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FYI: Some macbook pros use a 32-bit efi bootloader with a 64-bit operating system. I know the 2011 ones did that. Not sure about the 2013 models or how to tell which grub it needs.
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FYI: Some macbook pros use a 32-bit efi bootloader with a 64-bit operating system. I know the 2011 ones did that. Not sure about the 2013 models or how to tell which grub it needs.
Ok, OS X Catalina requires 64-bit efi bootloader and this system still uses the original OS X Mavericks.
englee
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Check the UEFI firmware bitness with
cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size
Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power
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englee wrote:Why would VM mistake an AMD64 w/i386-PC?
That message is from GRUB — "i386-pc" is for non-UEFI systems, even if they're 64-bit; the UEFI GRUB targets are called "i386-efi" & "x86_64-efi".
So the VM seems to have the grub-pc package installed instead of grub-efi-amd64, which is incorrect if you want to dual-boot with a UEFI OS X installation.
Try this in the installed system:
# apt install grub-efi-amd64{,-signed} # this should cause the removal of the grub-pc package # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --bootloader-id=debian --removable # make sure the correct ESP is mounted under /boot/efi first
Hi,
Q1: Please explain to the novice, what you mean by 'make sure correct ESP is mounted under "/BOOT/EFI" first?
. . . "/boot/efi" makes no sense
I used the beowulf installer on VM, not the beowulf installed system on VM, which is fully functional.
The following dialog is chroot of installer on VM:
root@beo:/# ls
EFI boot etc initrd.img lib lost+found mnt proc run srv tmp var vmlinuz.old
bin dev home initrd.img.old lib64 media opt root sbin sys usr vmlinuz
root@beo:/# cd EFI
root@beo:/EFI# ls
root@beo:/EFI# cd ..
root@beo:/# cd boot
root@beo:/boot# ls
System.map-4.19.0-14-amd64 config-4.19.0-16-amd64 initrd.img-4.19.0-16-amd64
System.map-4.19.0-16-amd64 grub vmlinuz-4.19.0-14-amd64
config-4.19.0-14-amd64 initrd.img-4.19.0-14-amd64 vmlinuz-4.19.0-16-amd64
root@beo:/boot# cd grub
root@beo:/boot/grub# ls
fonts grub.cfg grubenv i386-pc locale unicode.pf2
root@beo:/boot/grub#
Q2: Why not have 'grub-install' do its thing directly on the external HDD, that fails to boot kernel (see above code)?
englee
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Please explain to the novice, what you mean by 'make sure correct ESP is mounted under "/BOOT/EFI" first?
. . . "/boot/efi" makes no sense
The Devuan installer should use /boot/efi (not "/BOOT/EFI") for the EFI system partition. GRUB's core.img (grubx64.efi) is stored on the ESP rather than the disk (or partition) itself for UEFI systems.
Check by using
findmnt -o target,source /boot/efi
Or
grep '/boot/efi ' /proc/self/mounts
Why not have 'grub-install' do its thing directly on the external HDD, that fails to boot kernel (see above code)?
Because the UEFI version of GRUB doesn't store anything directly on the disk. What used to go on the MBR[0] for non-UEFI boxen is now stored on the EFI system partition instead. So adding a block device (eg, /dev/sda) to the UEFI grub-install command has no effect whatsoever and is ignored. For the UEFI grub-install command the --efi-directory= option performs the equivalent function.
[0] For disks with an MS-DOS partition table. If the disk has a GUID partition table then a BIOS boot partition is needed to hold GRUB's core.img for non-UEFI systems.
Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power
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englee wrote:Please explain to the novice, what you mean by 'make sure correct ESP is mounted under "/BOOT/EFI" first?
. . . "/boot/efi" makes no senseThe Devuan installer should use /boot/efi (not "/BOOT/EFI") for the EFI system partition. GRUB's core.img (grubx64.efi) is stored on the ESP rather than the disk (or partition) itself for UEFI systems.
Check by using
findmnt -o target,source /boot/efi
Or
grep '/boot/efi ' /proc/self/mounts
englee wrote:Why not have 'grub-install' do its thing directly on the external HDD, that fails to boot kernel (see above code)?
