2006-11-18 19:07:29

by Dror Levin

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: boot from efi on x86_64

looking at the kernel source, after constant failures to boot linux on a core
2 imac, has made me understand that only i386 and ia64 support efi booting,
but x86_64 does not.
it makes sense, if you think about it... AFAIK, until the new core 2 imacs
were out there was no x86_64 efi pc, so why should the kernel support it?
i would like to ask that the efi boot code be ported to x86_64 and so people
would not have to use boot camp and bios emulation to boot linux on new
imacs.

thank you for your time and help.

P.S.
i'm not currently subscribed to the lkml, so please CC me when you reply.


2006-11-18 20:40:29

by Tomasz Torcz

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: boot from efi on x86_64

On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 09:07:03PM +0200, Dror Levin wrote:
> looking at the kernel source, after constant failures to boot linux on a core
> 2 imac, has made me understand that only i386 and ia64 support efi booting,
> but x86_64 does not.
> it makes sense, if you think about it... AFAIK, until the new core 2 imacs
> were out there was no x86_64 efi pc, so why should the kernel support it?

Few days ago I played with Intel servers with EM64T Xeons (NetBurst
based). They are x86_64, and motherboard (Intel chipset) utilised EFI.

--
Tomasz Torcz "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station
[email protected] wagon filled with backup tapes." -- Jim Gray


Attachments:
(No filename) (694.00 B)
(No filename) (229.00 B)
Download all attachments

2006-11-18 21:10:00

by Tim Hockin

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: boot from efi on x86_64

On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 09:40:13PM +0100, Tomasz Torcz wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 09:07:03PM +0200, Dror Levin wrote:
> > looking at the kernel source, after constant failures to boot linux on a core
> > 2 imac, has made me understand that only i386 and ia64 support efi booting,
> > but x86_64 does not.
> > it makes sense, if you think about it... AFAIK, until the new core 2 imacs
> > were out there was no x86_64 efi pc, so why should the kernel support it?
>
> Few days ago I played with Intel servers with EM64T Xeons (NetBurst
> based). They are x86_64, and motherboard (Intel chipset) utilised EFI.

but did it use GRUB or elilo ?

2006-11-18 21:45:13

by Tomasz Torcz

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: boot from efi on x86_64

On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 01:09:57PM -0800, [email protected] wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 09:40:13PM +0100, Tomasz Torcz wrote:
> > On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 09:07:03PM +0200, Dror Levin wrote:
> > > looking at the kernel source, after constant failures to boot linux on a core
> > > 2 imac, has made me understand that only i386 and ia64 support efi booting,
> > > but x86_64 does not.
> > > it makes sense, if you think about it... AFAIK, until the new core 2 imacs
> > > were out there was no x86_64 efi pc, so why should the kernel support it?
> >
> > Few days ago I played with Intel servers with EM64T Xeons (NetBurst
> > based). They are x86_64, and motherboard (Intel chipset) utilised EFI.
>
> but did it use GRUB or elilo ?

Both GRUB (Ubuntu 6.10/FC5/FC6) and standard LILO (Slackware 11). I
guess BIOS compatability was turned on.

--
Tomasz Torcz "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station
[email protected] wagon filled with backup tapes." -- Jim Gray


Attachments:
(No filename) (0.98 kB)
(No filename) (229.00 B)
Download all attachments

2006-11-19 07:56:59

by Andi Kleen

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: boot from efi on x86_64

Dror Levin <[email protected]> writes:

> looking at the kernel source, after constant failures to boot linux on a core
> 2 imac, has made me understand that only i386 and ia64 support efi booting,
> but x86_64 does not.

x86-64 UEFI support is still being worked on.
Anyways, you should be able to boot Linux in the mean time using "boot camp"

-Andi

2006-11-21 20:40:36

by Dror Levin

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: boot from efi on x86_64

On Sunday 19 November 2006 09:56, Andi Kleen wrote:
> x86-64 UEFI support is still being worked on.
> Anyways, you should be able to boot Linux in the mean time using "boot
> camp"

I would rather not install "boot camp" since I have already installed Linux
and removed MacOS.
Are there any patches I can experiment with in the mean time? I would be happy
to test anything you throw at me if it can help.

Dror