Any chance of integrating UEFI support in upcoming version of G4l
Situation: We rotate in several Dell desktops on a yearly basis. Have used g4l for many years now. With the latest generation "Silverlake" processors,, the Dell bios no longer has a 'legacy bios'/ non UEFI to setup as an option
Dead in the water on these units for using g4l to image each of these now, unfortunately.
Thank You
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I went to dell's site, but it is useless without and exact machine number to ask for any help. Seems they are more interested in $$$$ than actually working with customers??
https://appuals.com/fix-system-doesnt-have-any-usb-boot-option/ site has some info on enabling legacy options. Don't know if the Dell Silverlake does completely remove legacy support or if there is some complex process that is need to enable it. Might not show up if the secure boot is enabled, so might be a multi-step process.
As I've mentioned in past, it seems the process to get the UEFI signature approved cost $$$ and it has to be submitted for every single kernel. Memtest website had a discussion on this, and why they opted not to even attempt to do it. I've occasionally looked for a way to do it, but have not found any options. Syslinux also talks about it, but it seems even they have issues. Kernel builds have options in the source to add UEFI boot support, but without the key for the kernel, and then installing it in the EFI boot process to be recognized it seems useless.
So, if anyone has information that I've not been able to find.
I've been doing G4L since 2004, and have never made a dime off it. Retired with 36 years at my college in 2017, so don't have as many resources, but do kernel build regularly. Most recent is 0.60 alpha 60 with kernel 5x13.13 as the default.
Only other option I've thought of. Long ago had people that had issue that wouldn't boot the g4l iso, but knoppix would boot. Created a tar file that contained the necessary files to add g4l to the knoppix. Mainly just the g4l script, ncftp, dialog, uses some other programs that might not be included. Could try booting from say a Fedora Live CD, but that would require the 2G image on a flash USB. Then do updated.
Use to have Dell servers, but wasn't really impressed with them..
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I've been doing G4L since 2004, and have never made a dime off it. Retired
with 36 years at my college in 2017, so don't have as many resources, but
do kernel build regularly. Most recent is 0.60 alpha 60 with kernel
5x13.13 as the default.
I REALLY appreciate your work on G4L. I have used it for MANY years and
just last week recommended it to a group.
I apologize for not giving a specific model number . It is Dell Optiplex
3080. They were received just two days ago 140 of them . . I agree with you
100% . Dell has a marketing team that is relentless. I don't get the choice
in what is ordered,,and from many years experience like, you,,have learned
that to ,,admins in any business,, " a name sells". Period. Can you
say,,,'educated idiot',,,,many times,,is the case.
Looked high and low to see if maybe someone had created a custom bios/ hack
that would allow a 'legacy bios' to be installed on this. never came up
with any even vaugue leads to this,though
Thank You , although i know "Thanks" don't buy no beer!
I went to dell's site, but it is useless without and exact machine number
to ask for any help. Seems they are more interested in $$$$ than actually
working with customers??
https://appuals.com/fix-system-doesnt-have-any-usb-boot-option/ site has
some info on enabling legacy options. Don't know if the Dell Silverlake
does completely remove legacy support or if there is some complex process
that is need to enable it. Might not show up if the secure boot is enabled,
so might be a multi-step process.
As I've mentioned in past, it seems the process to get the UEFI signature
approved cost $$$ and it has to be submitted for every single kernel.
Memtest website had a discussion on this, and why they opted not to even
attempt to do it. I've occasionally looked for a way to do it, but have not
found any options. Syslinux also talks about it, but it seems even they
have issues. Kernel builds have options in the source to add UEFI boot
support, but without the key for the kernel, and then installing it in the
EFI boot process to be recognized it seems useless.
So, if anyone has information that I've not been able to find.
I've been doing G4L since 2004, and have never made a dime off it. Retired
with 36 years at my college in 2017, so don't have as many resources, but
do kernel build regularly. Most recent is 0.60 alpha 60 with kernel
5x13.13 as the default.
Only other option I've thought of. Long ago had people that had issue that
wouldn't boot the g4l iso, but knoppix would boot. Created a tar file that
contained the necessary files to add g4l to the knoppix. Mainly just the
g4l script, ncftp, dialog, uses some other programs that might not be
included. Could try booting from say a Fedora Live CD, but that would
require the 2G image on a flash USB. Then do updated.
Use to have Dell servers, but wasn't really impressed with them..
Just thought would share my workaround for the Dell Optplex 3080 machine
disk imaging.
After a few hours of wrangling, Could get Clonezilla usb to be recogonized
as UEFI to be bootable. but never could get it to detect the drive in this
machine.
This machine does have the M.2 NVME disk in it. If you have never used
these these things are lightning quick,I'll have to say.
Next tried GParted Live CD ,never could it to recognize the drive either.
Tried disabling all the 'secure ,,yada yada,,,in bios. This machine has
many many more secure setting s in bios versus last years Dells (3070) that
we got. This really surprised me GParted would not recognize the drive,,but
have read were with this Silverlake system,Intel has some new funky hard
drive driver,,next gen ,,blah,,blah.
Long story short am using one of last years machines which allows legacy
boot,,and taking the M.2 NVME disk/chip out and putting into the year old
machine. This does work OK,albeit have to pull chip from each machine. Sure
beats having to hang softwares to each machine manually.
Ideally should have bought a M.2 NVME cloning caddy,,but still would have
pulled the disk from each machine for this as well.
Thanks again for your many years of efforts on G4L!
I apologize for not giving a specific model number . It is Dell Optiplex
3080. They were received just two days ago 140 of them . . I agree with you
100% . Dell has a marketing team that is relentless. I don't get the choice
in what is ordered,,and from many years experience like, you,,have learned
that to ,,admins in any business,, " a name sells". Period. Can you
say,,,'educated idiot',,,,many times,,is the case.
Looked high and low to see if maybe someone had created a custom bios/ hack
that would allow a 'legacy bios' to be installed on this. never came up
with any even vaugue leads to this,though
Thank You , although i know "Thanks" don't buy no beer!
I went to dell's site, but it is useless without and exact machine number
to ask for any help. Seems they are more interested in $$$$ than actually
working with customers??
https://appuals.com/fix-system-doesnt-have-any-usb-boot-option/ site has
some info on enabling legacy options. Don't know if the Dell Silverlake
does completely remove legacy support or if there is some complex process
that is need to enable it. Might not show up if the secure boot is
enabled,
so might be a multi-step process.
As I've mentioned in past, it seems the process to get the UEFI signature
approved cost $$$ and it has to be submitted for every single kernel.
Memtest website had a discussion on this, and why they opted not to even
attempt to do it. I've occasionally looked for a way to do it, but have
not
found any options. Syslinux also talks about it, but it seems even they
have issues. Kernel builds have options in the source to add UEFI boot
support, but without the key for the kernel, and then installing it in
the
EFI boot process to be recognized it seems useless.
So, if anyone has information that I've not been able to find.
I've been doing G4L since 2004, and have never made a dime off it.
Retired
with 36 years at my college in 2017, so don't have as many resources, but
do kernel build regularly. Most recent is 0.60 alpha 60 with kernel
5x13.13 as the default.
Only other option I've thought of. Long ago had people that had issue
that
wouldn't boot the g4l iso, but knoppix would boot. Created a tar file
that
contained the necessary files to add g4l to the knoppix. Mainly just the
g4l script, ncftp, dialog, uses some other programs that might not be
included. Could try booting from say a Fedora Live CD, but that would
require the 2G image on a flash USB. Then do updated.
Use to have Dell servers, but wasn't really impressed with them..
