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Hi, I have a SATA disk with a Linux kernel and LILO boot loader. Will it boot properly if I plug it into a UEFI machine? If not, what needs ...
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  1. 02-10-2011 #1
    galapogos
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    LILO on UEFI machines

    Hi,

    I have a SATA disk with a Linux kernel and LILO boot loader. Will it boot properly if I plug it into a UEFI machine? If not, what needs to be changed? The boot loader?

    Thanks.
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  2. 02-12-2011 #2
    oz
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    I've never run a UEFI machine so don't know much about them, but the Arch wiki has an article that might provide some info you can use:

    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI

    Maybe some UEFI machine owners will chime in with some tips.
    oz
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  3. 02-27-2011 #3
    Rubberman
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    Mostly Apple systems are UEFI devices, but some newer PC's also support the UEFI style bios. I'm not sure that LILO supports the enhanced firmware interface, so you may be SOL. Probably you would need to install grub or grub2 as a boot loader. In any case, you can try. The worst that would likely happen is that it will do nothing.
    Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.
    Just remember, Semper Gumbi - always be flexible!
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  4. 02-27-2011 #4
    galapogos
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    I've tried it. Just get a blinking cursor and nothing else.

    There's elilo but I haven't tried it before...might try it, but wondering if it'll be compatible with both BIOS and EFI/UEFI systems...
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  5. 02-27-2011 #5
    Rubberman
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    Well, the initial part of the boot loader is in the first sector of the disc, along with the partition table. It is hardware-specific binary code that normally sets some registers and then calls a BIOS/UEFI interrupt to load in memory the actual boot code in the boot partition (or whatever, depending upon the boot loader), and then jumps there. I have written custom boot loaders, but that was about 25 years ago... In any case, the principle is the same. However, the instructions for a UEFI system and a BIOS system are very different. The question is whether or not there is enough room in the first 512 bytes of the disc to hold the partition table AND the boot code if it is going to support both BIOS and UEFI systems. Don't know. Haven't needed to go there...
    Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.
    Just remember, Semper Gumbi - always be flexible!
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  6. 02-28-2011 #6
    galapogos
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    Well, ideally I would need this drive to boot in both types of systems. It's works sort of like a "Live-CD" except it's a hard drive. It used to use a BIOS independent boot loader called nuni, which should work in all systems, however it doesn't have SATA support and has been obsolete for a while...
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  7. 02-28-2011 #7
    Rubberman
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    Quote Originally Posted by galapogos View Post
    Well, ideally I would need this drive to boot in both types of systems. It's works sort of like a "Live-CD" except it's a hard drive. It used to use a BIOS independent boot loader called nuni, which should work in all systems, however it doesn't have SATA support and has been obsolete for a while...
    I know grub can deal with UEFI systems. Don't know if it can deal with either UEFI or BIOS systems dynamically, but you could try that.
    Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.
    Just remember, Semper Gumbi - always be flexible!
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