CloverEFIBoot (was Re: Call for Testing: UEFI Changes)

[Pedro Giffuni]

Hi;

FWIW, I use a very old PC of the type where the processor will not be
fixed by Intel and that still needs support for the traditional BIOS. I
also bought a 3TB HD (they were easier to find that 2T).

If I leave the disk dedicated to FreeBSD it recognizes the complete 3TB
and will happily use ZFS for everything, however I want to dual boot so
after lots of testing I ended up ignoring 1 TB of HD :(.

It does happen that there is a really nice boot loader that could have
saved the day but it is very difficult to install standalone:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot

Just in case someone has the time and inclination to play with it :)

Pedro.

[Ryan Stone]

Hi;
FWIW, I use a very old PC of the type where the processor will not be fixed
by Intel and that still needs support for the traditional BIOS. I also
bought a 3TB HD (they were easier to find that 2T).
If I leave the disk dedicated to FreeBSD it recognizes the complete 3TB and
will happily use ZFS for everything, however I want to dual boot so after
lots of testing I ended up ignoring 1 TB of HD :(.
It does happen that there is a really nice boot loader that could have saved
https://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot
Just in case someone has the time and inclination to play with it :)
Pedro.

Is the issue due to using MBR partitioning? FreeBSD supports booting
from a GPT partition from a traditional BIOS; you don't need EFI. Is
this machine so old that its BIOS doesn't support booting from GPT?

[Pedro Giffuni]

Post by Ryan Stone

Hi;
FWIW, I use a very old PC of the type where the processor will not be fixed
by Intel and that still needs support for the traditional BIOS. I also
bought a 3TB HD (they were easier to find that 2T).
If I leave the disk dedicated to FreeBSD it recognizes the complete 3TB and
will happily use ZFS for everything, however I want to dual boot so after
lots of testing I ended up ignoring 1 TB of HD :(.
It does happen that there is a really nice boot loader that could have saved
https://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot
Just in case someone has the time and inclination to play with it :)
Pedro.

Is the issue due to using MBR partitioning? FreeBSD supports booting
from a GPT partition from a traditional BIOS; you don't need EFI. Is
this machine so old that its BIOS doesn't support booting from GPT?

It's a Dell Optiplex 760 (refurbished). I don't remember the details but
FreeBSD supports booting just fine if I dedicate all the HD to
FreeBSD/GPT, but the Windows bootloader wont so I needed a bootloader
with it's own EFI implementation that would. Clover comes from the
Apple/Darwin world and does this but I never managed to install it in a
HD; ideally you have to figure out how to install it before installing
the OS so I had to install it later in a thumbdrive.

FWIW, the only documentation I could find on the gory details for dual
booting (with linux) is here:

https://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/bios.html

Cheers,

Pedro.

[Lucas Holt]

Machines don’t need to be old to have issues. I have a two year old asus am3+ board that cant boot from gpt without secure boot enabled and is hard coded for Microsoft keys

Lucas Holt

Post by Ryan Stone

Hi;
FWIW, I use a very old PC of the type where the processor will not be fixed
by Intel and that still needs support for the traditional BIOS. I also
bought a 3TB HD (they were easier to find that 2T).
If I leave the disk dedicated to FreeBSD it recognizes the complete 3TB and
will happily use ZFS for everything, however I want to dual boot so after
lots of testing I ended up ignoring 1 TB of HD :(.
It does happen that there is a really nice boot loader that could have saved
https://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot
Just in case someone has the time and inclination to play with it :)
Pedro.

Is the issue due to using MBR partitioning? FreeBSD supports booting
from a GPT partition from a traditional BIOS; you don't need EFI. Is
this machine so old that its BIOS doesn't support booting from GPT?
_______________________________________________
https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current

[Pedro Giffuni]

Post by Lucas Holt
Machines don’t need to be old to have issues. I have a two year old asus am3+ board that cant boot from gpt without secure boot enabled and is hard coded for Microsoft keys
Lucas Holt

Interesting. Not sure Clover would help there though, secure boot is a 
different issue:

https://wiki.freebsd.org/SecureBoot

Cheers,

Pedro.

Post by Lucas Holt

Post by Ryan Stone

Hi;
FWIW, I use a very old PC of the type where the processor will not be fixed
by Intel and that still needs support for the traditional BIOS. I also
bought a 3TB HD (they were easier to find that 2T).
If I leave the disk dedicated to FreeBSD it recognizes the complete 3TB and
will happily use ZFS for everything, however I want to dual boot so after
lots of testing I ended up ignoring 1 TB of HD :(.
It does happen that there is a really nice boot loader that could have saved
https://sourceforge.net/projects/cloverefiboot
Just in case someone has the time and inclination to play with it :)
Pedro.

Is the issue due to using MBR partitioning? FreeBSD supports booting
from a GPT partition from a traditional BIOS; you don't need EFI. Is
this machine so old that its BIOS doesn't support booting from GPT?
_______________________________________________
https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current