Reminds me of my first experience with a Dell PowerEdge Server about 20 years ago. Our College MIS director demanded at time that any new Machine that was a server had to be a Dell?? Cost about $8,000 compared to a similar $2000 regular machine. But that was how things were. Was setting up to test Windows 2000 server. Booted the brand new server up with 3 fancy SCSI drives in 3 of the 6 SCSI removable bays. Got to the installation point, and got message that no hard drives found?? Turned out, the Perc 3 SCSI disk controller driver wasn't included on the NT2000 CD, so had to find it, and put it on a floppy disk. If I recall, had to Press F8 during early install process, and have it add the driver from the floppy disk. Then it went OK.
Later did test with Novell Server software and Linux on the machine, and those both included the driver and worked fine with installation.
Getting back to the UEFI Issue. Found a site that has some info, but it isn't super clear, so I might not be understanding it correctly, and I have no machines at Home that use UEFI boot, so can not test it.
Is the link, and it has a section lower down that has this example. cp bzImage /boot/efi/EFI/kernel_5.10.13_64.efi
cp System.map /boot/efi/EFI/
mkinitrd /boot/efi/EFI/initrd 5.10.13
My understanding, which might be wrong, it that one can copy the regular kernel to the efi directory?? Not clear and the use of the System.map or the mkinitrd??
The latest kernel I have for the g4l is bz5x13.13
So was thinking that trying to copy it to the efi directory??
cp bz5x13.13 /boot/efi/EFI/bz5x13.13.efi
ftp://setzco.dyndns.org/ has the latest.
bz5x13.13 (latest kernel file)
linux-5.13.13-System.map (System.map file from 5x13.13)
ramdisk.lzma (latest initrd file)
g4l0.60.iso (same as the g4l0.60alpha60.iso file)
Don't know if the System.map copy would be necessary or the mkinitrd. Think that is for a kenel that doesn't need to have an initrd??
So maybe coping the ramdisk.lzma to the directory.. Don't know if it needs a matching name, since there doesn't seem to be anything to link which kernel use which initrd??
In the sysliinux.cfg there is a clear link..
LABEL bz5x13.13
MENU LABEL ^D: bz5x13.13 x86 08-26-2021
MENU DEFAULT
TEXT HELP
Kernel 5x13.13 from Kernel.org
ENDTEXT
LINUX bz5x13.13
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.lzma root=/dev/ram0
Don't have directory on machines, so don't know what other file combinations are there.
so copying the ramdisk.lzma to same name??
Then it goes into efibootmgr.
Would be nice if it was as easy as copying the kernel file and ramdisk.lzma and then just going thru the efibootmgr, but if it was, think it would be stated somewhere on web...
Thanks again. Have a nice day.
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Reminds me of my first experience with a Dell PowerEdge Server about 20
years ago. Our College MIS director demanded at time that any new Machine
that was a server had to be a Dell?? Cost about $8,000 compared to a
similar $2000 regular machine. But that was how things were. Was setting up
to test Windows 2000 server. Booted the brand new server up with 3 fancy
SCSI drives in 3 of the 6 SCSI removable bays. Got to the installation
point, and got message that no hard drives found?? Turned out, the Perc 3
SCSI disk controller driver wasn't included on the NT2000 CD, so had to
find it, and put it on a floppy disk. If I recall, had to Press F8 during
early install process, and have it add the driver from the floppy disk.
Then it went OK.
Later did test with Novell Server software and Linux on the machine, and
those both included the driver and worked fine with installation.
Getting back to the UEFI Issue. Found a site that has some info, but it
isn't super clear, so I might not be understanding it correctly, and I have
no machines at Home that use UEFI boot, so can not test it.
Is the link, and it has a section lower down that has this example. cp bzImage /boot/efi/EFI/kernel_5.10.13_64.efi
cp System.map /boot/efi/EFI/
mkinitrd /boot/efi/EFI/initrd 5.10.13
My understanding, which might be wrong, it that one can copy the regular
kernel to the efi directory?? Not clear and the use of the System.map or
the mkinitrd??
The latest kernel I have for the g4l is bz5x13.13
So was thinking that trying to copy it to the efi directory??
cp bz5x13.13 /boot/efi/EFI/bz5x13.13.efi
ftp://setzco.dyndns.org/ has the latest.
bz5x13.13 (latest kernel file)
linux-5.13.13-System.map (System.map file from 5x13.13)
ramdisk.lzma (latest initrd file)
g4l0.60.iso (same as the g4l0.60alpha60.iso file)
Don't know if the System.map copy would be necessary or the mkinitrd.
Think that is for a kenel that doesn't need to have an initrd??
So maybe coping the ramdisk.lzma to the directory.. Don't know if it needs
a matching name, since there doesn't seem to be anything to link which
kernel use which initrd??
In the sysliinux.cfg there is a clear link..
LABEL bz5x13.13
MENU LABEL ^D: bz5x13.13 x86 08-26-2021
MENU DEFAULT
TEXT HELP
Kernel 5x13.13 from Kernel.org
ENDTEXT
LINUX bz5x13.13
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.lzma root=/dev/ram0
Don't have directory on machines, so don't know what other file
combinations are there.
so copying the ramdisk.lzma to same name??
Then it goes into efibootmgr.
Would be nice if it was as easy as copying the kernel file and
ramdisk.lzma and then just going thru the efibootmgr, but if it was, think
it would be stated somewhere on web...
The alpha stuff is not on the public sourceforge site. I make some files occassionally on my my home ftp server for people that have an issue that I'm working on. So, would only been seen my going to ftp://setzco.dyndns.org
Most recent was a user that was getting kernel crashes if he tried the G4L with some options set in bios? Turned out those options were for moduals that were not included in the kernel build since they had no use for g4l at all. Was able to find the exact options, and build them in kernel, and they made no difference in regular boots, but did stop his crashes. Only added about 20K to kernel size, so no big deal.
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Thank You once again,
I Got the v.0.60 alpha ISO downloaded.
Ok,,I am showing my stupidity,,,which i can easily do. Is it possible for
X86 kernel build to be recognized as UEFI compliant?
Was always under the impression only amd64 kernels would be able to do the
UEFI thing?... I have not read up on this for a long time.
I am really rusty on doing kernel building,,i did do this many many moons
ago.
The alpha stuff is not on the public sourceforge site. I make some files
occassionally on my my home ftp server for people that have an issue that
I'm working on. So, would only been seen my going to
ftp://setzco.dyndns.org
Most recent was a user that was getting kernel crashes if he tried the G4L
with some options set in bios? Turned out those options were for moduals
that were not included in the kernel build since they had no use for g4l at
all. Was able to find the exact options, and build them in kernel, and they
made no difference in regular boots, but did stop his crashes. Only added
about 20K to kernel size, so no big deal.
Thank You once again,
I Got the v.0.60 alpha ISO downloaded.
Ok,,I am showing my stupidity,,,which i can easily do. Is it possible for
X86 kernel build to be recognized as UEFI compliant?
Was always under the impression only amd64 kernels would be able to do the
UEFI thing?... I have not read up on this for a long time.
I am really rusty on doing kernel building,,i did do this many many moons
ago.
The alpha stuff is not on the public sourceforge site. I make some files
occassionally on my my home ftp server for people that have an issue that
I'm working on. So, would only been seen my going to
ftp://setzco.dyndns.org
Most recent was a user that was getting kernel crashes if he tried the
G4L
with some options set in bios? Turned out those options were for moduals
that were not included in the kernel build since they had no use for g4l
at
all. Was able to find the exact options, and build them in kernel, and
they
made no difference in regular boots, but did stop his crashes. Only added
about 20K to kernel size, so no big deal.
Just a note: The G4L kernels are 64 bit kernels and have had the EFI options build into the kernel for some time. Fedora stopped making 32 bit version a couple full versions ago, so had to move to 64 bit. Had looked at it many years ago, but found no difference in speed between 32 bit and 64bit then. So, since 32bit would run on 64 bit hardware had no issue. Was a big change in the build and the library directories. But the actual g4l code didn't change at all that I recall.
