F17, Apple, EFI boot, livecd-tools

[Chris Murphy]

Following applies to a 2008, Macbook Pro 4,1

1.
Used livecd-tools-17.6-1.fc17 to successfully create an EFI bootable USB stick of Fedora-17-Alpha-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso.

2.
Due to this bug: EFI boot fails on Macs with NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=751147

I add 'nomodeset' kernel parameter. I know of no work around to get a GUI on this hardware. But it does boot kernel and most services.

3.
tty1 hangs at "Started Display Manager"
tty2 is functional, not sure how to get any information on what's up with tty1. Normally what I'm used to with EFI boot and nomodeset is X can't actually startup, but the rest of the services load, and I end up at a prompt.

4.
Out of 5 boot attempts, I get to a usable tty2 console and can reboot thrice.

Twice, I get a hang right after GRUB loads either the kernel or initrd, the GRUB splash screen is present with no text. The machine has hung and I have to hold the power button to shut down.

So on this hardware I'd say GRUB is marginally reliable.

5.
At reboot/poweroff time, there's a LOT of extra "garbage" information being produced on-screen compared to F16. It goes by quick enough and isn't logged, so I'm not sure if it's important. But I do get a reboot, albeit with about a 1 minute delay over F16.


Chris Murphy