EFI Boot

[coolstar]

I have an Acer C720 which has a new ROM with coreboot + SeaBIOS + TianoCore DUET

I am able to EFI boot Xubuntu just fine on it, however, GalliumOS is missing grub2-efi and the EFI folder, which means that it is unable to boot when TianoCore is used.

[ColtonDRG]

We were never expecting to have to boot in an EFI environment.

[ColtonDRG]

Here it is https://youtu.be/d8dIO_mnnoE

I had to use a UEFI shell with a startup script because I couldn't add boot entries to my copy of TianoCore DUET because the UEFI wasn't able to retain the information that I altered from within the OS

[coolstar]

I now have a working coreboot ROM on Acer C720 (Peppy) that has Tianocore and no SeaBIOS

would be nice if I could boot Gallium OS on my C720 with this new ROM :P

[ColtonDRG]

Well, you're free to set it up, but until the firmware is released to the public I don't think we'll spend any time on it. Have you released it?

[coolstar]

@ColtonDRG not yet. There's a graphics issue I have to sort out. I also intend to add rEFInd in the ROM to make it more "user friendly" before release. However, it won't be too long.

We've confirmed the firmware boots to the EFI shell on a Haswell chromebook and a Bay Trail chromebox so far, and expect it to work on more models too.

[ColtonDRG]

I've forgotten what rEFInd even is, but OK!
I am excited to try this stuff out when it is released.
P.S. Will you be able to include SeaBIOS as a boot option for "Legacy boot" compatibility?

[coolstar]

@ColtonDRG right now I'm working on getting it stable as a "UEFI Only" boot. Once it's stable as a "Pure UEFI Boot" I'll add in SeaBIOS as a CSM so existing legacy boots will still work. (Although old OS's won't run even with SeaBIOS :P Only Linux/Windows 8+/OS X 10.9+)

[ColtonDRG]

OK

[coolstar]

it boots, although the installer crashes

[coolstar]

(I had to add /EFI/, /boot/grub/x86_64-efi, and /boot/grub/efi.png from the Ubuntu 15.10 iso but it booted the live image with those files. Only issue is ubiquity now)

[ColtonDRG]

Ok. I have a different plan for dealing with EFI. Honestly, GRUB is a really poor implementation, and we should take advantage of Linux's EFISTUB features. My plan is to mount the ESP as /boot, then install systemd-boot (it's included in systemd, so we already have it installed) to /boot. After that we just add a config file to make systemd-boot load the Linux kernel, and we're gold.

[coolstar]

UEFI firmware is now publicly available for the Acer C720: https://www.reddit.com/r/chrultrabook/comments/4rg59g/acer_c720_uefi_firmware/

[ColtonDRG]

Feature planned for GalliumOS 2.1 :)

[coolstar]

I have discontinued and removed the old legacy boot ROMs for haswell/broadwell chromebooks. I only provide firmware that boots UEFI now.

[coolstar]

for now: https://www.reddit.com/r/chrultrabook/comments/4t8u78/how_to_boot_galliumos_under_uefi/

[reynhout]

@coolstar Would it be possible to get copies of your legacy BIOS firmware images? If you don't want to host/support them any more that's fine, we can host them and mark them unsupported. But it would be nice to provide the option.

[coolstar]

No. I have removed the legacy ROMs and haven't provided a CSM because there's no reason to legacy boot on a Haswell or Broadwell chromebook. Legacy booting is used for older OS's like Windows XP, which the chromebook doesn't support anyways. Most OS's now, such as Windows Vista SP2/7/8/8.1/10, OS X, Linux (with the exception of GalliumOS) and FreeBSD support UEFI, hence there's no reason to support legacy booting anymore. Legacy Boot is a thing of the past and should be treated as such.

[reynhout]

Well, the reason is GalliumOS compatibility, if nothing else. We all benefit from planning and coordination. This came as a complete surprise to us, and we are not ready for it.

It's your prerogative of course, but theoretically we're on the same team -- in practice you're breaking compatibility without warning.

If you want to move forward with UEFI-only firmware, that's awesome, and GalliumOS will get there -- there's an open ticket and a rough plan for the 2.1 milestone. You could even help, if you wanted to. But keeping your older firmware available until then, orphaned but still useful, would be greatly appreciated.

If you're willing to do that, please let us know so we can set up hosting etc. If you are not willing, please let us know that too. Thanks.

[tristan-k]

Can someone repost the how_to_boot_galliumos_under_uefi guide?

@coolstar Why did you remove it?