Re: macbook EFI experiences

[Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com>]

On Sun, Jun 01, 2008 at 03:52:35AM +0800, Bean wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 1, 2008 at 3:26 AM, Robert Millan <rmh@aybabtu.com> wrote:
> > On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 02:57:21PM -0400, Isaac Dupree wrote:
> >> >
> >> >You're confusing BIOS-based boot with msdos partition labels.  You can use
> >> >GPT just fine when booting from BIOS (although Intel tries to hide that
> >> >fact by embedding the GPT spec inside the EFI spec).
> >>
> >> I have the hack which combines the two partition labels so I have both
> >> GPT and msdos labels.  Which means that my first four partitions (only)
> >> are listed in msdos, and GPT is the really accurate one that MacOS and
> >> Linux use.
> >
> > I'm not sure if this would confuse GRUB partition-wise.  Can it access all
> > partitions?
> >
> 
> I'm not sure about your config, but recently, I install debian lenny
> on my macbook, it kind of work OFTB. libparted support gpt, so no need
> to use mbr at all. At the boot loader stage, I install grub2 to my
> linux partition (hd0,3), then reboot. Refit is smart enough to
> recognized my linux setup, and start grub from the boot menu. In
> grub2, it actually uses gpt, I can access all the partitions from it.

You should be able to install GRUB to your MBR as well (GPT labels have an
MBR, which is "dummy" for partition table purposes but usable for boot
code).

-- 
Robert Millan

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