Re: Bug#771465: i386 hd-media image does not boot on Macbooks with 32-bit EFI
On Sun, Nov 30, 2014 at 1:58 PM, Gaudenz Steinlin <gaudenz@debian.org> wrote:
> Teemu Ikonen <tpikonen@gmail.com> writes:
>> The Macbook versions Macbook1,1 and Macbook2,1 from 2006-2007 require
>> a 32-bit EFI bootloader and thus do not work with amd64 version of
>> d-i. On the other hand, the i386 hd-media/boot.img.gz image only works
>> with BIOS systems.
>
> Are you sure they don't run amd64 code? From what I've found on the web
> these two models have Intel Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors. Early
> Intel based Macs have a 32bit EFI but perfectly run 64 bit code AFAIK.
> Earlier kernels (before 3.4 IIRC) are not capable of crossefi booting
> (different kernel arch than EFI arch), but that should not be a problem
> on jessie's 3.16 kernel.
AFAIK Core Duo is 32-bit and Core 2 Duo (which I am testing with) is 64-bit.
>> I got the installer running by manually installing GRUB (the i386-efi
>> version) to a USB drive with an MBR partition table and a FAT32
>> filesystem, copying grub.conf from the amd64 netboot ISO image and
>> copying the kernel image and initrd from the i386 netboot image. This
>> procedure is straightforward, but requires an existing linux computer
>> and probably does not win any usability awards.
>
> Can you test if you can boot the 64bit kernel and initrd from the amd64
> image with this procedure (using the 32bit grub-efi)?
>
> I know this works the other way around (64bit grub and EFI booting into
> a 32 bit kernel) but never tested the 32bit to 64bit kernel case.
I made a USB stick with 32-bit EFI grub and kernel and initrd copied from amd64
netboot ISO. Grub naturally works ok, and interestingly, even the kernel boots
but it does not find a working init.
I'm not sure if the amd64 init can be made to work with this machine, but of
course it would be nice to be able to install 64-bit Debian to this computer.
>> The straightforward fix would be to install both syslinux and GRUB to
>> the hd-media image, as they seem to be able to coexist without
>> problem. If this is for some reason not possible, then the procedure
>> to get i386 EFI systems booting should be at least documented on the
>> Installation guide, somewhere around chapter 4.3.3.1.
>
> EFI 32bit and 64bit and BIOS images of grub can all coexist on the same
> installation media. IMO it would make sense to install all of them to
> the 32bit and 64bit x86 images.
This would be the ideal solution. The 32-bit EFI Macs have a somewhat
strange firmware though and only seem to work when the bootloader is
installed as /EFI/BOOT/BOOTIA32.EFI. Adding the --removable flag to
grub-install produces a working grub installation, also when grub is
installed to the EFI partition of the hard drive.
Best,
Teemu
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