Because the UEFI version of GRUB doesn't store anything directly on the disk. What used to go on the MBR[0] for non-UEFI boxen is now stored on the EFI system partition instead. So adding a block device (eg, /dev/sda) to the UEFI grub-install command has no effect whatsoever and is ignored. For the UEFI grub-install command the --efi-directory= option performs the equivalent function.
[0] For disks with an MS-DOS partition table. If the disk has a GUID partition table then a BIOS boot partition is needed to hold GRUB's core.img for non-UEFI systems.
Hi,
No output dialog!
Installer (VM):
root@beo:/# findmnt -o target,source /boot/efi
root@beo:/# grep ‘boot/efi ‘ /proc/self/mounts
root@beo:/#
USB HDD in question (VM_chroot):
root@beo:/# findmnt -o target,source /boot/efi
root@beo:/# grep ‘boot/efi ' /proc/self/mounts
root@beo:/# ls
EFI boot etc initrd.img lib lost+found mnt proc run srv tmp var vmlinuz.old
bin dev home initrd.img.old lib64 media opt root sbin sys usr vmlinuz
root@beo:/# grep ‘boot/efi' /proc/self/mounts
root@beo:/#
I'm only familiar with the mac SSD w/GUID partition table & W$ w/MBR.
englee
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FYI: Some macbook pros use a 32-bit efi bootloader with a 64-bit operating system. I know the 2011 ones did that. Not sure about the 2013 models or how to tell which grub it needs.
Hi,
This latest chroot dialog states 'sdb1' is the device with the EFI system partition, using a 32-bit efi bootloader:
root@beo:/# mount | grep /boot/efi
root@beo:/# grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: install device isn't specified.
root@beo:/# mount | grep /dev/sdb
/dev/sdb2 on / type ext4 (rw,relatime)
root@beo:/# mount /dev/sdb /mnt
mount: /mnt: /dev/sdb already mounted or mount point busy.
root@beo:/# grub-install --efi-directory=/mnt
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: install device isn't specified.
root@beo:/# grub-install --efi-directory=/dev/mnt
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: install device isn't specified.
root@beo:/# lsblk -o NAME,PARTTYPE,MOUNTPOINT | grep -i “C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B"
|-sdb1 c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
root@beo:/#
Your feelings?
englee
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Sorry OP but I didn't pay close enough attention earlier in the thread — your Devuan beowulf system looks to be installed in non-UEFI mode, can you boot it by enabling CSM ("Legacy" mode) and disabling UEFI?
If you want to dual-boot both Devuan and OS X from GRUB then you will have to reinstall beowulf in UEFI mode. I'm pretty sure you will also have to change the partition table on the Devuan disk to GUID.
Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power
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Sorry OP but I didn't pay close enough attention earlier in the thread — your Devuan beowulf system looks to be installed in non-UEFI mode, can you boot it by enabling CSM ("Legacy" mode) and disabling UEFI?
If you want to dual-boot both Devuan and OS X from GRUB then you will have to reinstall beowulf in UEFI mode. I'm pretty sure you will also have to change the partition table on the Devuan disk to GUID.
Hi,
When hitting 'ALT/OPT' key during mac boot, installer always presents a functional boot menu, while there is _no_ sign of beowulf install boot menu. The GRUB menu posted earlier, I link to beowulf install, shows up immediately after hitting the power ON button, that's _never_ been able to boot kernel.
The plan is to use beowulf install USB HDD by itself, _no_ dual-boot w/OS X, basically a clone of installer bootloader.
Q: How would you suggest booting beowulf USB HDD by enabling CSM ("Legacy" mode) and disabling UEFI?
. . . I can only see this from the old W$ BIOS perspective, where my PC experience is and am new to UNIX/mac
englee
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How would you suggest booting beowulf USB HDD by enabling CSM ("Legacy" mode) and disabling UEFI?
Check the firmware ("BIOS") settings for an option to disable UEFI. This is usually called CSM or "Legacy" mode with normal PCs but I have no experience whatsoever with Macs (I hate them with a vengeance) so I have no idea how this stuff works with them.
Brianna Ghey — Rest In Power
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englee wrote:How would you suggest booting beowulf USB HDD by enabling CSM ("Legacy" mode) and disabling UEFI?