Include the .config file for each build, so it is there as well. Usually, just copy the .config file from previous build and do the make oldconfig. Sometimes it makes no changes, but sometimes it will prompt for new features that were added and prompt to add them or not.
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Asking if anyone has any information on getting UEFI to actually work??
I've now gone thru 6 web sites I found that seem to have processes that are suppose to work, but none have actually fully worked.
Some created a flash that is seen as a UEFI flash, and show the option with the G4L, but then it fails to actual boot. Others go thru the process, but then the flash doesn't show up as an UEFI flash at all??
The kernel (I believe) has all the EFI options in kernel build set??
Here are the kernel build options that include EFI (Only the first 2 are the ones I've seen required, but might be that they set the others automatically)
(changed # to comment: as it makes funky bold text).
CONFIG_EFI=y
CONFIG_EFI_STUB=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_MIXED is not set
CONFIG_DMI_SCAN_MACHINE_NON_EFI_FALLBACK=y
comment: EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support
CONFIG_EFI_VARS=y
CONFIG_EFI_ESRT=y
CONFIG_EFI_FAKE_MEMMAP=y
CONFIG_EFI_MAX_FAKE_MEM=8
CONFIG_EFI_RUNTIME_WRAPPERS=y
CONFIG_EFI_GENERIC_STUB_INITRD_CMDLINE_LOADER=y
CONFIG_EFI_BOOTLOADER_CONTROL=y
CONFIG_EFI_CAPSULE_LOADER=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_TEST is not set
comment: CONFIG_EFI_RCI2_TABLE is not set
comment: CONFIG_EFI_DISABLE_PCI_DMA is not set
comment end of EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support
CONFIG_EFI_EARLYCON=y
CONFIG_EFI_CUSTOM_SSDT_OVERLAYS=y
CONFIG_EFI_PARTITION=y
CONFIG_EFIVAR_FS=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_PGT_DUMP is not set
So, the kernel should support the EFI boot. Lastest version I'm testing with is bz5x13.14
It just requires the kernel file and the ramdisk.lzma
From the cd iso this is all the boot requires.
LABEL bz5x13.14
MENU LABEL ^D: bz5x13.14 x86 09-03-2021
MENU DEFAULT
TEXT HELP
Kernel 5x13.14 from Kernel.org
ENDTEXT
LINUX bz5x13.14
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.lzma root=/dev/ram0
Under Grub4dos
title G4L
find --set-root /linux/bz5x13.14
kernel /linux/bz5x13.14 root=/dev/ram0
initrd /linux/ramdisk.lzma
for the grub2 under fedora in the 40_custom file
menuentry G4L {
linux /bz5x13.14 root=/dev/ram0 telnetd=yes
initrd /ramdisk.lzma
}
With all of those, it is just putting the kernel file and ramdisk.lzma in the location, and it loads fine.
Unfortunately, did document the test I done, since once one failed, I found another and just went on. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if they only work with iso images that are already efi boot setup?? Went to the Dell site, but no way to ask a question without an official device code number? So, perhaps someone with one of these machines could ask Dell, or now hear Lenova has also done thing on some machine?
I did document the last one I attempted. The process fails, and the USB created doesn't even list in the boot menu as being a UEFI Flash, but probable to to the Error message that comes up in process.
Here is the link to the web page, and the steps I tried from it. https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-create-multiboot-usb-with-linux
parted -s /dev/sdb mklabel msdos
parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary 1MiB 551Mib
parted -s /dev/sdb set 1 esp on
parted -s /dev/sdb set 1 boot on
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdb1
parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary 551Mib 100%
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb2
mkdir /media/{efi,data}
mount /dev/sdb1 /media/efi
mount /dev/sdb2 /media/data
So, if anyone has ideals?? Many of the pages were about setting up a flash with multiple ISO images, and those show the option, but fail to boot. May be something as simple as it requiring a slightly different format of commands, or local of the files I'm missing?
Just tried ventoy and it using ISO image, and got it to see flash as UEFI, and it saw the ISO image, but after selecting it, it comes with a message that ISO image doesn't have an EFI boot?? Sent an email to the ventoy email, but no response yet. Think it might just be a front-end to booting various already setup EFI ISO file??
Think it would be a simple process to take a kernel and ramdisk, but I've had 6 failures so far.
Have a little Dell machine I'm testing on, but it has BIOS support and EFI, and on those options that make an EFI flash it sees it. Perhaps there is something I'm missing? Thanks.
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I'm sorry causing a lot of frustration on this. I dropped the ball,,,,as at
work,,havent had time to do any wrangling with your suggestions.,,pushin
out the latest greatest machines to employees.
Just wanted to share what i have found in the UEFI jungle.
On this latest Dell Optiplex 3080 a latest version Gparted live usb
stick will bootup fine from the bios menu, being listed as a UEFI disk.
After umpteen reboots come to find out if i temporarily switch in the bios
from default raid,,,to AHCI the M.2 NVME drive is detected by GParted, all
partitions as expected.
With the latest Clonezilla USB stick it show up in system bios as a UEFI
as well,,,BUT as soon as tries to boot it stops. Again after much,,much
wrangling,,,there is in the UEFI boot options to 'browse' for the UEFI
file,,,so started browsing and trying whatever showed up,,& finally if i
selected the x64.efi ( i think it was) and save this config in the bios
start again and the Clonezilla will in fact boot on up after this & with
the RAID in bios switched to AHCI the NVME disk is detected with correct
partitions all of them.
I did build the kernel version you gave me,,and also noticed the UEFI
options are enabled by defualt on this version kernel,,so it seem it should
work 'out of the box' ha ha
I am going to build the v.60g4l tomorrow at work,try and do the browse in
the bios for the same x64.efi,or whatever it is that made it work on
Clonezilla,and see if G4L may boot on this rig.
Will report back tomorrow night.
Asking if anyone has any information on getting UEFI to actually work??
I've now gone thru 6 web sites I found that seem to have processes that
are suppose to work, but none have actually fully worked.
Some created a flash that is seen as a UEFI flash, and show the option
with the G4L, but then it fails to actual boot. Others go thru the process,
but then the flash doesn't show up as an UEFI flash at all??
The kernel (I believe) has all the EFI options in kernel build set??
Here are the kernel build options that include EFI (Only the first 2 are
the ones I've seen required, but might be that they set the others
automatically)
(changed # to comment: as it makes funky bold text).
CONFIG_EFI=y
CONFIG_EFI_STUB=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_MIXED is not set
CONFIG_DMI_SCAN_MACHINE_NON_EFI_FALLBACK=y
comment: EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support
CONFIG_EFI_VARS=y
CONFIG_EFI_ESRT=y
CONFIG_EFI_FAKE_MEMMAP=y
CONFIG_EFI_MAX_FAKE_MEM=8
CONFIG_EFI_RUNTIME_WRAPPERS=y
CONFIG_EFI_GENERIC_STUB_INITRD_CMDLINE_LOADER=y
CONFIG_EFI_BOOTLOADER_CONTROL=y
CONFIG_EFI_CAPSULE_LOADER=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_TEST is not set
comment: CONFIG_EFI_RCI2_TABLE is not set
comment: CONFIG_EFI_DISABLE_PCI_DMA is not set
comment end of EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support
CONFIG_EFI_EARLYCON=y
CONFIG_EFI_CUSTOM_SSDT_OVERLAYS=y
CONFIG_EFI_PARTITION=y
CONFIG_EFIVAR_FS=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_PGT_DUMP is not set
So, the kernel should support the EFI boot. Lastest version I'm testing
with is bz5x13.14
It just requires the kernel file and the ramdisk.lzma
From the cd iso this is all the boot requires.
