EFI Boot Macbook Air 3,1 using Porteus 3.0.1 64-bit [SOLVED]

[FLLinuxUser]

I have a Mac that I would like to run Porteus on. It is a Macbook Air 3,1 (currently running OS X 10.9.5). I can't seem to get Porteus 3.0.1 to boot on it. I have following the info at http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=2212 to build a USB drive that will boot the Macbook (great help on this). It will boot into Text only mode but not into X.

I have the nVidia-340.24-porteus-v3.0.1-x86_64-1ftm.xzm in the optional directory but when i add this to the boot options using the load=nVidia or vga_detect chectcodes the boot process stalls at a blank screen. Even if i put the nvidia module in the modules directory and boot into text mode the system fails to boot it just stalls at a blank screen.

the lspci output on the Macbook looks like

02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation MCP89 [GeForce 320M] (rev a2)

I have alos tried booting into text mode and activating the nvidia module and running startx, but I get the error that it can't load the nvidia module and fails to start X.

I downloaded the nvidia module using the build feature on the website, and also downloaded directly form the dl.porteus.org location neither seem to work.

Any help would be great.

Thanks,

[freestyler]

Hey FLLinuxUser. Have you tried using the opensource drivers?

[francois]

Hello fllinuxuser. Welcome to porteus forum.

You have the right driver for your nvidia card:
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverRe ... 6884/en-us

However, instead of putting the nvidia 324.40 into the /porteus/optional folder, please put it in the /porteus/modules folder. Remove the load=nVidia or vga_detect cheatcodes. And just reboot. 8)
viewtopic.php?f=123&t=3506

[francois]

It just came back to me that maybe mac is something more complicated when it comes to linux. You would need refit:
http://ubuntuguide.net/how-to-install-u ... lash-drive
http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=2044

[FLLinuxUser]

Hey Francois,

I have attempted putting the driver in the modules folder and it still stalls at a blank screen on boot up. It seems when the driver xzm is loaded it will not boot. If i remove the driver xzm from being loaded on boot up it seems to work, but X is unalbe to start witht the standard driver.

I am also using rEFInd which is a update to the rEFit. I am able to boot the USB drive from my Macbook Pro but not my MacBook Air. Would like to get it working on both of them.

Thanks

[fanthom]

@FLLinuxUser
please boot to text mode -> run 'psinfo' command -> save generated report somewhere on the usb stick -> boot to working system and upload report to pastebin.com then link here

while in the text mode please also:
run 'startx' command -> switch back to VT1 by running Ctrl+Alt+F1 -> save and upload any /var/log/Xorg.0.log files you find.

thanks

[FLLinuxUser]

@fanthom

Hope the links are right. Here is the psinfo from booting into text mode. Then the Xorg log files after trying to run startX. The first Xorg is before activating the Nvidia xzm and the second one is after.

http://pastebin.com/tK9Xi2Yh psinfo paste

http://pastebin.com/fNXqezrU Startx without loading the Nvidia xzm

http://pastebin.com/bMMV3dh5 StartX after activating Nvidia xzm

Thanks

[fanthom]

no idea why nouveau driver does not work but nVidia was compiled for different kernel (original porteus one) so it has no chance to work.
you can do two things:
a) upgrade to 3.1 rc1 and check if nouveau starts working: http://build.porteus.org/rc/
b) try original 3.0.1 + nVidia driver: http://build.porteus.org/
(3.0.1 has missing EFI framebuffer support so you wont see anything in text mode but GUI should still working properly with nVidia driver.)

make sure you enable EFI support in both cases.
please let us know how about success/fail.

thanks

[FLLinuxUser]

Both of those seem to work. I did switch to the KDE desktop since that seemed like the default option for the 3.1 RC1.

So it boots into 3.1 RC1 on a USB with no extra NVidia driver needed.

Thanks for the help

Update: I did some more testing and it appears that only the RC1 build works. It still fails to boot with the NVidia driver on the Macbook Air I have, but the RC1 boots so i am good. Don't know why it doesn't like to load the Nvidia driver on boot up but since the RC1 works I am going to start using that one.

Also the switch to KDE is nice.

Thanks again

[francois]

@fllinuxuser:

Good to know that we will eventually count a mac porteus expert amongst our ranks!

[coronamortis25]

Hi FLLinuxUser,
I am new to ports and I also want to boot my macbook air with porteus usb . Can you explain the steps in detail. How to creatw a bootable porteus usb and how to boo. İf yo can add some caps it will be appreciated.

[coronamortis25]

sorry it should be I am new to porteus .....