Jump to content

Question about Intel-UEFI-Bios!


XmodD
 Share

5 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

Hey u all,

 

i have got a question about Intel-UEFI-Bios. Can I boot our OS X Bootloader, when I have got a notebook with UEFI?

 

I am thinking about buying a new notebook, that has Intel-UEFI-Bios. Ll there be problems to boot OS x ? I herad, that there is trouble booting Linux and Win7 without SP1.

 

Can anyone help me = ?? ?

 

thx

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
Linux supports EFI since 2000, Windows Vista requires SP1 for EFI boot, but not Win7. And Chameleon works just fine with it

 

I believe you're confusing the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and the GUID Partition Table (GPT).

 

EFI (or its newer variant, UEFI) is software that's stored in a chip on the motherboard -- that is, firmware. Intel-based Macs use EFI, and many recent PCs use UEFI. Older (and some current) PCs use the older Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware. Most PC OSes boot in BIOS mode, although support for (U)EFI booting has been slowly appearing. In Linux, aside from some exotic non-x86 implementations, (U)EFI booting has only been practical for a couple of years, and even now most distributions provide weak support. AFAIK, all Hackintosh boot loaders are BIOS-based, but they typically set up a partial or even a complete EFI environment atop the BIOS to make OS X happy.

 

GPT is a partitioning system used on hard disks. It's defined as part of the EFI specification, but you can use GPT on a BIOS-based computer. GPT is likely to eventually replace the Master Boot Record (MBR) partitioning system that most PCs have used for 30 years, since MBR has a disk size limit of 2 TiB (assuming a 512-byte sector size) and GPT's limit is much higher. Intel-based Macs ship with GPT hard disks, and Apple's OS X installer wants to see a GPT disk (but there are ways around this limit). The support figures you mention (Linux since 2000, Vista since SP1, Chameleon works with it) all apply to GPT, but they don't all apply to EFI.

 

As to the original question, I don't know how practical it is to install OS X on a UEFI-based PC, at least in UEFI mode. AFAIK, all the common Hackintosh boot loaders are built for BIOS, which means that if you boot the PC in UEFI mode, those BIOS-based boot loaders won't work. That said, most UEFI implementations let you switch between UEFI mode and a BIOS compatibility mode, so it is possible to install OS X as you would on an older BIOS-based computer -- ironically, you use an EFI emulation atop a UEFI firmware's BIOS compatibility mode to do the job. If other OS(es) on the computer boot in UEFI mode, though, you may need to manually switch modes when booting between OSes, which may be awkward. Also, there may be a UEFI-mode Hackintosh boot loader available or under development, or a way to get a Hackintosh to boot more directly using the built-in UEFI implementation. If so, I don't know where the instructions are to do such a thing. (I'd be interested in this myself, since I'm planning to build a new computer before too long, and it will be UEFI-based.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i have the same question as u and hopefully it get answered soon but the problem with UEFI as i understood is it use a digital signature for the operation system that u install and it prevent/block anything else other than that DS OS ,and as hackintosh is not an original mac so i dont think it would work ,i have a p5q mb and i really wish i could use the UEFi bios but atm i dont want to mess my setup just to get a fancy bios so..???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...