Am 25.11.2013 um 16:22 schrieb Wes James comptekki@gmail.com:
On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 5:59 PM, Philip Manuel phil@zomojo.com wrote:
From: "Wes James" comptekki@gmail.com
I've been trying several combinations of OSX, CentOS to try and get CentOS installed on an old iMac. I finally first installed OS X, then installed CentOS in the open space after OS X. With refit installed and selecting CentOS, it starts booting but get a screen that a boot device can't e found. So I then install Xubuntu with the option to replace OS X. After Xbuntu is installed and then do a reboot the grub screen comes up and I can now select CentOS and it will boot.
Can someone explain why this is? I can't just install CentOS on the whole disk, as I get the blinking mac disk with question mark.
this is due I believe due to the partitioning scheme of the iMac, using GPT, and as grub does not support GPT partitions. you have to use grub2. Hence, why xubuntu works.
Oh. OK. I didn't realize CentOS wasn't using grub2. Are there any plans for CentOS to move to grub2?
there exist a so called "Hybrid GPT/MBR partition table support" in "OSX -> cli tool diskutil" that leads to the so called "BIOS compatibility" for booting.
rEFIt includes "Partition Inspector (native osx app)" that shows your GPT -> MBR sync status.
refit can do that "sync" also (in there prompt).
I could boot CentOS5 on a Intel Macbook two years ago (with grub1).
Alternative - compile Grub2 under OSX, install it under OSX, configure it to boot both (osx/linux), boot it.
Suggestion - use Grub2/EFI not because of the partition format but for better hw initialisation. The BIOS compatibility mode (grub1/BIOS) is not doing his job correctly (e.g. ATI GFX Card support etc.).
-- LF