Hi, i wrote:> > http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/11285.htmlpiranna at gmail.com wrote:> There it says about creating a third El Torito image only for Macs, > since old ones could fail and this could be the problem I'm having.The third boot image is HFS+, not FAT. I understand this is for pre-EFI Macs. Try a Debian amd64 ISO, e.g.: http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/7.8.0/amd64/iso-cd/debian-7.8.0-amd64-netinst.iso It does not have a HFS+ boot image, other than Fedora-LiveCD.iso.> > Of course, piranna could set up an EFI capable disk boot > > image by help of SYSLINUX. But that would not boot from > > optical media.> This is what I've done, a FAT disk image with syslinux.efi and embed > it inside the IsoHybrid disk image, but when dd'd to the USB pendrive,I meant a disk-only image. No ISO, no hybrid. Just an ESP and an operating system partition. Created by partition editor, filesystem formatter, and populated with files by you and SYSLINUX.> SysLinux.efi loads the Linux kernel and its initramfs file but doesn't > boot... :-/ As I put in the initial message I'm not using the > /efi/boot/bootx64.efi path but instead just copied all files in the > root directory of the FAT disk image, but since it already load the > kernel and the initramfs maybe the canonical path is not required... > is it? Do I need to use the canonical one (and why)?I would have expected that EFI falls back to the EFI shell if no /efi/boot/bootx64.efi is present in the ESP. Hrmpf ... The file names are defined in 3.4.1.1 "Removable Media Boot Behavior". In general, the file paths can be set by a NVRAM variable (FilePathList[0] ?) for particular devices. Do you have indications that syslinux.efi was really executed ?> > The only non-expert option is --uefi. > > There is no further non-expert documentation known to me.> I think --mac could fall in this topic too.Cough. I still riddle how to describe UEFI. HFS+ for old Macs would introduce the topic of file blessing. Not to speak of the fact that no tangible info is available about the range of Macs which need it.> Info about creation of the FAT disk image, and if there's any > diference (that seems there are), example for EFI-based Macs.First we would have to produce a SYSLINUX based ESP image which is able to boot Linux so that it can use the surrounding ISO 9660 filesystem. Have a nice day :) Thomas
> The third boot image is HFS+, not FAT. > I understand this is for pre-EFI Macs.Apple started usinf EFI when it switched to Intel x86 CPUs, previous to this ones it was using OpenFirmware in their PowerPC "new world" machines (IBM PowerPC G4 & G5).> Try a Debian amd64 ISO, e.g.: > http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/7.8.0/amd64/iso-cd/debian-7.8.0-amd64-netinst.iso > It does not have a HFS+ boot image, other than > Fedora-LiveCD.iso.I'll test it and comment my results.>> > Of course, piranna could set up an EFI capable disk boot >> > image by help of SYSLINUX. But that would not boot from >> > optical media. > >> This is what I've done, a FAT disk image with syslinux.efi and embed >> it inside the IsoHybrid disk image, but when dd'd to the USB pendrive, > > I meant a disk-only image. No ISO, no hybrid. > Just an ESP and an operating system partition. > Created by partition editor, filesystem formatter, > and populated with files by you and SYSLINUX.Yeah, this could be another option, in fact originally I had a CD ISO and an USB disk image, but since I found the IsoHybrid images I decided to combine both in just a CD ISO to don't confuse users about what one to download. Maybe I could deprecate the CDs at all and publish only "native" USB disk images instead, isn't it?>> SysLinux.efi loads the Linux kernel and its initramfs file but doesn't >> boot... :-/ As I put in the initial message I'm not using the >> /efi/boot/bootx64.efi path but instead just copied all files in the >> root directory of the FAT disk image, but since it already load the >> kernel and the initramfs maybe the canonical path is not required... >> is it? Do I need to use the canonical one (and why)? > > I would have expected that EFI falls back to the EFI shell > if no /efi/boot/bootx64.efi is present in the ESP. > > Hrmpf ... The file names are defined in 3.4.1.1 "Removable Media > Boot Behavior". In general, the file paths can be set by a NVRAM > variable (FilePathList[0] ?) for particular devices. > > Do you have indications that syslinux.efi was really executed ?I get the rEFInd shell, and under it the lines "SYSLINUX 6.03", "Booting NodeOS..." (what I have in the SAY field in syslinux.cfg file), "Loading kernel.img... ok" and "Loading initram.gz... ok", so yes, syslinux.efi gets executed, the syslinux.cfg file is parsed and the linux kernel and the initramfs are loaded, but after that nothing happens, while it should at least start outputting linux kernel booting process messages... :-( My syslinux.cfg file has: DEFAULT NodeOS LABEL NodeOS SAY Booting NodeOS... LINUX kernel.img APPEND root=/dev/sdb2 vga=0x318 INITRD initram.gz I don't think the vga= parameter would affect, in any case it would be ignored (on BIOS-based systems it works)...>> Info about creation of the FAT disk image, and if there's any >> diference (that seems there are), example for EFI-based Macs. > > First we would have to produce a SYSLINUX based ESP image > which is able to boot Linux so that it can use the surrounding > ISO 9660 filesystem.I agree. -- "Si quieres viajar alrededor del mundo y ser invitado a hablar en un monton de sitios diferentes, simplemente escribe un sistema operativo Unix." ? Linus Tordvals, creador del sistema operativo Linux
Hi,> Apple started usinf EFI when it switched to Intel x86 CPUs,But there must be an intermediate state when already x86 code was understood by the CPUs but HFS or HFS+ was still mandatory for booting. It's not only Fedora-LiveCD.iso which has HFS+, but also grub-mkrescue can ask for HFS+ by xorriso. (Vladimir Serbinenko contributed the HFS+ code but was not very clear about the intended audience.)> Maybe I could deprecate the CDs at all and > publish only "native" USB disk images instead, isn't it?Your decision. (I don't think optical media are dead.)> so yes, syslinux.efi gets executed,This means that the firmware knows the name or searches for any .efi file to start. Both situations do not appear healthy. (Maybe i am mislead.) Does efibootmgr or efivar -l report anything about the USB stick ? Does /sys/firmware/efi/vars or /sys/firmware/efi/efivars exist and tell anything that might be related ? Have a nice day :) Thomas