No-format install for UEFI based machines Win8 & MacTel

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gcmartin

#16 Post by gcmartin »

Am I seeing this correctly? This can be made into an installable to a DVD which boots the desired OS (ISO) that is contained on the DVD. Is that a correct view.

If so, this means a developer would
  • build and test his PUP into an ISO.
  • Create the boot manager entry as described herein.
  • Finalize his PUP into an distributable ISO which contains these 2 items.
  • Anyone could then boot the DVD containing the PUP on ANY PC, old or new.
Is this a "right-brain" view of the potential being presented?

NICE methods to move PUP into a universal installable arena no matter the PC.

The penalty (although this is very very minor as many of us rarely boot/reboot running PCs - daily or less) is that booting an ISO is bit longer than booting the kernel and sys progs, but, the benefit is way more than the slight penalty on boot.

Please comment on "correctness" in view, please.

Great :idea: Great demonstration :!:

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Ted Dog
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#17 Post by Ted Dog »

two items one is yes if development encodes the main sfs files within inrtrd like fatdog64 does or bundles all in one like quirky. Then the loop boot works just moving iso file.
Second. If one or the other is on usb flashdrive, user can boot into either and use it to extract files for more common setups.

So you to answer your question, but my use of iso file method and zip file package was so Windows8 or Mac users can have a method to get a booting environment from WITH IN Windows8 (UEFI ) or Macs (EFI).

If the Fatdog64 developers move to this zip idea then the EFI image 10M size could be eliminated and replace by this. As A more general solution.

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Ted Dog
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#18 Post by Ted Dog »

getting ready for new release of UEFI.zip would welcome Input. Adding other distros that allow boot from only self contained filesystems in initrd or kernel all in one Like unicornpup etc. Will have Slitaz support in next roll out and hopefully new April and Fatdog64 if they release new ISOs sometime soon ( expected both to have done so by now :cry: )
Got my servers figure out so have actual host(s) to upload to now.

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greengeek
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Re: No-format install for UEFI based machines Win8 & MacTel

#19 Post by greengeek »

Ted Dog wrote:http://www.datafilehost.com/d/dc8bb366
after opening copy to base of a fat formatted usbdrive, then download iso files and copy to same area.
.
Hi TedDog, I clicked through to this thread from cthisbear's other thread here regarding "rEFInd" bootloader and had a look at the link you have provided above - when I click on that link it offers me a file called "UEFI" but I couldn't see any explanatory info there about what is actually in the UEFI file. I just wondered if the name could be changed slightly to indicate what is in there...
Does that "UEFI" file contain the rEFInd bootloader? (I didn't download it 'cos I don't have uefi hardware yet, but I'm sure I will be coming back here when my futre hardware requires it and it would be handy to have a bit more clarity about the content...)

cheers!

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Ted Dog
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#20 Post by Ted Dog »

yes its a complete package, rEFInd and grub2 ready to run inside zip. Will support security keys for linuxes in secure boot mode, and a txtfile config for standard Grub2 boots BOTH windows 8.1 hardware and Macs and fully configurable to replace grub4dos roll in newer hardware.
Preset for a few versions of puppylinux spins that can be loop booted. IE just a copy of ISO file as is, no disc to burn nor dd scary stuff.
Made to be copied by windows or MacOSX and booted using default EFI mode.

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greengeek
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#21 Post by greengeek »

Thanks! That is a great summary - I reckon you should add that into the first post as well. This looks like a highly interesting way of getting started with UEFI, which up till now has fully scared the pants off me. Might have to find an excuse to buy myself some UEFI capable hardware now :-)

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Ted Dog
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#22 Post by Ted Dog »

re edited main post.. thanks for your feedback.

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mavrothal
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#23 Post by mavrothal »

Very nice and very handy Tad Dog!
Works as advertised (on Macs)
Thanks
== [url=http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html]Here is how to solve your[/url] [url=https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html]Linux problems fast[/url] ==

cthisbear
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#24 Post by cthisbear »

greengeek:

So Greenie...are you going to upload a new Banksy with this
built in.

From Mr Subtle.....Chris.

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greengeek
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#25 Post by greengeek »

cthisbear wrote:greengeek:

So Greenie...are you going to upload a new Banksy with this
built in.

From Mr Subtle.....Chris.
Hmmmm, gotta get me some 64bit hardware with UEFI first.
(Then I'll probably stuff up the boot setup a few times and have to take the thing back to the shops to complain that somehow it died for no good reason...). Definitely in the plans tho'

"Mr Subtle" ?? Who's that?? No-one round here with that personality :-)

Mark_C
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#26 Post by Mark_C »

I have a ATIV 500T Samsung tablet with keyboard that I just purchased.
This has an older atom Z2760 processor running windows 8 32bit.
I have secure boot turned off and tried to boot a usb using these files but it just bypasses the usb and boots to windows.
I am guessing the reason for it doing this is because its 32 bit, so I searched on the net and found a file called boot32ia.efi and placed it in the boot folder on the usb.
It now boots to a grub prompt but no menu for some reason.
I placed vmlinuz and initrd on the usb and typed the following at the grub prompt.
linux (hd0,msdos1)/vmlinuz and hit return
initrd (hd0,msdos1)/initrd.gz and hit return
then typed boot and hit return.
It gives me a "trying to terminate EFI services again" message and just sits there.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong, or how to get this to work on this machine?


