intel/x64: format / install scripts need to be rewritten

[peterwilli]

edit sorry I apparently hit ctrl+enter, and it sent my issue right away, so I sent an empty message before completing it.

Hey there, it's me again. Thought I'd check how viable it is to run on Desktop after having good results with the Odroid.

I tried to compile using the usual settings:

export SKIFF_WORKSPACE=laptop
export SKIFF_CONFIG=intel/x64
make configure
make compile

After that, I kind of had to guess but I figured this would make me proceed to get an image flashed (I used a USB drive):

export SKIFF_DISK=/dev/sdb
make cmd/intel/x64/format
make cmd/intel/x64/install

Sadly, the USB flash drive doesn't boot on any PC I tried it on. Did I get something wrong? Thanks!

[paralin]

@peterwilli Hey, I haven't tested intel/x64 in a while.

That said, it doesn't install any bootloader, so without some other kind of bootloader it won't boot properly.

Regardless, the partition layout used there is outdated (not the same as the one I'm using on my devices) anyway.

So those two scripts for intel/x64 need to be rewritten.

Workaround: for now, please follow these steps:

1. Using gparted: clear partition table with gpt partition type.
2. Create a fat16 partition labeled BOOT with size 300MB.
3. Create a ext4 partition labeled SKIFFOS with the rest of the disk.
4. Extract this (Refind) to the EFI partition with tar -xf efi.tar.gz: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aGSzp4aiS6PmkWLHIch3WqVEtKx6_yXb/view
5. Install to the SKIFFOS partition with below commands:

export SKIFF_WORKSPACE=laptop
export SKIFF_PARTITION=/dev/disk/by-label/SKIFFOS
make cmd/apple/macbook/install

... yes, you're not using a macbook, but that script will install it correctly to the ext4 partition.

This should get you a working bootable USB disk since your bootloader will recognize Refind as EFI on the first partition.

This is also how I boot my desktop & laptop (intel machines).

[peterwilli]

... yes, you're not using a macbook, but that script will install it correctly to the ext4 partition.

😂

I love the out of the box thinking here.

Could I update it? Sounds like a good PR for me to do it one I get it to boot.

[peterwilli]

I sadly couldn't run it after following the instructions. Could it be because I have an AMD CPU? I sadly have no PC with Intel lying around to test it out.

Gparted after the steps:

boot partition tree:

/run/media/peter/BOOT
├── EFI
│   └── refind
│       ├── BOOT.CSV
│       ├── drivers_x64
│       ├── icons
│       ├── keys
│       ├── refind.conf
│       └── refind_x64.efi
└── startup.nsh

[paralin]

AMD and Intel are compatible

Hmm could you try editing the BOOT partition and enabling the boot flag?

Also: actually on my desktop machine, I'm using Grub to start Refind and then Refind boots skiff. (a bit convoluted I know). But it should be possible to efi boot straight to refind.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/404877

This is a guide on how to make a Refind USB stick, if you follow those instructions, does it boot to the refind menu at least?

If that doesn't work, can you try installing Grub to the USB stick?

If you get it to either the refind or grub menu I can give you instructions on how to add the skiff partition and complete the setup. Just trying to figure out how to get your machine to recognize it as bootable.

[peterwilli]

Hey there,

Flashing the image did make me able to boot in Refind. I simply did sudo dd if=refind-flashdrive-0.12.0.img of=/dev/sdb where /dev/sdb is my flash drive. It shows the boot menu. I ended up with the following partitions:

I'll now try to see if I can add SkiffOS to it using the previous instructions, maybe it works now 🤔

[paralin]

I think the only difference here is the "boot" flag is set on that first partition.

Maybe also the esp flag and remove the msftdata flag

[peterwilli]

I think the only difference here is the "boot" flag is set on that first partition.

Maybe also the esp flag and remove the msftdata flag

I remember trying it, but not getting it working after all. However, I also found out that one of my USB ports was loose, so it could be it worked all this time, but I randomly didn't get a good connection, so I went back and tried something else while the former would've work (my apologies if that's the case).

[peterwilli]

I managed to boot from Refind and select the SkiffOS bzimage (from the 'SKIFFOS' partition I made after flashing Refind on it and using the mac install script) but it got stuck at this screen, seemingly not reading from the drive anymore.

[paralin]

@peterwilli can you try using intel/desktop in your config? It has the settings to use the disk labeled SKIFFOS.

You don't need to rebuild, just set skiff config and make compile, then install to the SKIFFOS partition again.

Also; what graphics are you using?

[peterwilli]

What do you mean by what graphics am I using?

Also, it didn't work sadly, I redid make compile using the following settings: export SKIFF_CONFIG=intel/x64,intel/desktop,skiff/core

I'll make sure to rebuild just in case, it's not the first time that made things work after all!

[paralin]

What type of graphics card? Nvidia, or something else?

[peterwilli]

What type of graphics card? Nvidia, or something else?

My laptop has a RTX3080 and I think the desktop PC has an integrated GPU as there's no dGPU.

Edit: the desktop was still stuck after rebuilding the whole thing, but haven't tested on laptop yet because I needed it to be up right now (can't reboot).

[paralin]

If you check the SKIFFOS partition, is there any skiff/journal dir on it? If so, can you send?

I'm pretty sure it's not stuck but rather the graphics driver is missing.

[peterwilli]

I found these inside the root folder on SKIFFOS partition

[paralin]

I mean - can you please send me a copy of the journal directory inside the skiff dir?

tar -cvzf ./logs.tar.gz ./skiff/journal

Thanks :)

[peterwilli]

I mean - can you please send me a copy of the journal directory inside the skiff dir?

tar -cvzf ./logs.tar.gz ./skiff/journal

Thanks :)

Oops, sorry! Here it is: logs.tar.gz

[paralin]

@peterwilli sorry - just remembered to get around to this, will have a look this evening.

[paralin]

@peterwilli Added nvidia driver (novueau), radeon & amd drivers: https://github.com/skiffos/SkiffOS/commit/62915d797041a78eadb6c478dbf2ac5f37c8f7bb

To apply the changes to your current build (without rebuilding):

git checkout master
git pull
git submodule update
make compile

... Buildroot should automatically re-configure linux & add the new modules.

[peterwilli]

@peterwilli Added nvidia driver (novueau), radeon & amd drivers: 62915d7

To apply the changes to your current build (without rebuilding):

git checkout master
git pull
git submodule update
make compile

... Buildroot should automatically re-configure linux & add the new modules.

You really did all that? Holy sh*t idk how to thank you, you go to great lengths to support even the most obscure setups! I'll try it this evening.

[paralin]

@peterwilli No problem!

[paralin]

Completed adding the new format/install scripts:

• Added refind to buildroot which compiles rEFInd from source
• Added format + install scripts for intel/desktop
• Added more kernel modules to support more hardware

Updated docs: https://github.com/skiffos/SkiffOS/tree/833a097/configs/intel/desktop

This makes a bootable USB stick.

[peterwilli]

Sorry for not trying yet. I was really busy. I'll start a build right now with the new source ode and see how it goes