LABEL bz5x13.14
MENU LABEL ^D: bz5x13.14 x86 09-03-2021
MENU DEFAULT
TEXT HELP
Kernel 5x13.14 from Kernel.org
ENDTEXT
LINUX bz5x13.14
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.lzma root=/dev/ram0
Under Grub4dos
title G4L
find --set-root /linux/bz5x13.14
kernel /linux/bz5x13.14 root=/dev/ram0
initrd /linux/ramdisk.lzma
for the grub2 under fedora in the 40_custom file
menuentry G4L {
linux /bz5x13.14 root=/dev/ram0 telnetd=yes
initrd /ramdisk.lzma
}
With all of those, it is just putting the kernel file and ramdisk.lzma in
the location, and it loads fine.
Unfortunately, did document the test I done, since once one failed, I
found another and just went on. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or
if they only work with iso images that are already efi boot setup?? Went to
the Dell site, but no way to ask a question without an official device code
number? So, perhaps someone with one of these machines could ask Dell, or
now hear Lenova has also done thing on some machine?
I did document the last one I attempted. The process fails, and the USB
created doesn't even list in the boot menu as being a UEFI Flash, but
probable to to the Error message that comes up in process.
Here is the link to the web page, and the steps I tried from it. https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-create-multiboot-usb-with-linux
parted -s /dev/sdb mklabel msdos
parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary 1MiB 551Mib
parted -s /dev/sdb set 1 esp on
parted -s /dev/sdb set 1 boot on
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdb1
parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary 551Mib 100%
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb2
mkdir /media/{efi,data}
mount /dev/sdb1 /media/efi
mount /dev/sdb2 /media/data
grub2-install: error: this utility cannot be used for EFI platforms
because it does not support UEFI Secure Boot.
(That is the error message, and probable why the flash doesn't show as
UEFI flash, but don't want it to have UEFI Secure boot anyway)???
mkdir /media/data/boot/iso
chown 1000:1000 /media/data/boot/iso
cd /media/data/boot/iso/
cp /home/msetzerii/g4l0.60alpha/g4l-v0.60.iso .
cd /media/data/boot/grub2
So, if anyone has ideals?? Many of the pages were about setting up a flash
with multiple ISO images, and those show the option, but fail to boot. May
be something as simple as it requiring a slightly different format of
commands, or local of the files I'm missing?
Just tried ventoy and it using ISO image, and got it to see flash as UEFI,
and it saw the ISO image, but after selecting it, it comes with a message
that ISO image doesn't have an EFI boot?? Sent an email to the ventoy
email, but no response yet. Think it might just be a front-end to booting
various already setup EFI ISO file??
Think it would be a simple process to take a kernel and ramdisk, but I've
had 6 failures so far.
Have a little Dell machine I'm testing on, but it has BIOS support and
EFI, and on those options that make an EFI flash it sees it. Perhaps there
is something I'm missing? Thanks.
Question on the Dell 3080?? I have a Dell 9020 and in the bios it has an option under the Advanced Bios settings that talks about enable additional Rom to allow other than UEFI boots. I wonder if perhaps on the 3080, Dell might have turned this option off by default.
Can you check the bios?? Again, my 9020 does support the bios boot, but not sure if this might be an older model. Don't know how the 9020 compares with the 3080 or the 3070.
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I checked what you mentioned additional rom. On the Optiplex 3080,which is
what we received just a couple weeks ago, in the UEFI boot section there
is something similar. This is were you can "browse' for the actual 'efi'
file, so i browsed and found an x64.efi file highlightied ,named this as a
new possible boot device and saved. . This is in fact what i had to do with
the Clonezilla usb stick to get it to successfully boot. Without doing this
the usb stick was recognized as a UEFI capable boot device would not boot
on up.
Just to clarify. last years batch of Dell Optiplex were a number 3070.
These still had option to enable legacy bios boot,which of course is
disabled by default.
In the Optiplex specs on Dell website,it does make mention that on the 3080
there is no option to legacy boot.
Also I did build the v0.60 G4L usb stick,and unfortunately does not show up
in the system bios as a possible boot device,so can not even browse for th
*.efi file.
Hope this makes sense.
I considered trying to force flash somehow a 3070 model bios onto these
just to see if it would work,but gave up on this idea :)
Question on the Dell 3080?? I have a Dell 9020 and in the bios it has an
option under the Advanced Bios settings that talks about enable additional
Rom to allow other than UEFI boots. I wonder if perhaps on the 3080, Dell
might have turned this option off by default.
Can you check the bios?? Again, my 9020 does support the bios boot, but
not sure if this might be an older model. Don't know how the 9020 compares
with the 3080 or the 3070.
Getting somewhat closer. Had a person on the fedora list give me something that was a little different than other things. Had linuxefi and initrdefi to load file. Had also setup a thing that used the fedora vmlinuz boot kernel, and he change the ramdisk.lzma to a g4l.img file?? Think that is just an uncompress version of the file since it is twice the size.
With it, I was able to use the secure boot option, and it loads the g4l and it runs, but has a major issue. Since the vmlinuz kernel doesn't have the drivers for nics built in, it fails to load any network support...
So, just for the fun of it, I made a second boot option that used my kernel in place of the vmlinuz file. Just ended with a blank screen. So, tried some things.
Added Echo commands before kernel load, before initrd load, and finally after initrd load.
To my surprise all the echo commands showed up, but nothing on screen.
Then tried hitting the enter key a number of times to meet with the screens that should be popping up, and eventually should be at the command prompt.
Typed eject and the cd eject from machine, so the kernel was loading, and so was the g4l.img.
G4L has an option that can load telnetd on bootup, just add telnetd=y on kernel line.
rebooted machine with that setting. Then I was able to telnet into the machine, and could run the g4l via telnet.
So, it boots and runs with g4l, just little problem of not getting any output to screen??
tried looking at dmesg and lshw, but saw nothing about video in the mesg, and the lshw only shows the VGA, but marks it as unclaimed? So, going to have to figure out the efi video setup??
So, the process is just to make a GPT formated flash with a Fat32 partition, and put some files onto it. Then on my Dell 9020, just boot and press F12, and select the UEFI USB boot option.
So, getting closer...
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Have a possible full solution now.
Had system working with the exception of video output, but telnet into system worked, but was not ideal.
Did a bunch more looking, and a lot of just trying stuff.
Have ended up with what requires about 100 lines added/changed in the bz5x14.2.config file to build the kernel. Had to add a lot of Framebuffer support options for various GPU cards, and make the fbconsole the primary.
What I have now boots my modified kernel bz5x14.2d and loads the same ramdisk.lzma support program. Only difference seems to be that it defaults to the max resolution, which is much higher than the standard text screen. But other than that seems OK.
Need to check to see if this modified kernel works with the regular non-efi boot loaders.
Native syslinux, grub4dos, and grub. If not, will probable need to build kernels without the modes, and with modes..
So, seems a flash formatted with GPT and Fat32 partition and then about 40M of files.
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Michael, every time I have seen one of these requests since you have retired, I've groaned at the pile on effect, but you keep on stepping up.
Do you know Mario Limonciello over the years? I think he might be open to a reach out from you although he's at AMD now.
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It's not a problem. I enjoy doing it. Just frustrating when the information isn't out there. For a while, I was getting a blank screen when I tried the efi boot, so thought something was wrong with the setup. Figured would get some error message. Wasn't till I added some testing echos to try and see if it was the kernel or ramdisk that was causing problem, but it showed that both loaded. So with the empty screen found that it was possible to get to the command prompt by just entering, and was able to run the eject command and it worked, so it showed the kernel and ramdisk were working fine just the video. Looked all over for info, but just little stuff here and there. Final found some stuff that gave some clues, so made changes to the kernel config (turned out it modified 100 lines) loading framebuffers for most GPUs and fbcon stuff. Then had working video, so think the efi might be solved with usb flash. Tested kernels, and they work in the other boot options as well. Did find that with older kernels adding vga=ask allows only limited VGA modes, but the new ones will show lots of options.
