The officially official Devuan Forum!

rolfie

Member

Registered: 2017-11-25

Posts: 1,187  

EFI mode in Beowulf point release working?

Downloaded the netinstall and the server isos to play a bit with the runit setup in a VBox VM.

Both boot up fine when in BIOS mode, with the efi setup I end up in the efi shell. This also happens with the 3.0.0 netinstall image.

I am running 6.1.18 on Beowulf/Mate. Another install a few days ago worked in efi mode.

Is there something wrong with the isos or is my VBox suddenly screwed? How can I start the iso manually from the efi shell?

rolfie

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,501  

Re: EFI mode in Beowulf point release working?

In vbox I usually end up in the efi shell. Exit or Esc gets you out of there to a menu where you can select 'Boot from file' where you can drill down in the efi partition to find grubx64.efi or whatever boot file you're using.

I did a uefi install from usb onto real hardware and it worked like it's supposed to.

rolfie

Member

Registered: 2017-11-25

Posts: 1,187  

Re: EFI mode in Beowulf point release working?

I know the effect that most distros end up in the efi shell after being switched off once. And I know the workarounds. Also I would claim VBox has improved the efi support a bit recently, its not only Arch which is starting automatically now. Or it may be related to the fact that I created a file in the efi shell that simulates the nvram (can't remember the name out of the top of my head, need to look it up).

In my case I even can't get the installer iso to boot in efi mode. I searched through FS0: but couldn't find any grubx64.efi or any efi file. Which file starts the installer in efi mode?

rolfie

Edit: on a bootable Beowulf memory stick that I think was created from the 3.0.0 DVD an EFI directory is present containing a BOOTX64.efi, which I do not find in FS0:, BLK1: or BLK2:.

Last edited by rolfie (2021-02-16 17:40:07)

rolfie

Member

Registered: 2017-11-25

Posts: 1,187  

Re: EFI mode in Beowulf point release working?

Found a solution. When playing around with various isos I had available I realised that the latest Bullseye download did boot in efi mode, whilst all Devuan isos didn't. Looked at the difference, and found that the Debian stuff has an EFI folder in the iso.

Extracted the 3.1.0 iso, added the EFI folder from Bullseye, and burnt it with brasero to a new iso. That now boots into VBox.

Is that something to consider for Devuan too?

rolfie

fsmithred

Administrator

Registered: 2016-11-25

Posts: 2,501  

Re: EFI mode in Beowulf point release working?

Yeah, I'm not seeing an efi directory in mounted installer isos or imaged usb sticks with 3.0.0 or 3.1.0. So I have no idea how that boots.

It does exist in the amd64 desktop-live iso. Could you have put that on the usb?

rolfie

Member

Registered: 2017-11-25

Posts: 1,187  

Re: EFI mode in Beowulf point release working?

I am directly booting the iso into the VM. Beowulf 3.1.0 with runit is up and running on cli level in the VM now.

ralph.ronnquist

Administrator

From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS

Registered: 2016-11-30

Posts: 1,269  

Re: EFI mode in Beowulf point release working?

Fwiw, all devuan 3.1.0 (as well as 3.0.0) ISOs have an EFI partition as well as the CD partition. For example:

% fdisk -l devuan_beowulf_3.1.0_amd64-desktop.iso   
Disk devuan_beowulf_3.1.0_amd64-desktop.iso: 3.7 GiB, 3948937216 bytes, 7712768 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x5ba9ef0a

Device                                      Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
devuan_beowulf_3.1.0_amd64-desktop.iso1 *        0 7712767 7712768  3.7G  0 Empty
devuan_beowulf_3.1.0_amd64-desktop.iso2      23636   24531     896  448K ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)

Technically the blocks of the EFI partition are among the blocks of the CD partition, which in fact spans all blocks of the ISO including the block 0 partition table.

Since the EFI partition needs to be a FAT type file system it cannot be a subdirectory on the CD which needs to be one or the other of the few CD type file systems.