Mark

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Ted Dog
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#27 Post by Ted Dog »

Wow MarkC never knew a 32bit version of Windows8 existed. Yes you will need the full install files as 32bit. I have no way of testing a 32bit boot. But the borrow principals and setup I used Fatdog64s EFI folders. If you can locate any linux distro live CD that is for 32 AND efi you can reuse its EFI folder the same way..
If memory is correct I may have stumbled on a 32 bit EFI with GeexBox since I recall having to download a 64 bit version to get it to boot.

cthisbear
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#28 Post by cthisbear »

https://github.com/jfwells/linux-asus-t ... otia32.efi

linux-asus-t100ta/boot/bootia32.efi

Hit >> View Raw on the page...

It will then download.

::::::::

I also came across this.

http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions ... -file-path

" UPDATE

I actually was able to finally boot into window by pressing

ESC then F9

which on my system load the boot device menu.

In the list was two Ubuntu options and another options that said something like "Laptop Hard Drive".

When I selected the latter option windows booted up.

This is quite an annoying procedure and would like to still go with
a grub option if possible. "

"
1 Answer
active oldest votes
up vote 0 down vote


You might find Rod's books on EFI useful, and installing refind he
wrote might help either (I've included it into ALT Linux Rescue as well,
try "pyramid" scanning option on that image to see if it helps).

What you use now is firmware's boot manager,
its boot list is available via efibootmgr utility.

You'll get one record more (and will want to set it as default most probably :)
if you install refind: firmware's one will boot it, it will boot grub or windows boot manager, and these will kick off their kernels
(the irony being that at least Linux kernel could be booted directly
by firmware's boot manager, heh). "

"""""""

Chris.

Mark_C
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#29 Post by Mark_C »

Thank you both for your answers.

I have done some more testing.
The geexbox's boot32ia.efi allows the actual grub menu to appear where as the one from ubuntu drops me to a grub prompt.
I was pretty excited seeing the grub menu appear but even though I can move through the selections, anything I choose, even reboot just blinks the screen and leaves me still in the grub menu.
If I press c on the keyboard it drops me to the grub prompt.
From the prompt I can load vmlinuz and then initrd but then typing boot
I get the "couldn't terminate EFI services" and it locks up.

It seems that there is a bug in the AMI bios(or whatever they call it these days.)
couldn't terminate EFI services" error caused by buggy BIOS
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/grub ... 00043.html

This guy shows how to fix the problem in grub by changing the code but I am not sure what to use to edit the actual grub program.

I really wanted to run puppy on this thing but its not looking like that is going to happen.
I can run virtualbox, but the atom processor in this thing (cloverview) does not support virtualization so it runs painfully slow.

Mark

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Ted Dog
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#30 Post by Ted Dog »

Yes you will need a 32bit version of puppylinux that can also handle EFI, only one I have found was the unicornpup listed on first post. but you need lots of memory. 4G to be safe.

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Ted Dog
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#31 Post by Ted Dog »

Are you up to compile GRUB2 with that patch? Second was that the same error in 64bit mode? if so maybe JamesBond can work it in ( this patch ) before final release of Fatdog64_7.
I use Fatdog64s EFI package and repackaged it with grub configuration with Windows8.1 zip file.

Mark_C
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#32 Post by Mark_C »

I believe it just would bypass the usb stick and boot into windows with the 64bit boot.efi

I have downloaded the unicorn puppy along with the devx and kernal source sfs.
I have downloaded grub2 from the main site and found the module with the code in it and changed it using geany, not sure if thats the proper editing tool but it seemed to work.

I will attempt to compile it using unicorn pup, never compiled anything before so this should be interesting.
I will do a search on google for a compile line to use for doing this, let me know if you have any compile line suggestions.


Mark

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Ted Dog
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#33 Post by Ted Dog »

Mark_C wrote:I believe it just would bypass the usb stick and boot into windows with the 64bit boot.efi

I have downloaded the unicorn puppy along with the devx and kernal source sfs.
I have downloaded grub2 from the main site and found the module with the code in it and changed it using geany, not sure if thats the proper editing tool but it seemed to work.

I will attempt to compile it using unicorn pup, never compiled anything before so this should be interesting.
I will do a search on google for a compile line to use for doing this, let me know if you have any compile line suggestions.


Mark

Oh G-d, please tell me you have backed up your windows and checked that the backup works.. Pro-tip I moved my windows install to a smaller HD (60G stolen from a Fat PS3) to test my stuff. the original was never touched :wink:

Mark_C
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#34 Post by Mark_C »

I used a computer at work that we have as a spare, so its all good.
The compile did not work, the configure seemed to go ok but the make function didnt go well.
receipe for target all failed or something like that.
I got busy at work and had to quit playing around.

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Ted Dog
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#35 Post by Ted Dog »

Woooo there is a reason I 'borrowed' this package lifted almost 100% as is from fatdog64. It took years to tweak all the pieces to work well in a dependable manner been working on Mac EFI since early Fatdog64 500 series, providing feedback and testing but they did the compile work. I tried to go same route as you and had same outcome. This is the most complex stuff, however the patch is a good find and still should be worked on.
GeexBox has a nice build system small only needed packages, and all source is on one host, no wondering if wrong package date etc.
Since it was the only 32bit EFI that almost worked may be better to hop over there to get material and patches, heck sign up to their forum and let them know about the patch. Good developers there too.
They do a lot of great work, but do not have the crowd following as they should.

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