Kernel.org just release a bunch of kernels on 9/12, so I built them. Have the 5x13, 5x14, and 5x15 kernels built with the modes. 5x4 and 5x10 still old builds. So, these syslinux boot, and grub4dos. Haven't tried it from the Fedora grub menu yet. Have also created a g4lefixx.xz file with all the efi stuff. Just need users to create a GPT flash with a FAT32 partition, and extract the contents to it.
tar -xvf g4lefixx.xz.
Have the stuff on my ftp server. ftp setzco.dyndns.org
Have a 50Mb download, but the upload is limited to 2.5Mb, but file is only like 40M. It only has the bz5x14.3 kernel file and ramdisk.lzma. the other stuff is just the efi basics.
So, perhaps someone can do some tests. I have 5 machines at home here, but have them all doing different things.
Have done 65 versions with the 0.60 release I've got in works. Will have to see if people figure it out.
Don't get a lot of feedback, and note the number of weekly downloads, but no clue if they are really people downloading it and using it, or it just being downloaded.. Usually, just people asking for new things, which is fine, or usually minor issues..
Thanks again.
Oh. Don't know anything about Mario Limonciello? Not sure where he was before, since you mention he is at AMD now...
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Mario was the Dell Linux lead for years and actively participated in discussion/support communities. He's on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook if you want to reach out.
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The Option to check the EFI boot File is:
ftp://setzco.dyndns.org/g4lefixx.xz
You need to make a USB Flash formatted at GPT, and Fat32 partition.
Then extract files to the Fat32 partition.
Then boot machine, press F12, and select UEFI boot device in menu.
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Contents of g4lefixx.xz archive - tar -xvf g4lefixx.xz to extract
tar -Jcvf /g4lefixx.xz *
bz5x14.3
bz5x14.3.config
EFI/
EFI/BOOT/
EFI/BOOT/BOOTIA32.EFI
EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
EFI/BOOT/grubia32.efi
EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi
EFI/BOOT/mmia32.efi
EFI/BOOT/mmx64.efi
EFI/BOOT/fonts/
EFI/BOOT/fonts/unicode.pf2
EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg
EFI/BOOT/x86_64-efi/
EFI/BOOT/x86_64-efi/efi_gop.mod
EFI/BOOT/x86_64-efi/efi_uga.mod
EFI/BOOT/x86_64-efi/all_video.mod
ramdisk.lzma
User on Fedora list provided an example boot that used the Fedora kernel to boot, and I was able to just put my kernel with the modifications to support Framebuffers and fbcon. Added about 100 lines to the .config file for kernel build and about 400K to the size. Root of archive has the latest kernel bz5x14.3 with the .config file that was used to build it. Then the Ramdisk.lzma with the file system.
Modified the grub.cfg file to provide boot options.
menuentry 'Start G4L bz5x14.3 with vga=ask' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
echo "Loading Kernel with vga=ask - Press Enter to get selections"
linuxefi /bz5x14.3 vga=ask telnetd=y
echo "Loading initrd"
initrdefi /ramdisk.lzma
echo "Done"
}
Note: The boot process seems to provide the max resolution, which works fine, but the vga=ask option will provide an option to select resolution that might work better.
Process should just be to make a GPT formatted flash with a FAT32 partition, and extract the files. Boot machine press F12 (or perhaps other key) to create the boot device list, and then select the UEFI Boot option for the Flash. Then select either entry.
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Update: Seems the vga=ask doesn't work with the UEFI boot. Seems UEFI boot passes the video info, and that is what kernel users. When I tested booting the iso in virtual box, the vga=ask works, and also works with the grub4dos boot as well. Well, do some more looking to see if there is an option with UEFI to set resolution. Tried some options, but still getting the high resolution. But it seems to be working fine otherwise.
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Made a minor changes.
Added hwinfo to the g4l since the lshw didn't show info on framebuffer.
hwinfo --framebuffer will show information on frame buffer.
Also, change the bkey script, since it was bothering me that on the high res screen, it was throwing window in top / left. Just remove the begin option, so it now centers link the others.
Haven't seen anyone download the g4lefixx.xz file, so no one has tested the UEFI boot.
Someone did download the latest ISO, and would have the kernel with framebuffer support, but the iso doesn't have the EFI files.
If anyone tries it, please let me know. Even if it is just to see if it boots.
Thanks.
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Thank You for your efforts on this.
Will build a couple USB sticks with your instructions. Am down to only
about 75 Dell Optiplex 3080 on the shelf so will have a few to test on :)
Will report back in 8 hours.
Made a minor changes.
Added hwinfo to the g4l since the lshw didn't show info on framebuffer.
hwinfo --framebuffer will show information on frame buffer.
Also, change the bkey script, since it was bothering me that on the high
res screen, it was throwing window in top / left. Just remove the begin
option, so it now centers link the others.
Haven't seen anyone download the g4lefixx.xz file, so no one has tested
the UEFI boot.
Someone did download the latest ISO, and would have the kernel with
framebuffer support, but the iso doesn't have the EFI files.
If anyone tries it, please let me know. Even if it is just to see if it
boots.
Thanks.
Hello G4l Devs,
I know this subject has been hashed many times.
Any chance of integrating UEFI support in upcoming version of G4l
Situation: We rotate in several Dell desktops on a yearly basis. Have used g4l for many years now. With the latest generation "Silverlake" processors,, the Dell bios no longer has a 'legacy bios'/ non UEFI to setup as an option
Dead in the water on these units for using g4l to image each of these now, unfortunately.
Thank You
I went to dell's site, but it is useless without and exact machine number to ask for any help. Seems they are more interested in $$$$ than actually working with customers??
https://appuals.com/fix-system-doesnt-have-any-usb-boot-option/ site has some info on enabling legacy options. Don't know if the Dell Silverlake does completely remove legacy support or if there is some complex process that is need to enable it. Might not show up if the secure boot is enabled, so might be a multi-step process.
As I've mentioned in past, it seems the process to get the UEFI signature approved cost $$$ and it has to be submitted for every single kernel. Memtest website had a discussion on this, and why they opted not to even attempt to do it. I've occasionally looked for a way to do it, but have not found any options. Syslinux also talks about it, but it seems even they have issues. Kernel builds have options in the source to add UEFI boot support, but without the key for the kernel, and then installing it in the EFI boot process to be recognized it seems useless.
So, if anyone has information that I've not been able to find.
I've been doing G4L since 2004, and have never made a dime off it. Retired with 36 years at my college in 2017, so don't have as many resources, but do kernel build regularly. Most recent is 0.60 alpha 60 with kernel 5x13.13 as the default.
Only other option I've thought of. Long ago had people that had issue that wouldn't boot the g4l iso, but knoppix would boot. Created a tar file that contained the necessary files to add g4l to the knoppix. Mainly just the g4l script, ncftp, dialog, uses some other programs that might not be included. Could try booting from say a Fedora Live CD, but that would require the 2G image on a flash USB. Then do updated.
Use to have Dell servers, but wasn't really impressed with them..
I REALLY appreciate your work on G4L. I have used it for MANY years and
just last week recommended it to a group.
Harold
--
FCC Rules Updated Daily at http://www.hallikainen.com
Not sent from an iPhone.
Hi Michael,
I apologize for not giving a specific model number . It is Dell Optiplex
3080. They were received just two days ago 140 of them . . I agree with you
100% . Dell has a marketing team that is relentless. I don't get the choice
in what is ordered,,and from many years experience like, you,,have learned
that to ,,admins in any business,, " a name sells". Period. Can you
say,,,'educated idiot',,,,many times,,is the case.