Check the firmware ("BIOS") settings for an option to disable UEFI. This is usually called CSM or "Legacy" mode with normal PCs but I have no experience whatsoever with Macs (I hate them with a vengeance) so I have no idea how this stuff works with them.
Hi,
Q: Does Devuan have an ISO unique to mac, like Debian?
link
Thanks for thread replies!
englee
Last edited by englee (2021-04-05 15:36:41)
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There's no specific iso for macs, but the amd64 desktop-live has both the 32 and 64-bit bootloaders and is know to work on at least one old macbook pro. If you do in fact need the 32-bit bootloader, you will need to install the grub-efi-ia32 package in the live environment before you install the system. You can install it with apt if you have network, or you can install it with
dpkg -i /grub-efi-ia32*.deb
When you install the package, don't let it install the bootloader at that time. The live installer (Refracta Installer) will let you choose the efi partition if there are two or more.
Make sure you check if that's what you need with
cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size
before you try the 32-bit bootloader.
I'm not sure that will be enough. You still need a way to make the machine boot from the usb drive. Google says hold down the option key at boot and then select the usb drive.
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There's no specific iso for macs, but the amd64 desktop-live has both the 32 and 64-bit bootloaders and is know to work on at least one old macbook pro. If you do in fact need the 32-bit bootloader, you will need to install the grub-efi-ia32 package in the live environment before you install the system. You can install it with apt if you have network, or you can install it with
dpkg -i /grub-efi-ia32*.deb
When you install the package, don't let it install the bootloader at that time. The live installer (Refracta Installer) will let you choose the efi partition if there are two or more.
Make sure you check if that's what you need with
cat /sys/firmware/efi/fw_platform_size
before you try the 32-bit bootloader.
I'm not sure that will be enough. You still need a way to make the machine boot from the usb drive. Google says hold down the option key at boot and then select the usb drive.
Hi,
Burnt beowulf minimal LiveCD (no DT) onto a CD-R media, which booted just fine on the old MBP.
'grub-install' trapped the following error on the LiveCD VM install to HDD:
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: unable to identify a filesystem in hostdisk//dev/sda; safety check can't be performed.
Your comments, where the MBP is exempt from this glitch in the matrix?
englee
Last edited by englee (2021-04-06 08:01:10)
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Hi,
Burnt beowulf minimal LiveCD (no DT) onto a CD-R media, which booted just fine on the old MBP.
'grub-install' trapped the following error on the LiveCD VM install to HDD:Installing for i386-pc platform. grub-install: error: unable to identify a filesystem in hostdisk//dev/sda; safety check can't be performed.
Your comments, where the MBP is exempt from this glitch in the matrix?
englee
If you are installing from the minimal-live, there will already be at least one ext2/3/4 filesystem on the virtual disk when you get to the grub-install stage. What do fdisk and blkid show for the disk? What virtualization software are you using on the mac? Maybe it does something differently from what I expect.
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englee wrote:Hi,
Burnt beowulf minimal LiveCD (no DT) onto a CD-R media, which booted just fine on the old MBP.
'grub-install' trapped the following error on the LiveCD VM install to HDD:Installing for i386-pc platform. grub-install: error: unable to identify a filesystem in hostdisk//dev/sda; safety check can't be performed.
Your comments, where the MBP is exempt from this glitch in the matrix?
engleeIf you are installing from the minimal-live, there will already be at least one ext2/3/4 filesystem on the virtual disk when you get to the grub-install stage. What do fdisk and blkid show for the disk? What virtualization software are you using on the mac? Maybe it does something differently from what I expect.
Re: VirtualBox, 6 Series
Hi,
This is what I expected to see:
root@beo:/# blkid /dev/sda
/dev/sda: PTUUID="fbe575e2-b08c-7649-bd89-88c6262a01a6” PTTYPE="gpt"
root@beo:/# fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk “dev/sda: 3 GiB, 3221225472 bytes, 6291456 sectors
Disk model: VBOX HARDDISK
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: gpt
Disk identifier: FBE575E2-B08C-7649-BD89-88C6262A01A6
Device Start End Sectors Size Type
/dev/sda1 2048 155647 153600 75M EFI System
/dev/sda2 155648 5373951 5218304 2.5G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda3 5373952 6291422 917471 448M Linux swap
root@bea:/#
# # #
I see no sign gdisk confirmed the format of sda1 is FAT?
englee
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I had this issue yesterday too on 64bit UEFI on HP laptop and I selected OpenRC.
