Re: [Libreboot] Booting from usb/cd without grub graphics

[Bruno Dantas]

Correction: I should have written "grub entry to boot from __usb__" idea.

On Thu, Aug 11, 2016, at 04:35 PM, Bruno Dantas wrote:
> Yes, what you did seems much simpler and safer. Glad to hear you got the CD 
> to boot. Hopefully it will work just fine from USB as well.
> 
> Just in case other people see this thread and decide to give my hack a try, 
> I'd be careful with my suggested "grub entry to boot from grub" idea: Without 
> being able to see the output of a "ls" command from grub's command prompt, it 
> would be impossible to confirm how grub sees the usb port (i.e., whether it 
> sees it as usb0 or as something else). The idea to create a custom grub entry 
> to boot the iso directly from hard drive would be a much better bet, as the 
> partition and path to file are not dependent on grub and would be known for 
> sure.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Aug 11, 2016, at 03:59 PM, Marcel Maci wrote:
> > 
> > Hello Bruno,
> > Thx a lot for taking time to answer my question. I read about that (i.e. 
> > using an existing system to install another one) today, but it seem's quite 
> > complicated (and I'm not a pro). Actually, I discovered that there's a much 
> > simpler way to do it:
> > Even if grub does not show up, it is active (which means you just don't see 
> > the entries). So when the system boots up you just press the down key of 
> > your keyboard (which is also active) until the system get's to a halt 
> > (which means that you are in the grub menu). From there you can directly 
> > select from the standard entries:
> > - u: to boot from usb
> > - d: to boot from cd rom
> > The problem then is that your installer will start in a low resolution 
> > vga-mode (from what I understand) and you still won't see anything on the 
> > screen. But if you know your distribution, you can blindly tap your way 
> > through the first steps (in Trisquel it's just language selection and 
> > choosing if you want to run live cd or install the system) until you 
> > finally get to the graphical installer (and from there on it's no problem).
> > I tried it with the CD today (and I suppose that USB should also work).
> > Thx + greetings,
> > Marcel
> > 
> > On Thu, 11 Aug 2016 15:24:44 -0400
> > Bruno Dantas <address@hidden> wrote:
> > 
> > > > I have two more questions:
> > > > 1) since grub doesn't show up - how can I boot from usb / cd?
> > > 
> > > Marcel,
> > > 
> > > Details greatly depend on the distro. Assuming you already have a distro 
> > > installed on your machine, I think this could be your general strategy:
> > > 
> > > 1. On a machine where you can see the grub menu, tinker with a custom 
> > > entry in /boot/grub/grub.cfg until you can successfully boot your usb
> > > 
> > > 2. On your libreboot machine, put that working custom entry in 
> > > /boot/grub/grub.cfg and make it grub's default (either by making it the 
> > > first menuentry or by editing /etc/default/grub as appropriate)
> > > 
> > > 3. Reboot your libreboot machine and it should boot your usb
> > > 
> > > 4. After you are done in the usb and before rebooting, mount the 
> > > partition containing your installed distro and edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg 
> > > so that your installed distro is once again the default
> > > 
> > > This worked for me for debian 8.5:
> > > 
> > > menuentry 'Debian usb' {
> > >   linux (usb0)/live/vmlinuz boot=live
> > >   initrd (usb0)/live/initrd.img
> > > }
> > > 
> > > Configuration for booting some other distros from usb can be found here:
> > > https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Multiboot_USB_drive
> > > 
> > > -----------------------------
> > > 
> > > By the way, you don't even have to put the distro on a usb. Just having 
> > > the iso on your hard drive is good enough. This works for me:
> > > 
> > > menuentry 'Debian iso' {
> > >   set 
> > > isofile='/home/bruno/Downloads/debian-live-8.3.0-amd64-mate-desktop.iso'
> > >   loopback loop $isofile
> > >   linux (loop)/live/vmlinuz boot=live config fromiso=/dev/sda4/$isofile
> > >   initrd (loop)/live/initrd.img
> > > }
> > > 
> > > Configurations for booting some other distros from iso can be found here:
> > > http://www.howtogeek.com/196933/how-to-boot-linux-iso-images-directly-from-your-hard-drive/
> > > http://git.marmotte.net/git/glim/tree/grub2
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Marcel Maci
> > Avenue du Guintzet 15
> > 1700 Fribourg
> > 079 772 50 30
> > address@hidden
> > www.liederlobby.ch
> >