Re: grub-dumpbios

[step21]

It is kinda documented on ubuntu-forums I think ... and maybe on the
list. (here) When ppl were either asked to test it or reported their
findings. I think the main use case is booting linux directly from
efi, without bios emulation mode/legacy mode. This primarily applies
to macs, though it might apply to non-mac efi machines too.
Concerning "Joe User": If someone really wants to install linux on
their mac/efi machine they're likely o.k. to run a shell script to get
a binary blob (if they want graphics accel that is)
As I see it the main reason to put this in a script is really that it
saves you unncessary trips to the wiki or other documentation sources,
where you'd end up copy n' pasting the command anyway.
So from an "end user" perspective, I'd think it'd be nice to keep it.
If/why it can't be read by grub directly I don't know. Most likely I
think because it needs a properly "initialized" video bios to work,
which is not present when grub is active.

>
> Is this use case documented somewhere (e.g. in the wiki)?  Then users who
> need it can learn about the procedure from the same place.  Also ...
>
> On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 10:28:52PM +0200, Stefan Reinauer wrote:
>> As a side note: On many machines dumping the VGA option rom like that
>> does not produce good option rom images. Many option roms are
>> self-modifying and the above method only dumps the modified variants of
>> the ROMs that are normally not good for "POSTing" a graphics card
>> anymore. They're still good for other purposes though I guess.
>
> ... as Stefan points out (thanks Stefan) this may not be so
> straightforwarded.  I don't think this kind of tweaking is suitable
> for a setup that "Joe user" will get by default.
>
> Btw, if the video rom can be obtained directly from memory, why doesn't
> GRUB read it in runtime instead?
>
> --
> Robert Millan
>
>  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
>  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
>  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Grub-devel mailing list
> address@hidden
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel
>