Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:00:03 -0600 From: "John Mehr" <jcm@visi.com> To: <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Sanity Check on Mac Mini Message-ID: <web-11073367@mailback3.g2host.com> In-Reply-To: <71F173FA-CB9C-43B4-A702-ABA82268EA83@lafn.org> References: <51CB1227-3A5F-4688-B48D-4D0E47A17572@lafn.org> <5138A742.3090200@wintek.com> <97F9BA96-A328-4EF9-8E39-A8160AF9EB7A@lafn.org> <CAN6yY1vgjwxOCVrvJkJ4AS%2BfXVQMbhJVKbtc=jo6BT-M2gP6qA@mail.gmail.com> <71F173FA-CB9C-43B4-A702-ABA82268EA83@lafn.org>
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On Thu, 7 Mar 2013 14:18:23 -0800 Doug Hardie <bc979@lafn.org> wrote: > > On 7 March 2013, at 11:57, Kevin Oberman ><rkoberman@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 11:10 AM, Doug Hardie >><bc979@lafn.org> wrote: >> >> On 7 March 2013, at 06:42, Richard Kuhns >><rjk@wintek.com> wrote: >> >> > On 03/07/13 01:59, Doug Hardie wrote: >> >> I have a new Mac Mini and have encountered the same >>problem reported last year by Richard Kuhns. YongHyeon >>PYUN provided some patches to the kernel that resolved >>the problem. However, without an internet connection its >>a bit tricky to get them into the system. Here is the >>approach I believe will work, but wanted to check first >>before I really mess things up. >> >> >> >> 1. Downloaded from current today via >>svnweb.freebsd.org: >> >> sys/dev/bge/if_bgereg.h >> >> sys/dev/bge/if_bge.c >> >> sys/dev/mii/brgphy.c >> >> >> >> I believe the patches are incorporated in today's >>versions. The comments indicate such. Thus I don't need >>to apply the original supplied patch. >> >> >> >> 2. Put those on a flash drive. >> >> >> >> 3. Install 9.1 release from flash drive onto the >>Mini disk. Have to include the system source. >> >> >> >> 4. Copy the files from 1 above from flash over the >>files on the disk. >> >> >> >> 5. Rebuild the kernel and install it. >> >> >> >> Thanks, >> >> >> >> -- Doug >> > >> > That's worked for me 3 times now. >> >> Thanks. Well, I got 9.1 Release installed, but it won't >>boot from the internal disk. It doesn't see the disk as >>bootable. I installed using the entire disk for FreeBSD. >> I used the i386 release. Perhaps I need to switch to >>the amd64 release? >> >> I would generally recommend using the amd64 release, but >>it may not get your system to boot. >> >> How is your disk partitioned? GPT? Some BIOSes are >>broken and assume that a GPT formatted disk is UEFI and >>will not recognize them if they lack the UEFI boot >>partition. UEFI boot is a current project that seems >>likely to reach head in the fairly near future, but it's >>not possible now. > > No idea what the default partitioning is for BSDInstall. > However the Mini is only EFI or UFEI with some fallbacks >although the comments I find in the web indicate that >different models have different fallbacks. > > One comment indicates that an older unit will boot if >its MBR partitioning. I don't know if the new installer >supports that or not. > >> >> You may be able to tweak your BIOS to get it to work or >>you may have to install using the traditional >>partitioning system. The installer defaults to GPT, but >>can create either. >> >> I have such a system (ThinkPad T520) and I have two >>disks... one that came with the system and containing >>Windows, and my GPT formatted FreeBSD disk. I wrote a >>FreeBSD BootEasy boot into the MBR of the Windows disk >>and it CAN boot the GPT disk just fine. Not ideal for >>most, but it works well for me > > Based on a comment I say, waiting till the empty folder >icon appears and then plugging in the install memstick >causes the mini to boot from disk. That just downright >weird, but it works. I could live with that, but this is >an unattended server and would experience some down time >if I am not there when there is a power failure. > > I just found some "instructions" for using MBR with >bsdinstall, but given there is an effort to create a UEFI >boot which I suspect would expect to find the GPT boot >partition, perhaps I should just go with the memstick >approach? Hello, If you still have a drive with OS X on it, you may have some luck with OS X's bless command: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Reference/Manpages/man8/bless.8.html I got a late 2012 mac mini to boot FreeBSD 9.1 (AMD64) from a hard drive using 'bless' (unfortunately I don't remember the exact command line parameters I used). If you're looking to dual boot, the only luck I had (without resorting to using third party software like rEFIt) was to put the OS's on different drives and install FreeBSD using MBR on the second drive.home | help
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