On Saturday, 27 April 2024 17:53:25 BST Dale wrote: > Howdy, > > I'm installing Gentoo on another old box. To be consistent I like to > use cgdisk, GPT I think it is called, to partition all my drives, > regardless of size.
GPT is the partition table structure, which is more advanced than the old DOS partition table structure. > Thing is, Grub works differently with GPT than it > does with the old DOS or whatever it is called, like fdisk does in the > old days. GRUB works the same, but the disk/partition table structure is different. > I did some research but still find myself in some muddy > waters. My take on some things I've read, I need a boot partition, not > to be confused with the /boot for kernels, init thingys and such. Where > I get lost, most use gdisk. I like cgdisk. Before that I liked > cfdisk. Anyway, how do I set up that partition with cgdisk? Any > minimum size requirements or tiny is enough? 1MB > Does it have to be a > specific type? Yes, it has to be set up as a "BIOS Boot Partition", with the "ef02", or GUID 21686148-6449-6E6F-744E-656564454649. > Does it need to be in a specific place? Not necessarily, but since you're not booting this disk on a UEFI MoBo and consequently won't be using an EFI System Partition (ESP), the very first partition is fine and will be out of the way of the remaining disk. > Formatted with a file system? Do not format it. The raw 1MB partition will be used by GRUB to install its core.img file. > Also, when I do grub-install, do I still point to > /dev/sda or to /dev/sda1, if sda1 is the special boot partition? Sector 0 of your disk /dev/sda is where GRUB will drop its boot loader image 'boot.img'. This is the Master Boot Record region. Normally, with a DOS partition table, GRUB's core.img would be dropped in the empty space of sector 1, following sector 0. However, in the GPT structure sector 1 is where the GPT partition array data is stored. You don't want GRUB making a mess by dropping it's core.img on top of it! So, from what I recall you'd install GRUB like so: grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/gentoo/boot --force /dev/sda If this won't do it, I'll have to boot an old system of mine to check the disk layout in more detail. > I tried to find a step by step howto with this info but the ones I find > either don't work or leaves me more confused. Given that the method is > also aging out, it's hard to find good guides. I'd be real happy just > to have a link to a good howto that I can make sense of. I can save a > copy local and even print it. Maybe someone has some notes that will > help. I just need something to help clear up the muddy waters. > > Thanks to anyone who has a link, some notes or something. :-D > > Dale > > :-) :-)
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