Apple Usb

duke11235 · #1 2nd November 2009, 12:46 AM

Does anyone now how to make a partition on a usb drive bootable? It fails in refit

Dies · #2 2nd November 2009, 05:30 PM

You might get a better response or even some response if you were to at least mention what's on the partition. You realize the right response would depend on that information right?

duke11235 · #3 8th November 2009, 07:40 PM

I have grub installed to the mbr of a flash drive and /boot within the 1gb partition. However, Refit always fails trying to boot from the usb. To counteract that I have been using the install cd to boot from local drive, but since I installed the nvidia drivers, I realized it needed a change in the grub menu.lst or grub.conf, and that was impossible to change on a live cd. I am now stuck outside Fedora. Help would be appreciated

***Firewing1*** · #4 8th November 2009, 07:52 PM

Unfortunately, you can't boot non-EFI operating system from removable media to a a bug (or intentionally left out feature) in Apple's firmware.

I've been working on Fedora's liveusb creator tool to create hybrid EFI+MBR partition layout that works on both PCs and Macs, but some Macs (& MacBooks) still have problems booting with the hybrid key because of a video driver initialization problem. If you have the ISO and livecd-iso-to-disk tool handy, you can try it out by supplying the --format and --mactel arguments:

Code:

livecd-iso-to-disk --format --mactel /path/to/iso /dev/sdx

Where /dev/sdx is your USB key.
WARNING: Generating the hybrid layout will format the USB key, erasing all data currently on it.

Once this is done, you can hold the alt/option key as you boot up an you'll notice that along with the Macintosh HD and Windows entries you'll see a new entry for the USB key with an orange icon. Selecting that will boot the media via EFI.

duke11235 · #5 8th November 2009, 11:58 PM

So this would work with any iso I have lying around that is live? I've been looking for a method of installing grub2 on a usb, but specific to my computer. If u know anything that would be handy.

The underlying problem is that I have one partition space left on my mbr. I basically have two options.
1. I could install /root and swap to one lvm group and /boot on a usb disk, as Fedora is the case now. I was locked out because the usb drive with grub on it was not being accessed by the Boot From Local Drive option on Fedora's Live cd, and a specific grub addition was needed to allow nvidia drivers. The workaround was becuase REFIT and Apple's Firmware failed to boot my usb stick. This is inherently messy, as I need both a usb drive and a cd to boot, and I can not fix the menu.lst I am willing to reinstall Fedora, but I have no idea how to efi format the usb so Apple can boot it

2. Option2 comes from the recent debut of grub2. It won't work with Fedora, I know Arch will accept it and am unsure about Ubuntu/Debian, but I basically put /boot, /root and swap in one lvm partition, and install grub2 to a usb drive. I'd prefer to use grub2 configured to my system, but the rescue iso is toleralbe. I don't assume u have input there?

? Grub2 can not be installed to the front of a Mac or Windows partition

? I assume REFIT doesn't support lvm, thus installing grub2 to the /boot partition is useless in Option2. Please correct me if I am wrong, as this would make my setup way easier

Assumption: I can not install grub to the mbr of a gpt/mbr hybrid after installing Windows

Is the code u posted run in the kernel or in revisor?

Thanks for any clarifications, questions answered, assumptions proved or disproved, or helpful advice

***Firewing1*** · #6 9th November 2009, 04:05 AM

You would need to run that command from another Fedora machine with livecd-tools installed, or boot from the livecd and use yum to grab livecd tools and then run it from there.

If you only have one free partition left I suggest you download the DVD media and install with a custom partition layout, choosing a single ext3 partition for /. Using any of the live media you're required to create 2 partitions (one for /boot ext3 and one for / ext4) which won't work out well.

If you want to add swap afterwards, you can add a swap file (google for more information).

duke11235 · #7 9th November 2009, 06:21 AM

How easy would it be to encrypt my home, using ecryptfs? It seems relatively easy in Ubuntu 9.10. I am just a paranoid person. Would I suffer performance loss, and could I encrypt it? Thank you

***Firewing1*** · #8 9th November 2009, 01:50 PM

IIRC Fedora uses LUKS and not ecryptfs, but it's relatively easy to do. Just select the encrypted tickbox at install time and the installer takes care of the rest.

duke11235 · #9 9th November 2009, 02:50 PM

I thought that Fedora did not support encryption with one / partition, that u needed an unencrypted /boot

Quote:

livecd-iso-to-disk --format --mactel /path/to/iso /dev/sdx

Will this work with any live iso?

Also, is there anything that offers complete freedom of install in the fedora installer? like expert mode in debian? I'd really like to install to one lvm group and just put a grub2 rescue or configured iso on my usb stick. Thank u.

duke11235 · #10 22nd November 2009, 11:34 PM

Good job with the iso. It's good to see someone trying to keep linux at pace with mac. Thank you Firewing
Edt: Awesome My 100th Post