Looked high and low to see if maybe someone had created a custom bios/ hack
that would allow a 'legacy bios' to be installed on this. never came up
with any even vaugue leads to this,though
Thank You , although i know "Thanks" don't buy no beer!
On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 3:26 PM Michael Setzer II msetzerii@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
Hi Michael,
Just thought would share my workaround for the Dell Optplex 3080 machine
disk imaging.
After a few hours of wrangling, Could get Clonezilla usb to be recogonized
as UEFI to be bootable. but never could get it to detect the drive in this
machine.
This machine does have the M.2 NVME disk in it. If you have never used
these these things are lightning quick,I'll have to say.
Next tried GParted Live CD ,never could it to recognize the drive either.
Tried disabling all the 'secure ,,yada yada,,,in bios. This machine has
many many more secure setting s in bios versus last years Dells (3070) that
we got. This really surprised me GParted would not recognize the drive,,but
have read were with this Silverlake system,Intel has some new funky hard
drive driver,,next gen ,,blah,,blah.
Long story short am using one of last years machines which allows legacy
boot,,and taking the M.2 NVME disk/chip out and putting into the year old
machine. This does work OK,albeit have to pull chip from each machine. Sure
beats having to hang softwares to each machine manually.
Ideally should have bought a M.2 NVME cloning caddy,,but still would have
pulled the disk from each machine for this as well.
Thanks again for your many years of efforts on G4L!
On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 4:58 PM brcisna brcisna@users.sourceforge.net
wrote:
Reminds me of my first experience with a Dell PowerEdge Server about 20 years ago. Our College MIS director demanded at time that any new Machine that was a server had to be a Dell?? Cost about $8,000 compared to a similar $2000 regular machine. But that was how things were. Was setting up to test Windows 2000 server. Booted the brand new server up with 3 fancy SCSI drives in 3 of the 6 SCSI removable bays. Got to the installation point, and got message that no hard drives found?? Turned out, the Perc 3 SCSI disk controller driver wasn't included on the NT2000 CD, so had to find it, and put it on a floppy disk. If I recall, had to Press F8 during early install process, and have it add the driver from the floppy disk. Then it went OK.
Later did test with Novell Server software and Linux on the machine, and those both included the driver and worked fine with installation.
Getting back to the UEFI Issue. Found a site that has some info, but it isn't super clear, so I might not be understanding it correctly, and I have no machines at Home that use UEFI boot, so can not test it.
https://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/How_to_build_and_install_your_own_Linux_kernel#Booting_a_kernel_directly_from_UEFI_firmware
Is the link, and it has a section lower down that has this example.
cp bzImage /boot/efi/EFI/kernel_5.10.13_64.efi
cp System.map /boot/efi/EFI/
mkinitrd /boot/efi/EFI/initrd 5.10.13
My understanding, which might be wrong, it that one can copy the regular kernel to the efi directory?? Not clear and the use of the System.map or the mkinitrd??
The latest kernel I have for the g4l is bz5x13.13
So was thinking that trying to copy it to the efi directory??
cp bz5x13.13 /boot/efi/EFI/bz5x13.13.efi
ftp://setzco.dyndns.org/ has the latest.
bz5x13.13 (latest kernel file)
linux-5.13.13-System.map (System.map file from 5x13.13)
ramdisk.lzma (latest initrd file)
g4l0.60.iso (same as the g4l0.60alpha60.iso file)
Don't know if the System.map copy would be necessary or the mkinitrd. Think that is for a kenel that doesn't need to have an initrd??
So maybe coping the ramdisk.lzma to the directory.. Don't know if it needs a matching name, since there doesn't seem to be anything to link which kernel use which initrd??
In the sysliinux.cfg there is a clear link..
LABEL bz5x13.13
MENU LABEL ^D: bz5x13.13 x86 08-26-2021
MENU DEFAULT
TEXT HELP
Kernel 5x13.13 from Kernel.org
ENDTEXT
LINUX bz5x13.13
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.lzma root=/dev/ram0
Don't have directory on machines, so don't know what other file combinations are there.
so copying the ramdisk.lzma to same name??
Then it goes into efibootmgr.
Would be nice if it was as easy as copying the kernel file and ramdisk.lzma and then just going thru the efibootmgr, but if it was, think it would be stated somewhere on web...
Thanks again. Have a nice day.
Hi Michael,
I do not see the --- g4l0.60alpha60.iso --- anywhere>
Would like to try this just to see if i can make it work,for future
machines also.
I never see a v60 of G4L evena google search? I have v59
Thanks
Barry
On Thu, Sep 2, 2021 at 2:23 PM Michael Setzer II msetzerii@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
The alpha stuff is not on the public sourceforge site. I make some files occassionally on my my home ftp server for people that have an issue that I'm working on. So, would only been seen my going to ftp://setzco.dyndns.org
Most recent was a user that was getting kernel crashes if he tried the G4L with some options set in bios? Turned out those options were for moduals that were not included in the kernel build since they had no use for g4l at all. Was able to find the exact options, and build them in kernel, and they made no difference in regular boots, but did stop his crashes. Only added about 20K to kernel size, so no big deal.
Hi Michael,
Thank You once again,
I Got the v.0.60 alpha ISO downloaded.
Ok,,I am showing my stupidity,,,which i can easily do. Is it possible for
X86 kernel build to be recognized as UEFI compliant?
Was always under the impression only amd64 kernels would be able to do the
UEFI thing?... I have not read up on this for a long time.
I am really rusty on doing kernel building,,i did do this many many moons
ago.
Thanks again
On Thu, Sep 2, 2021 at 7:34 PM Michael Setzer II msetzerii@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
Sorry,
Done more checking and x86 can do UEFI,,,
Boy I thought only 64 bit was UEFI compatible,,,
My bad.
On Thu, Sep 2, 2021 at 9:13 PM brcisna brcisna@users.sourceforge.net
wrote:
Just a note: The G4L kernels are 64 bit kernels and have had the EFI options build into the kernel for some time. Fedora stopped making 32 bit version a couple full versions ago, so had to move to 64 bit. Had looked at it many years ago, but found no difference in speed between 32 bit and 64bit then. So, since 32bit would run on 64 bit hardware had no issue. Was a big change in the build and the library directories. But the actual g4l code didn't change at all that I recall.
Include the .config file for each build, so it is there as well. Usually, just copy the .config file from previous build and do the make oldconfig. Sometimes it makes no changes, but sometimes it will prompt for new features that were added and prompt to add them or not.
Asking if anyone has any information on getting UEFI to actually work??
I've now gone thru 6 web sites I found that seem to have processes that are suppose to work, but none have actually fully worked.
Some created a flash that is seen as a UEFI flash, and show the option with the G4L, but then it fails to actual boot. Others go thru the process, but then the flash doesn't show up as an UEFI flash at all??
The kernel (I believe) has all the EFI options in kernel build set??
Here are the kernel build options that include EFI (Only the first 2 are the ones I've seen required, but might be that they set the others automatically)
(changed # to comment: as it makes funky bold text).
