From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Feb 12 10:42:55 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 30A542AE for ; Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:42:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from p.christias@noc.ntua.gr) Received: from ulysses.noc.ntua.gr (ulysses.noc.ntua.gr [147.102.222.230]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A087B3E0 for ; Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:42:54 +0000 (UTC) Received: from ajax.noc.ntua.gr (ajax6.noc.ntua.gr [IPv6:2001:648:2000:dc::1]) by ulysses.noc.ntua.gr (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id r1CAfakf080391 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:41:36 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from p.christias@noc.ntua.gr) Received: from ajax.noc.ntua.gr (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ajax.noc.ntua.gr (8.14.5/8.14.4) with ESMTP id r1CAfa8e061257 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:41:36 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from p.christias@noc.ntua.gr) Received: (from christia@localhost) by ajax.noc.ntua.gr (8.14.5/8.14.4/Submit) id r1CAfapV061256; Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:41:36 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from p.christias@noc.ntua.gr) X-Authentication-Warning: ajax.noc.ntua.gr: christia set sender to p.christias@noc.ntua.gr using -f Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:41:36 +0200 From: Panagiotis Christias To: "John Alex." Subject: Re: Installing FreeBSD 9.1 amd64 on IBM x3550 M3 Message-ID: <20130212104136.GA60946@noc.ntua.gr> References: <20130211112352.GA84742@noc.ntua.gr> <20130211191145.2b96ba8f@X220.ovitrap.com> <51193151.2090204@noc.ntua.gr> <20130212005913.GA33927@neutralgood.org> <5119F531.7030707@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <5119F531.7030707@gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) X-Virus-Scanned: clamav-milter 0.97.5 at ulysses.noc.ntua.gr X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.7 (ulysses.noc.ntua.gr [IPv6:2001:648:2000:de::230]); Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:41:37 +0200 (EET) Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, kpneal@pobox.com X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:42:55 -0000 On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 09:54:25AM +0200, John Alex. wrote: > > On 02/12/2013 02:59 AM, kpneal@pobox.com wrote: > > On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 11:43:55AM -0800, Kevin Oberman wrote: > >> On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 9:58 AM, Panagiotis Christias > >> wrote: > >>> > >>> I suppose trying an 8.3 installation would be the easiest way to use MBR > >>> instead of GPT, right; > >> > >> That would do it, but 9.1 is perfectly happy doing MBR. It's just not > >> the default. > >> > >> Seems like many BIOSes assume that GPT=uEFI. Clearly this is silly, but... > >> > >> I know Lenovo laptops have this problem and it is VERY annoying. I run > >> FreeBSD on a GPT disk on my ThinkPad, but I have booteasy installed on > >> an MBR disk (which contains W7) and my BIOS is set to boot from that > >> disk.BootEasy then will boot up the GPT disk with FreeBSD. > > > > Doesn't GPT start with an MBR covering the entire disk? How feasible would > > it be to tweak that MBR so that a boot partition was listed in it? Say, a > > partition holding the root filesystem could be listed in both the GPT and > > MBR style. Then a disk could be booted with MBR or GPT at the whim of the > > firmware. > > > > I agree that this BIOS=MBR/UEFI=GPT assumption is pure rubbish. I've got > > machines with this documented restriction and I'd love a way around it. > > > > It is feasible, it's known as a hybrid MBR. On Linux I've accomplished > this using the gdisk utility, I don't know how it can be done on FreeBSD > though. I had to use this ugly solution in order to install windows 8 on > a GPT disk on a pc without UEFI support. Just for the record, I managed to install successfully 8.3 with the default options and 9.1 by selecting MBR instead of GPT during the initial disk patitioning. In both cases the system's UEFI/BIOS options were left untouched. Thanks for the help, Panagiotis -- Panagiotis J. Christias Network Management Center P.Christias@noc.ntua.gr National Technical Univ. of Athens, GREECE