s2.utilities,comp.os.os2.beta   
   comp.os.os2.misc:3517 comp.os.os2.utilities:220 comp.os.os2.beta:182   
   From: Roderick Klein    
      
   Hello John,   
      
   Jonathan de Boyne Pollard wrote:   
   > One cannot boot IBM OS/2 directly from EFI firmware.  IBM OS/2 is only    
   > bootable in the old PC/AT way.  Maybe the osFree people working on their    
   > FREELDR will work on a version that can run on EFI systems.  (If you're    
   > reading this: You won't have to worry about switching into protected    
   > mode, using mini-FSDs, enabling A20 gates, or any of that chaff.  The    
   > firmware will do all that for you.)   
   >    
   > It's possible to make an old PC98 machine into a Poor Man's EFI machine,    
   > using DUET ("Developers' UEFI Emulation Tool").  This is, basically, a    
   > program image that is booted as if it were an old-style PC/AT operating    
   > system, that loads up a reference implementation of EFI firmware and    
   > displays the EFI Boot Manager.  One can then run EFI "pre-boot"    
   > applications (from Microsoft's old DISKPART.EFI to the stuff that one    
   > can now get for Intel Macintoshes) and bootstrap EFI operating system    
   > boot loader programs on top of it, just as one would on a true EFI    
   > system.  There is even the good old built-in UEFI Shell, complete with    
   > text editor, file manipulation tools, and whatnot.  The downside is    
   > that, as supplied, DUET's own bootstrap mechanism leaves a huge amount    
   > to be desired.  If you've ever used it, you'll know that you have to    
   > pick the right version from about eight different program image files,    
   > otherwise it will mysteriously hang or reboot.  You also have to,    
   > somewhat madly, use different names for the program image file according    
   > to whether you are using FAT12, FAT16, or FAT32.  It's quite nutty.   
   >    
   > Not any more.   
   >    
   > To complement the MBR with EFI partition table support, that I mentioned    
   > a couple of weeks ago, I've written a TAU boot loader for DUET.  This    
   > uses exactly the same bootstrap process as my boot manager, except that    
   > in the final stage instead of loading my Boot Manager it loads up DUET    
   > instead.  It allows you to use any filename you like for the program    
   > image, and it doesn't matter if one doesn't use the image that exactly    
   > matches the FAT width of the containing disc volume.  (You've still got    
   > to pick the right image for x86-32 versus x86-64, though.  I cannot do    
   > anything about that.)   
   >    
   > I now have here, thanks to both, a system with PC/AT firmware that has    
   > an EFI partition table, an EFI System Partition, and DUET.  It    
   > bootstraps directly to the EFI System Partition (thanks to the MBR with    
   > EFI partition table support) and thence into DUET (thanks to the TAU    
   > boot loader for DUET).  So it goes from POST straight to the EFI Boot    
   > Manager, with nothing more than a few copyright messages along the way.     
   > (-:   
   >    
   > I've put up the step-by-step process of how I did it on a page that    
   > you'll find hyperlinked-to from the TAU System Utilities page on my own    
   > WWW server.  I've subtly named the hyperlink "Instructions for    
   > installing TAU Boot Manager or UEFI DUET onto a system volume".  All of    
   > the tools for following the procedure are in the latest TAU System    
   > Utilities archive.   
   >    
   > Once one has booted a system into x86-64 DUET one, according to    
   > Microsoft, can install Windows NT 6.1 ("Windows 7") using its x86-64 EFI    
   > installer, rather than its PC98 installer.  The EFI installer will    
   > install the EFI versions of Microsoft's Boot Manager and Boot    
   > Configuration Data, into an EFI System Partition; something that is not    
   > possible to do with the PC98 installer.  (Beware:  Windows 7 requires a    
   > bona fide EFI System Partition for this trick, not a Poor Man's    
   > equivalent such as a System Reserved Partition.)  Thence one can install    
   > Linux with ELILO and other EFI-bootable operating systems, and have them    
   > all on the menu of DUET's EFI Boot Manager, which becomes the primary    
   > boot manager for the system.  Combine all that with an EFI partition    
   > table, and you get (a) no more headaches caused by the differences    
   > between secondary and primary partitions; (b) no "hybrid MBR"    
   > partitioning nonsense; (c) no more 2TiB disc limit worries; (d) no more    
   > problems from boot managers that work as MBR computer viruses; (e) no    
   > more dealings with "MBR disc signatures", "LVM info sectors", or other    
   > such nonsense; and (f) the EFI Shell accessible at boot time.  Oh: and    
   > you get 36 character Unicode names for your partitions, too. (-:   
   >    
   > Unfortunately, one cannot boot IBM OS/2 or eComStation from the EFI Boot    
   > Manager.  They don't have the right kind of operating system boot    
   > loader.  So I encourage you to prod the osFree and the eComStation    
   > people to make EFI versions of OS2LDR and FREELDR.   
      
   I send you an email  but did not receive a reply. We are looking at    
   getting EFI support for OS/2 (well eComStation). But we would need to    
   work togheter on that. I'm working on setting up a team for that.   
      
   Just like we have for SNAP (http://svn.ecomstation.nl/snap).   
      
   Your knowlegde on EFI on such a team would certainly be welcome.   
      
   Roderick Klein   
   Mensys   
      
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