CONFIG_EFI=y
CONFIG_EFI_STUB=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_MIXED is not set
CONFIG_DMI_SCAN_MACHINE_NON_EFI_FALLBACK=y
comment: EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support
CONFIG_EFI_VARS=y
CONFIG_EFI_ESRT=y
CONFIG_EFI_FAKE_MEMMAP=y
CONFIG_EFI_MAX_FAKE_MEM=8
CONFIG_EFI_RUNTIME_WRAPPERS=y
CONFIG_EFI_GENERIC_STUB_INITRD_CMDLINE_LOADER=y
CONFIG_EFI_BOOTLOADER_CONTROL=y
CONFIG_EFI_CAPSULE_LOADER=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_TEST is not set
comment: CONFIG_EFI_RCI2_TABLE is not set
comment: CONFIG_EFI_DISABLE_PCI_DMA is not set
comment end of EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support
CONFIG_EFI_EARLYCON=y
CONFIG_EFI_CUSTOM_SSDT_OVERLAYS=y
CONFIG_EFI_PARTITION=y
CONFIG_EFIVAR_FS=y
comment: CONFIG_EFI_PGT_DUMP is not set
So, the kernel should support the EFI boot. Lastest version I'm testing with is bz5x13.14
It just requires the kernel file and the ramdisk.lzma
From the cd iso this is all the boot requires.
LABEL bz5x13.14
MENU LABEL ^D: bz5x13.14 x86 09-03-2021
MENU DEFAULT
TEXT HELP
Kernel 5x13.14 from Kernel.org
ENDTEXT
LINUX bz5x13.14
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.lzma root=/dev/ram0
Under Grub4dos
title G4L
find --set-root /linux/bz5x13.14
kernel /linux/bz5x13.14 root=/dev/ram0
initrd /linux/ramdisk.lzma
for the grub2 under fedora in the 40_custom file
menuentry G4L {
linux /bz5x13.14 root=/dev/ram0 telnetd=yes
initrd /ramdisk.lzma
}
With all of those, it is just putting the kernel file and ramdisk.lzma in the location, and it loads fine.
Unfortunately, did document the test I done, since once one failed, I found another and just went on. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or if they only work with iso images that are already efi boot setup?? Went to the Dell site, but no way to ask a question without an official device code number? So, perhaps someone with one of these machines could ask Dell, or now hear Lenova has also done thing on some machine?
I did document the last one I attempted. The process fails, and the USB created doesn't even list in the boot menu as being a UEFI Flash, but probable to to the Error message that comes up in process.
Here is the link to the web page, and the steps I tried from it.
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-create-multiboot-usb-with-linux
parted -s /dev/sdb mklabel msdos
parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary 1MiB 551Mib
parted -s /dev/sdb set 1 esp on
parted -s /dev/sdb set 1 boot on
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sdb1
parted -s /dev/sdb mkpart primary 551Mib 100%
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb2
mkdir /media/{efi,data}
mount /dev/sdb1 /media/efi
mount /dev/sdb2 /media/data
Installing legacy grub2
grub2-install \
--target=i386-pc \
--recheck \
--boot-directory="/media/data/boot" /dev/sdb
Installing grub for efi
grub2-install \
--target=x86_64-efi \
--recheck \
--removable \
--efi-directory="/media/efi" \
--boot-directory="/media/data/boot"
grub2-install: error: this utility cannot be used for EFI platforms because it does not support UEFI Secure Boot.
(That is the error message, and probable why the flash doesn't show as UEFI flash, but don't want it to have UEFI Secure boot anyway)???
mkdir /media/data/boot/iso
chown 1000:1000 /media/data/boot/iso
cd /media/data/boot/iso/
cp /home/msetzerii/g4l0.60alpha/g4l-v0.60.iso .
cd /media/data/boot/grub2
create grub.cfg with these lines.
menuentry "G4L" {
isofile="/boot/iso/g4l-v0.60.iso"
loopback loop "${isofile}"
linux (loop)/isolinux/bz5x13.14 iso-scan/filename="${isofile}" root=/dev/ram0
initrd (loop)/isolinux/ramdisk.lzma
}
So, if anyone has ideals?? Many of the pages were about setting up a flash with multiple ISO images, and those show the option, but fail to boot. May be something as simple as it requiring a slightly different format of commands, or local of the files I'm missing?
Just tried ventoy and it using ISO image, and got it to see flash as UEFI, and it saw the ISO image, but after selecting it, it comes with a message that ISO image doesn't have an EFI boot?? Sent an email to the ventoy email, but no response yet. Think it might just be a front-end to booting various already setup EFI ISO file??
Think it would be a simple process to take a kernel and ramdisk, but I've had 6 failures so far.
Have a little Dell machine I'm testing on, but it has BIOS support and EFI, and on those options that make an EFI flash it sees it. Perhaps there is something I'm missing? Thanks.
Hi Michael,
I'm sorry causing a lot of frustration on this. I dropped the ball,,,,as at
work,,havent had time to do any wrangling with your suggestions.,,pushin
out the latest greatest machines to employees.
Just wanted to share what i have found in the UEFI jungle.
stick will bootup fine from the bios menu, being listed as a UEFI disk.
After umpteen reboots come to find out if i temporarily switch in the bios
from default raid,,,to AHCI the M.2 NVME drive is detected by GParted, all
partitions as expected.
as well,,,BUT as soon as tries to boot it stops. Again after much,,much
wrangling,,,there is in the UEFI boot options to 'browse' for the UEFI
file,,,so started browsing and trying whatever showed up,,& finally if i
selected the x64.efi ( i think it was) and save this config in the bios
start again and the Clonezilla will in fact boot on up after this & with
the RAID in bios switched to AHCI the NVME disk is detected with correct
partitions all of them.
I did build the kernel version you gave me,,and also noticed the UEFI
options are enabled by defualt on this version kernel,,so it seem it should
work 'out of the box' ha ha
I am going to build the v.60g4l tomorrow at work,try and do the browse in
the bios for the same x64.efi,or whatever it is that made it work on
Clonezilla,and see if G4L may boot on this rig.
Will report back tomorrow night.
Thank You for your efforts.
Barry
On Wed, Sep 8, 2021 at 7:42 PM Michael Setzer II msetzerii@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
Question on the Dell 3080?? I have a Dell 9020 and in the bios it has an option under the Advanced Bios settings that talks about enable additional Rom to allow other than UEFI boots. I wonder if perhaps on the 3080, Dell might have turned this option off by default.
Can you check the bios?? Again, my 9020 does support the bios boot, but not sure if this might be an older model. Don't know how the 9020 compares with the 3080 or the 3070.
Hi Michael,
I checked what you mentioned additional rom. On the Optiplex 3080,which is
what we received just a couple weeks ago, in the UEFI boot section there
is something similar. This is were you can "browse' for the actual 'efi'
file, so i browsed and found an x64.efi file highlightied ,named this as a
new possible boot device and saved. . This is in fact what i had to do with
the Clonezilla usb stick to get it to successfully boot. Without doing this
the usb stick was recognized as a UEFI capable boot device would not boot
on up.
Just to clarify. last years batch of Dell Optiplex were a number 3070.
These still had option to enable legacy bios boot,which of course is
disabled by default.
In the Optiplex specs on Dell website,it does make mention that on the 3080
there is no option to legacy boot.
Also I did build the v0.60 G4L usb stick,and unfortunately does not show up
in the system bios as a possible boot device,so can not even browse for th
*.efi file.
Hope this makes sense.
I considered trying to force flash somehow a 3070 model bios onto these
just to see if it would work,but gave up on this idea :)
Thank You
On Sat, Sep 11, 2021 at 1:02 AM Michael Setzer II msetzerii@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
Getting somewhat closer. Had a person on the fedora list give me something that was a little different than other things. Had linuxefi and initrdefi to load file. Had also setup a thing that used the fedora vmlinuz boot kernel, and he change the ramdisk.lzma to a g4l.img file?? Think that is just an uncompress version of the file since it is twice the size.
With it, I was able to use the secure boot option, and it loads the g4l and it runs, but has a major issue. Since the vmlinuz kernel doesn't have the drivers for nics built in, it fails to load any network support...
So, just for the fun of it, I made a second boot option that used my kernel in place of the vmlinuz file. Just ended with a blank screen. So, tried some things.
