Boot delay when using grub.efi on Mac Mini

[Grant Edwards <grante@visi.com>]

I installed EFI grub (svn r2024) on a Mac Mini (1.8GHz Core 2
Duo) following the instructions at http://grub.enbug.org/TestingOnEFI.

Grub seems to work fine: the menu works, and I can either boot
a Linux kernel or I can "chainload" OS X via /usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi.

I had previously attempted to use elilo (an old binary I
downloaded from somewhere), but it didn't seem to be able to
load the initrd correctly.

There do seem to be two problems -- I don't think either of
them are grub's fault, but I thought I ask just in case
somebody has seen either one before:

 1) I blessed grub.efi using this command adapted from the Wiki page:

          bash-3.2# bless --mount=/efi --verbose --file=/efi/grub/grub.efi --setBoot
     
          EFI found at IODeviceTree:/efi
          Mount point for /efi is /efi
          Mount point is '/efi'
          No BootX creation requested
          No boot.efi creation requested
          GPT detected
          Booter partition required at index 2
          System partition found
          Returning booter information dictionary:
          <CFDictionary 0x109320 [0xa08891a0]>{type = mutable, count = 3, capacity = 3, pairs = (
                  0 : <CFString 0x18db0 [0xa08891a0]>{contents = "Auxiliary Partitions"} = <CFArray 0x103a80 [0xa08891a0]>{type = immutable, count = 0, values = (
          )}
                  2 : <CFString 0x18da0 [0xa08891a0]>{contents = "Data Partitions"} = <CFArray 0x109770 [0xa08891a0]>{type = immutable, count = 1, values = (
                  0 : <CFString 0x109750 [0xa08891a0]>{contents = "disk0s1"}
          )}
                  3 : <CFString 0x18dc0 [0xa08891a0]>{contents = "System Partitions"} = <CFArray 0x104ff0 [0xa08891a0]>{type = immutable, count = 1, values = (
                  0 : <CFString 0x109670 [0xa08891a0]>{contents = "disk0s1"}
          )}
          )}
          Relative path of /efi/grub/grub.efi is \grub\grub.efi
          IOMedia disk0s1 has UUID CD08BC7E-4A45-4814-A27A-7FA6D02A2F3A
          Setting EFI NVRAM:
                  efi-boot-device='<array><dict><key>IOMatch</key><dict><key>IOProviderClass</key><string>IOMedia</string><key>IOPropertyMatch</key><dict><key>UUID</key><string>CD08BC7E-4A45-4814-A27A-7FA6D02A2F3A</string></dict></dict><key>BLLastBSDName</key><string>disk0s1</string></dict><dict><key>IOEFIDevicePathType</key><string>MediaFilePath</string><key>Path</key><string>\grub\grub.efi</string></dict></array>'
          Setting EFI NVRAM:
                  IONVRAM-DELETE-PROPERTY='efi-boot-file'
          Setting EFI NVRAM:
                  IONVRAM-DELETE-PROPERTY='efi-boot-mkext'
          NVRAM variable "boot-args" not set.
      
    Now the machine boots into grub, but there's about a 30
    second delay between the "chime" and when grub starts (it
    was the same for elilo).  If I have a USB flash drive
    plugged in, I see the activity LED flash once every 2
    seconds or so until grub starts.

    If I hold down the "option" key on startup, there is no
    delay and I immediately get the screen where I click on a
    button underneath a picture of a hard-drive to boot.

    Any ideas on how to eliminate the 30s delay?

    
 2) With the linux kernel command line option video=vesafb, I
    get a working console, framebuffer graphics don't work.
    Without that option, I don't get a working console.  It's
    not a grub problem, but any pointers will be appreciated.


-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow! Wow!  Look!!  A stray
                                  at               meatball!!  Let's interview
                               visi.com            it!