Any drive plugged in at restart affects result.

That's not so good, is it? If I understand this correctly, depending on the type and the number of external drives plugged at power-on, grub-efi settings might be rendered useless?

[pxwpxw]

That's not so good, is it? If I understand this correctly, depending on the type and the number of external drives plugged at power-on, grub-efi settings might be rendered useless?

Well not useless, but you may have to have a menuentry to account for each startup drive configuration if you change it. But you can plug in a usb stick or other device after startup without problem.

One solution is to use 'search' and the partition UUID in grub menuentry, (I think shown in the grub2 install example grub.cfg? ) and grub2 documentation. I have not tried it. But "ls -l" in grub.efi commandline lists hdx,x and UUID xxxxxx . You might like to investigate that and tell us the result.

Another method is to put a unique marker file on the root of the partition and use search to set root for it

 search --set -f /foobar123

Of course if you only have one /vmlinuz in the system, search for that.

Again, with elilo.efi default install for HD boot, the problem does no arise, because the kernel is copied to the elilo EFI local partition, and kernel can then use linux device numbers (i.e. /dev/sda stays as /dev/sda ), or UUID.

[Nikos.Alexandris]

Well not useless, but you may have to have a menuentry to account for each startup drive configuration if you change it. But you can plug in a usb stick or other device after startup without problem.

I consider this is as (at least) not elegant.

One solution is to use 'search' and the partition UUID in grub menuentry, (I think shown in the grub2 install example grub.cfg? ) and grub2 documentation. I have not tried it. But "ls -l" in grub.efi commandline lists hdx,x and UUID xxxxxx . You might like to investigate that and tell us the result.

I will report back when I'll try it out. I ran into other problems now so it might take some time till I reply for this.

Another method is to put a unique marker file on the root of the partition and use search to set root for it

 search --set -f /foobar123

Of course if you only have one /vmlinuz in the system, search for that.

ok.

Again, with elilo.efi default install for HD boot, the problem does no arise, because the kernel is copied to the elilo EFI local partition, and kernel can then use linux device numbers (i.e. /dev/sda stays as /dev/sda ), or UUID.

But elilo lacks 3d acceleration, doesn't it? And what about display/keyboard brightness?

[Nikos.Alexandris]

Well, the power manager seems not to work at all with grub64.efi. I was testing the battery (wanted to discharge it completely first) and the machine powered-off without any notification.

That's not good

The machine was running for almost 2 hours (attached screenshot). I suppose this can be much better if the power-manager ( and the display/ keyboard brightness) will work.

[Nikos.Alexandris]

Actually I've just noticed that the applesmc driver fails to load under efi boot with the error:

[  123.009015] applesmc: supported laptop not found!
[  123.009019] applesmc: driver init failed (ret=-19)!

Plus I can't seem to adjust backlight brightness - previously (due to the 9600M GT) I had to use the mbp_nvidia_bl driver from the mactel ppa, but I guess this doesn't support the 9400M. Instead I've now installed the nvidia_bl driver, which when loaded sees both the 9600M GT and the 9400M:

[   13.015837] nvidia_bl: Supported Nvidia graphics adapter 10de:0647:106b:00a9 detected

But when pressing the brightness up / down keys, I see the animated notification show up signalling what should be an increase / decrease in brightness but it doesn't have any effect - which leads me to believe that nvidia_bl is trying to set the brightness for the 9600M GT (which I am not using under efi - AND which the nvidia_bl driver doesn't seem to support anyway - hence why I was using the mbp_nvidia_bl driver before). Looks like some driver hacking is needed to get it to ignore the 9600M GT...

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

[pxwpxw]

@ Nikos.Alexandris

You need more specific identification of any grub.efi associated problems for you Mac model, it may need grub-dev attention. Its not clear to me. I think you need to sort out on a special issues MBP5x thread first which issues are specifically grub.efi and whether we can solve in this forum.

----------------------------------------------
I started an elilo.efi thread for elilo discussion,it is at a different stage and scope compared with grub.efi, I am using it for Karmic.
elilo efi bootloader - apple macs
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1221709

For elilo.efi and grub.efi, on MBP41 I can only use fbdev, not nvidia driver, but that is also for Uga Draw graphics, whereas MBP5x is Gop which elilo supports , so it would be useful for someone with MBP5x to confirm what is the situation for 3d accel with elilo.

------------------------------------------------

I use a simple script to switch automatically between xorg.conf for fbdev and other driver.

Made as follows -

All as root

1. create and make executable
/etc/init.d/swxconfig

#! /bin/sh
 cd /etc/X11
 grep fbdev /proc/cmdline >/dev/null && cp xorg.conf-fbdev xorg.conf ||
 cp xorg.conf-0 xorg.conf

2. Make symbolic link in /etc/rc2.d

cd /etc/rc2.d

ln -s ../init.d/swxconfig S20swxconfig

giving /etc/rc2.d/S20swxconfig -> ../init.d/swxconfig
(symbolic link to ../init.d/swxconfig)

3. Two files in /etc/X11, my xorg.conf-0 is the default one for no fbdev.

/etc/X11/xorg-0

/etc/x11/xorg-fbdev
==============
Then if you want fbdev, addd fbdev to the grub menuentry linux command line
i.e.
 
linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sdax... other cmdline options.. fbdev

[dsbrooks]

Has anyone attempted booting on Xserve3,1? (Xserve 2009, Nehalem-based)

I've been following posts in this thread and a few others specifically on Xserve and have a disk setup with refit 0.13 and grub2 efi x64. It looks like I'm able to load the kernel but am getting a "can't find frame buffer address" message and then the system hangs. Specifically, the following messages:

[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x3400, size=0x2f5db0]
Video mode: 640x480-32@60
Display controller: 7:0.0
Device id: 65610de
MMIO(0):0x92000000
VMEM(1): 0x80000000
MMIO(3): 0x90000000
Can't find frame buffer address
[Initrd, addr=0x73bee000, size=04f0f20]

*SYSTEM HANGS*

Any suggestions?

[pxwpxw]

Has anyone attempted booting on Xserve3,1? (Xserve 2009, Nehalem-based)

I've been following posts in this thread and a few others specifically on Xserve and have a disk setup with refit 0.13 and grub2 efi x64. It looks like I'm able to load the kernel but am getting a "can't find frame buffer address" message and then the system hangs. Specifically, the following messages:

[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x3400, size=0x2f5db0]
Video mode: 640x480-32@60
Display controller: 7:0.0
Device id: 65610de
MMIO(0):0x92000000
VMEM(1): 0x80000000
MMIO(3): 0x90000000
Can't find frame buffer address
[Initrd, addr=0x73bee000, size=04f0f20]

*SYSTEM HANGS*

Any suggestions?

What grub64.efi are you using?
And what menuentry?

[dsbrooks]

What grub64.efi are you using?
And what menuentry?

grub64.efi from bean123 posted on #841 (unclear what build number that it); saw a later one posted but haven't given it a try.

I started with:

menuentry "Fedora-11-x86_64-Live CD boot" {
fakebios
root=cd0
linux /isolinux/vmlinuz0 root=CDLABEL=Fedora-11-x86_64-Live rootfstype=auto ro liveimg rhgb single acpi=force irqpoll video=efifb nomodeset
initrd /isolinux/initrd0.img
}

per write up at http://www.4elements.com/blog/instal...ve_part_three/

tried several variations as well but don't have the files handy to copy/paste.