Added Echo commands before kernel load, before initrd load, and finally after initrd load.
To my surprise all the echo commands showed up, but nothing on screen.
Then tried hitting the enter key a number of times to meet with the screens that should be popping up, and eventually should be at the command prompt.
Typed eject and the cd eject from machine, so the kernel was loading, and so was the g4l.img.
G4L has an option that can load telnetd on bootup, just add telnetd=y on kernel line.
rebooted machine with that setting. Then I was able to telnet into the machine, and could run the g4l via telnet.
So, it boots and runs with g4l, just little problem of not getting any output to screen??
tried looking at dmesg and lshw, but saw nothing about video in the mesg, and the lshw only shows the VGA, but marks it as unclaimed? So, going to have to figure out the efi video setup??
So, the process is just to make a GPT formated flash with a Fat32 partition, and put some files onto it. Then on my Dell 9020, just boot and press F12, and select the UEFI USB boot option.
So, getting closer...
Have a possible full solution now.
Had system working with the exception of video output, but telnet into system worked, but was not ideal.
Did a bunch more looking, and a lot of just trying stuff.
Have ended up with what requires about 100 lines added/changed in the bz5x14.2.config file to build the kernel. Had to add a lot of Framebuffer support options for various GPU cards, and make the fbconsole the primary.
What I have now boots my modified kernel bz5x14.2d and loads the same ramdisk.lzma support program. Only difference seems to be that it defaults to the max resolution, which is much higher than the standard text screen. But other than that seems OK.
Need to check to see if this modified kernel works with the regular non-efi boot loaders.
Native syslinux, grub4dos, and grub. If not, will probable need to build kernels without the modes, and with modes..
So, seems a flash formatted with GPT and Fat32 partition and then about 40M of files.
Michael, every time I have seen one of these requests since you have retired, I've groaned at the pile on effect, but you keep on stepping up.
Do you know Mario Limonciello over the years? I think he might be open to a reach out from you although he's at AMD now.
It's not a problem. I enjoy doing it. Just frustrating when the information isn't out there. For a while, I was getting a blank screen when I tried the efi boot, so thought something was wrong with the setup. Figured would get some error message. Wasn't till I added some testing echos to try and see if it was the kernel or ramdisk that was causing problem, but it showed that both loaded. So with the empty screen found that it was possible to get to the command prompt by just entering, and was able to run the eject command and it worked, so it showed the kernel and ramdisk were working fine just the video. Looked all over for info, but just little stuff here and there. Final found some stuff that gave some clues, so made changes to the kernel config (turned out it modified 100 lines) loading framebuffers for most GPUs and fbcon stuff. Then had working video, so think the efi might be solved with usb flash. Tested kernels, and they work in the other boot options as well. Did find that with older kernels adding vga=ask allows only limited VGA modes, but the new ones will show lots of options.
Kernel.org just release a bunch of kernels on 9/12, so I built them. Have the 5x13, 5x14, and 5x15 kernels built with the modes. 5x4 and 5x10 still old builds. So, these syslinux boot, and grub4dos. Haven't tried it from the Fedora grub menu yet. Have also created a g4lefixx.xz file with all the efi stuff. Just need users to create a GPT flash with a FAT32 partition, and extract the contents to it.
tar -xvf g4lefixx.xz.
Have the stuff on my ftp server. ftp setzco.dyndns.org
Have a 50Mb download, but the upload is limited to 2.5Mb, but file is only like 40M. It only has the bz5x14.3 kernel file and ramdisk.lzma. the other stuff is just the efi basics.
So, perhaps someone can do some tests. I have 5 machines at home here, but have them all doing different things.
Have done 65 versions with the 0.60 release I've got in works. Will have to see if people figure it out.
Don't get a lot of feedback, and note the number of weekly downloads, but no clue if they are really people downloading it and using it, or it just being downloaded.. Usually, just people asking for new things, which is fine, or usually minor issues..
Thanks again.
Oh. Don't know anything about Mario Limonciello? Not sure where he was before, since you mention he is at AMD now...
Mario was the Dell Linux lead for years and actively participated in discussion/support communities. He's on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook if you want to reach out.
The Option to check the EFI boot File is:
ftp://setzco.dyndns.org/g4lefixx.xz
You need to make a USB Flash formatted at GPT, and Fat32 partition.
Then extract files to the Fat32 partition.
Then boot machine, press F12, and select UEFI boot device in menu.
Contents of g4lefixx.xz archive - tar -xvf g4lefixx.xz to extract
tar -Jcvf /g4lefixx.xz *
bz5x14.3
bz5x14.3.config
EFI/
EFI/BOOT/
EFI/BOOT/BOOTIA32.EFI
EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI
EFI/BOOT/grubia32.efi
EFI/BOOT/grubx64.efi
EFI/BOOT/mmia32.efi
EFI/BOOT/mmx64.efi
EFI/BOOT/fonts/
EFI/BOOT/fonts/unicode.pf2
EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg
EFI/BOOT/x86_64-efi/
EFI/BOOT/x86_64-efi/efi_gop.mod
EFI/BOOT/x86_64-efi/efi_uga.mod
EFI/BOOT/x86_64-efi/all_video.mod
ramdisk.lzma
User on Fedora list provided an example boot that used the Fedora kernel to boot, and I was able to just put my kernel with the modifications to support Framebuffers and fbcon. Added about 100 lines to the .config file for kernel build and about 400K to the size. Root of archive has the latest kernel bz5x14.3 with the .config file that was used to build it. Then the Ramdisk.lzma with the file system.
Modified the grub.cfg file to provide boot options.
function load_video {
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
insmod all_video
}
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
insmod gzio
insmod part_gpt
menuentry 'Start G4L bz5x14.3' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
echo "Loading Kernel"
linuxefi /bz5x14.3 telnetd=y
echo "Loading initrd"
initrdefi /ramdisk.lzma
echo "Done"
}
menuentry 'Start G4L bz5x14.3 with vga=ask' --class fedora --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
echo "Loading Kernel with vga=ask - Press Enter to get selections"
linuxefi /bz5x14.3 vga=ask telnetd=y
echo "Loading initrd"
initrdefi /ramdisk.lzma
echo "Done"
}
Note: The boot process seems to provide the max resolution, which works fine, but the vga=ask option will provide an option to select resolution that might work better.
Process should just be to make a GPT formatted flash with a FAT32 partition, and extract the files. Boot machine press F12 (or perhaps other key) to create the boot device list, and then select the UEFI Boot option for the Flash. Then select either entry.
Update: Seems the vga=ask doesn't work with the UEFI boot. Seems UEFI boot passes the video info, and that is what kernel users. When I tested booting the iso in virtual box, the vga=ask works, and also works with the grub4dos boot as well. Well, do some more looking to see if there is an option with UEFI to set resolution. Tried some options, but still getting the high resolution. But it seems to be working fine otherwise.
Made a minor changes.
Added hwinfo to the g4l since the lshw didn't show info on framebuffer.
hwinfo --framebuffer will show information on frame buffer.
Also, change the bkey script, since it was bothering me that on the high res screen, it was throwing window in top / left. Just remove the begin option, so it now centers link the others.
Haven't seen anyone download the g4lefixx.xz file, so no one has tested the UEFI boot.
Someone did download the latest ISO, and would have the kernel with framebuffer support, but the iso doesn't have the EFI files.
If anyone tries it, please let me know. Even if it is just to see if it boots.
Thanks.
Hi Michael,
Thank You for your efforts on this.
Will build a couple USB sticks with your instructions. Am down to only
about 75 Dell Optiplex 3080 on the shelf so will have a few to test on :)
Will report back in 8 hours.
Thank You
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 3:49 AM Michael Setzer II msetzerii@users.sourceforge.net wrote: