Re: macbook EFI experiences

[Isaac Dupree]

Robert Millan wrote:
> On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 02:57:21PM -0400, Isaac Dupree wrote:
> > > You're confusing BIOS-based boot with msdos partition labels.  You can use
> > > GPT just fine when booting from BIOS (although Intel tries to hide that
> > > fact by embedding the GPT spec inside the EFI spec).
> > I have the hack which combines the two partition labels so I have both 
> > GPT and msdos labels.  Which means that my first four partitions (only) 
> > are listed in msdos, and GPT is the really accurate one that MacOS and 
> > Linux use.
>
> I'm not sure if this would confuse GRUB partition-wise.  Can it access all
> partitions?

yes, I was booting from the fifth partition for a while -- grub just 
needs the gpt module while running, obviously.  That disk layout is a 
standard hack, there are tools for it named e.g. "gptsync" that the 
rEFIt guys mention/include.

> > However, I can't find a way to get into bootloader-land via 
> > BIOS without going through the msdos partitioning mechanism.
>
> grub-setup may, too, be confused by this hack.  Saving that, you should be
> able to install GRUB in MBR following the normal procedure, without any
> need for msdos-style partition table (other than the dummy 0xee one).
>
> Would be nice if you can verify GRUB works in both situations.

I bet it works fine that way too -- but I don't really have any way to 
get back to having just one dummy msdos-partition without wiping my 
disk, as far as I know.

-Isaac