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EFI Installs for i386 / AMD64 based EFI Platforms



Problem:

There is no EFI Version of the i386 or AMD64 releases produced.

 

Background:

The current “bootable” CD implementation uses a bootable image stored in the El Torito area.

When EFI attempts to mount these CD’s, it doesn’t see a file system (FAT or EFI) so no File System number is assigned to it.

When a group of files is stored as a FAT file system in the El Torito area of the CD, then EFI assigns a FS # to it.

 

For x86 or AMD64 EFI installs, the CD needs to have such a file system on it with that following files stored there:

StartUp.nsh       Script launched on booting to EFI Shell

elilo.efi              EFI LiLo

elilo.conf           Optional config file for elilo

initrd                 initrd from the install.386 directory (install.amd64 ?)

vmlinuz             vmlinuz from the install.386 directory (install.amd64 ?)

 

The Startup.nsh file would have the following command line in it:

elilo  -i  initrd  vmlinuz  ro  root=/dev/ram0

 

The ISO-9660 portion of the CD/DVD would match the normal releases.

 

Workaround:

Copy the above mentioned files onto a Storage device or partition which your CD Burning software will accept as a File System for the Bootable portion of the CD being burned.

Create a Bootable CD using this partition or device and the list of files from the i386 or AMD64 install ISO-9660 area.

Burn the CD.

 

This would produce a CD with a FAT File System on it that EFI would assign a FS to, and launch the Startup.nsh upon booting to EFI Shell.

 

Alternate workaround:

Copy elilo.efi to a USB Drive.

Copy initrd and vmlinuz from the install.386 directory onto the USB Drive.

Boot to EFI Shell           Note that EFI Shell assigns a FS # to the USB Drive (typically fs0:)

Change to that File System by typing “fs0:”

Kick off the install with “elilo  -i  initrd  vmlinuz  ro  root=/dev/ram0”

 

Since the Itanium version (IA64) requires this same type of approach, perhaps it would be an easy matter to produce an EFI i386 and EFI AMD64 version.

 

Thanks,

Charles Abdouch

 


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