Before I try installing rEFInd, I'd like to clarify one aspect of the way it functions. Does the rEFInd boot manager GUI come up on every boot? Or can one choose it after pressing the option key on boot?
The reason I ask I've set up a dual boot on my Mac Mini 4,1 and am in the process of getting Linux to boot EFI. My main OS is OS-X Lion so I want an unattended boot to quickly bring that up. When I occasionally boot Linux, I'm content to hold the option button. If rEFInd always intervenes, waiting for a choice, or slows down the boot, then that is inconvenient for me.
Glenn
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The standard rEFInd installation brings it up on every boot; however, you can set the default to OS X and use a short timeout if you want to have the system start up OS X quickly.
In theory, you should be able to get it to boot OS X directly, without invoking rEFInd, and bring up rEFInd as an option when you hold down the Option key; however, I'm not sure precisely how you'd do that. Presumably you'd need to use bless to register rEFInd as a boot option, but not as the default boot option. Perhaps reading the bless man page would help you figure out how to do this.
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Thanks for the quick reply. I expect it will be a while until I figure out how to use the Apple boot manager (invoked with the Option key) to bring up Linux with EFI. Currently, I'm using a not-so-elegant work around.
If a DVD with a Super Grub 2 iso or a rEFInd iso is in the drive, holding down the Option key at bootup allows Linux to be chosen with the respective boot manager.
In my web searches, I read about two potential problems that don't seem to apply to my setup.
The CPU is 64bit, so grubx64.efi is being used, even though the Linux I'm running is 32bit (to be able to run some legacy 32bit libraries and toolchains). So far, I haven't seen any problems with that combination.
Also, graphics is handled by the builtin Nvidia 320M. The Linux driver version is recent (295.53). Here, too, I haven't seen any problems. So far, Linux appears to run just fine.
Glenn
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For anyone else trying to use the Apple boot manager (instead of rEFInd) to select Linux from an EFI dual-boot setup, here is what I did to get it to succeed:
2) I created a 200MiB hfsplus partition named LinuxBoot to house information that the Apple boot manager uses. I ended up only using about 8.5MiB for the contents, which consists of an empty file named mach_kernel (created with the "touch mach_kernel" command) at the top of filesystem and a path /System/Library/CoreServices that leads to two files: grubx64.efi and SystemVersion.plist.
grubx64.efi was copied from the EFI system partition after doing step 26 of Rod's instructions, which are found at the link above. So the Apple boot manager properly finds this file, I executed (while in OS-X)
The plist was copied from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIBooting (about 1/4 of the way down the page). (I found some information in that page useful, but the rest was confusing.)
After this setup, holding down the Option key for my Mac Mini 4,1 caused the LinuxBoot choice to appear on bootup. The first time I tried this, things proceeded through Grub and well past the initial loading of Ubuntu. It got to where it requested a log in (single user on a console) with a flashing cursor, but the system was unresponsive to keyboard input. Without changing any files, the second time, it booted into the default Ubuntu (12.04) desktop just fine.
So there you have it. A dual EFI boot on a recent Mac (OS-X Lion and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS) using the Apple boot manager to select the OS (without rEFInd).
Glenn
Last edit: dgktkr 2012-06-22
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Hi,
Before I try installing rEFInd, I'd like to clarify one aspect of the way it functions. Does the rEFInd boot manager GUI come up on every boot? Or can one choose it after pressing the option key on boot?
The reason I ask I've set up a dual boot on my Mac Mini 4,1 and am in the process of getting Linux to boot EFI. My main OS is OS-X Lion so I want an unattended boot to quickly bring that up. When I occasionally boot Linux, I'm content to hold the option button. If rEFInd always intervenes, waiting for a choice, or slows down the boot, then that is inconvenient for me.
Glenn
The standard rEFInd installation brings it up on every boot; however, you can set the default to OS X and use a short timeout if you want to have the system start up OS X quickly.
In theory, you should be able to get it to boot OS X directly, without invoking rEFInd, and bring up rEFInd as an option when you hold down the Option key; however, I'm not sure precisely how you'd do that. Presumably you'd need to use bless to register rEFInd as a boot option, but not as the default boot option. Perhaps reading the bless man page would help you figure out how to do this.
Rod,
Thanks for the quick reply. I expect it will be a while until I figure out how to use the Apple boot manager (invoked with the Option key) to bring up Linux with EFI. Currently, I'm using a not-so-elegant work around.
If a DVD with a Super Grub 2 iso or a rEFInd iso is in the drive, holding down the Option key at bootup allows Linux to be chosen with the respective boot manager.
In my web searches, I read about two potential problems that don't seem to apply to my setup.
The CPU is 64bit, so grubx64.efi is being used, even though the Linux I'm running is 32bit (to be able to run some legacy 32bit libraries and toolchains). So far, I haven't seen any problems with that combination.
Also, graphics is handled by the builtin Nvidia 320M. The Linux driver version is recent (295.53). Here, too, I haven't seen any problems. So far, Linux appears to run just fine.
Glenn
For anyone else trying to use the Apple boot manager (instead of rEFInd) to select Linux from an EFI dual-boot setup, here is what I did to get it to succeed:
I followed "EFI-Booting Ubuntu on a Mac" http://www.rodsbooks.com/ubuntu-efi/index.html, with two major differences.
1) I didn't install rEFInd.
2) I created a 200MiB hfsplus partition named LinuxBoot to house information that the Apple boot manager uses. I ended up only using about 8.5MiB for the contents, which consists of an empty file named mach_kernel (created with the "touch mach_kernel" command) at the top of filesystem and a path /System/Library/CoreServices that leads to two files: grubx64.efi and SystemVersion.plist.
grubx64.efi was copied from the EFI system partition after doing step 26 of Rod's instructions, which are found at the link above. So the Apple boot manager properly finds this file, I executed (while in OS-X)
The plist was copied from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIBooting (about 1/4 of the way down the page). (I found some information in that page useful, but the rest was confusing.)
After this setup, holding down the Option key for my Mac Mini 4,1 caused the LinuxBoot choice to appear on bootup. The first time I tried this, things proceeded through Grub and well past the initial loading of Ubuntu. It got to where it requested a log in (single user on a console) with a flashing cursor, but the system was unresponsive to keyboard input. Without changing any files, the second time, it booted into the default Ubuntu (12.04) desktop just fine.
So there you have it. A dual EFI boot on a recent Mac (OS-X Lion and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS) using the Apple boot manager to select the OS (without rEFInd).
Glenn
Last edit: dgktkr 2012-06-22