I tried installing 2 times with encrypted LVM and I had to boot with grub commands and cryptsetup arg + root argument pointing at LV.
After booting I updated to chimaera and it's now booting, but I have to press enter before grub menu because it shows "no server is specified" and no such device errors. Despite those errors, I can boot Devuan using menu entries now.
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If you run blkid without any arguments, it will show all drives and partition, and should say that the efi partition is vfat.
If you can't get grub to cooperate, here some information about using rEFInd:
https://www.lifewire.com/dual-boot-linu … ot-manager
https://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/index.html
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Looks like my issue with grub is that it tries to load theme from /usr/share and it's on encrypted LVM.
I installed rEFInd with apt and by looking at /boot - it automagically configured everything so I will have fun with it after school today
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englee wrote:Hi,
Burnt beowulf minimal LiveCD (no DT) onto a CD-R media, which booted just fine on the old MBP.
'grub-install' trapped the following error on the LiveCD VM install to HDD:Installing for i386-pc platform. grub-install: error: unable to identify a filesystem in hostdisk//dev/sda; safety check can't be performed.
Your comments, where the MBP is exempt from this glitch in the matrix?
engleeIf you are installing from the minimal-live, there will already be at least one ext2/3/4 filesystem on the virtual disk when you get to the grub-install stage. What do fdisk and blkid show for the disk? What virtualization software are you using on the mac? Maybe it does something differently from what I expect.
Hi,
Further details on beowulf minimal-live GRUB bug, using Oracle VM, Series 6:
Mounting tmpfs and proc...
The installed system is ready for chroot. (proc, sys, dev are mounted)
If you want, you may work in another virtual terminal.
Make a selection when you are ready to proceed.
Choices (enter number}
2) Install bootloader and finish the installation
3) Continue without a bootloader.
4) Abort the installation and exit.
2
Setting up grub bootloader.. Please wait..
Exit due to error: 1
See /var/log/refractainstaller.log for details.
root@devuan:~#
Log dialog:
Universal Time is now: Thu Apr 8 09:51:16 UTC 2021.
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
en_US .UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
Warning: Unable to open /dev-sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0 has been opened read-only.
Warning: Unable to open /dev-sr0 read-write (Read-only file system). /dev/sr0 has been opened read-only.
Error: Can't have a partition outside the disk!
/usr/bin/retractainstaller: line 524: [: : integer expression expected
/usr/bin/retractainstaller: line 527: [: : integer expression expected
Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERNS [FILE]...
Try ‘grep -—help’ for more information.
Usage: grep [OPTION]... PATTERNS [FILE]...
Try ‘grep -—help’ for more information.
mke2fs 1.44.5 (15-Dec-2018)
262144+0 records in
262144+0 records out
268435456 bytes (268 MB, 256 MiB) copied, 0.998884 s, 269 MB/s
mkswap: /target/swapfile: insecure permissions 0644, 0600 suggested.
Installing for i386-pc platform.
grub-install: error: unable to identify a filesystem in hostdisk//dev/sda; safety check can't be performed.
Q: Where is the glitch in the GRUB matrix hiding?
Kind Regards,
englee
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This is not really making sense to me.
This section starts with line 524. It should tell how many efi partitions are present. I don't understand the error message on that.
if [ "$esp_count" -eq 1 ] ; then
esp_count=$(env LC_ALL=C fdisk -l | awk '/EFI System/ { print $0 }' | wc -l)
fi
if [ "$esp_count" -gt 1 ] ; then
must_choose_esp="yes"
fi
The error messages about 'Unable to open /dev-sr0 read-write' and 'Can't have a partition outside the disk' make me think that it's trying to install grub to the wrong disk. (i.e. to the CDROM). Sometimes grub and the kernel don't agree on which disk is first. This might be one of those cases.
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This is not really making sense to me.
This section starts with line 524. It should tell how many efi partitions are present. I don't understand the error message on that.
if [ "$esp_count" -eq 1 ] ; then esp_count=$(env LC_ALL=C fdisk -l | awk '/EFI System/ { print $0 }' | wc -l) fi if [ "$esp_count" -gt 1 ] ; then must_choose_esp="yes" fi
The error messages about 'Unable to open /dev-sr0 read-write' and 'Can't have a partition outside the disk' make me think that it's trying to install grub to the wrong disk. (i.e. to the CDROM). Sometimes grub and the kernel don't agree on which disk is first. This might be one of those cases.
Hi,
The CDROM in VM is used by beowulf minimal LiveCD to install its contents to /dev/sda.
Any/all VM beowulf minimal LiveCD install's are suspect, at this point.
englee
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You got this same error on hardware (macbook pro) and in virtualbox.
grub-install: error: unable to identify a filesystem in hostdisk//dev/sda; safety check can't be performed.
Is your virtualbox emulating a macbook pro? If not, then what are you doing, exactly? I installed from the minimal-live in qemu yesterday and it all worked. Does the virtual disk use msdos or gpt partition table? Are your partitions really formatted with filesystems?
Check the sha256sum on the download and check that the burn was good.
Edit: How did you get the minimal live to boot on the MBP? That iso does not work with uefi.
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You got this same error on hardware (macbook pro) and in virtualbox.
grub-install: error: unable to identify a filesystem in hostdisk//dev/sda; safety check can't be performed.
Is your virtualbox emulating a macbook pro? If not, then what are you doing, exactly? I installed from the minimal-live in qemu yesterday and it all worked. Does the virtual disk use msdos or gpt partition table? Are your partitions really formatted with filesystems?
Check the sha256sum on the download and check that the burn was good.
Edit: How did you get the minimal live to boot on the MBP? That iso does not work with uefi.
Hi,
Yes, virtualbox host is MBP and refractainstaller formats EFI(ef00), linux(8300) & swap(8200).
That error occured _only_ in virtualbox. All I've posted about installing minimal-live on hardware, was that the burnt ISO to CDROM did boot. The latest experiment was to install rEFind, which fully functioned booting mac SSD. I then reinstalled beowulf netinst, which wiped out the rEFind bootloader, and that's where it stands at the moment. Please note beowulf netinst _did_ install on virtualbox and is fully functional. Therefore, minimal-live should, as well.
From what I understand, Oracle virtualbox v-disk has had problems w/gpt and defaults to msdos.
Q: 'minimal-live' boot menu has several options, which one did you choose for qemu?
englee
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If the minimal-live CD booted on the macbook, then the mac is capable of booting in legacy bios (CSM) mode. There is no uefi bootloader in that iso. And I agree that it should have installed in virtualbox. I have installed previous versions of the minimal-live in previous versions of virtualbox, and the current isos are essentially the same as they were then.
If you choose expert install in the netinstall iso, you get a few more questions, and one of them lets you skip adding a bootloader. That would have avoided clobbering rEFInd.
I booted the first option in the minimal live. Choosing one of the toram or access options shouldn't change the outcome. I'm not sure about the no-probe option.
This one: devuan_beowulf_3.1.1_amd64_minimal-live.iso
In your virtualbox gui, go to System, Motherboard, Chipset. What does it say?
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If the minimal-live CD booted on the macbook, then the mac is capable of booting in legacy bios (CSM) mode. There is no uefi bootloader in that iso. And I agree that it should have installed in virtualbox. I have installed previous versions of the minimal-live in previous versions of virtualbox, and the current isos are essentially the same as they were then.
If you choose expert install in the netinstall iso, you get a few more questions, and one of them lets you skip adding a bootloader. That would have avoided clobbering rEFInd.
I booted the first option in the minimal live. Choosing one of the toram or access options shouldn't change the outcome. I'm not sure about the no-probe option.
This one: devuan_beowulf_3.1.1_amd64_minimal-live.iso
In your virtualbox gui, go to System, Motherboard, Chipset. What does it say?
1) Chipset == PIIX3
2) USB TABLET
3) x ENABLE I/O APIC
# # #
Q: Are you saying rEFInd should be able to boot kernel on beowulf netinst iso?
. . . then reinstalling eEFInd from CLI is all that needs to be done to boot both netinst & minimal-live kernel's
englee
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