Sanity Check on Mac Mini

[John Mehr]

On Thu, 7 Mar 2013 14:18:23 -0800
 Doug Hardie <bc979 at lafn.org> wrote:
> 
> On 7 March 2013, at 11:57, Kevin Oberman 
><rkoberman at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 11:10 AM, Doug Hardie 
>><bc979 at lafn.org> wrote:
>> 
>> On 7 March 2013, at 06:42, Richard Kuhns 
>><rjk at wintek.com> wrote:
>> 
>> > On 03/07/13 01:59, Doug Hardie wrote:
>> >> I have a new Mac Mini and have encountered the same 
>>problem reported last year by Richard Kuhns.  YongHyeon 
>>PYUN provided some patches to the kernel that resolved 
>>the problem.  However, without an internet connection its 
>>a bit tricky to get them into the system.  Here is the 
>>approach I believe will work, but wanted to check first 
>>before I really mess things up.
>> >>
>> >> 1.  Downloaded from current today via 
>>svnweb.freebsd.org:
>> >>      sys/dev/bge/if_bgereg.h
>> >>      sys/dev/bge/if_bge.c
>> >>      sys/dev/mii/brgphy.c
>> >>
>> >>    I believe the patches are incorporated in today's 
>>versions.  The comments indicate such.  Thus I don't need 
>>to apply the original supplied patch.
>> >>
>> >> 2.  Put those on a flash drive.
>> >>
>> >> 3.  Install 9.1 release from flash drive onto the 
>>Mini disk.  Have to include the system source.
>> >>
>> >> 4.  Copy the files from 1 above from flash over the 
>>files on the disk.
>> >>
>> >> 5.  Rebuild the kernel and install it.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >>
>> >> -- Doug
>> >
>> > That's worked for me 3 times now.
>> 
>> Thanks.  Well, I got 9.1 Release installed, but it won't 
>>boot from the internal disk.  It doesn't see the disk as 
>>bootable.  I installed using the entire disk for FreeBSD. 
>> I used the i386 release.  Perhaps I need to switch to 
>>the amd64 release?
>> 
>> I would generally recommend using the amd64 release, but 
>>it may not get your system to boot. 
>> 
>> How is your disk partitioned? GPT? Some BIOSes are 
>>broken and assume that a GPT formatted disk is UEFI and 
>>will not recognize them if they lack the UEFI boot 
>>partition. UEFI boot is a current project that seems 
>>likely to reach head in the fairly near future, but it's 
>>not possible now.
> 
> No idea what the default partitioning is for BSDInstall. 
> However the Mini is only EFI or UFEI with some fallbacks 
>although the comments I find in the web indicate that 
>different models have different fallbacks.
> 
> One comment indicates that an older unit will boot if 
>its MBR partitioning.  I don't know if the new installer 
>supports that or not.
> 
>> 
>> You may be able to tweak your BIOS to get it to work or 
>>you may have to install using the traditional 
>>partitioning system. The installer defaults to GPT, but 
>>can create either.
>> 
>> I have such a system (ThinkPad T520) and I have two 
>>disks... one that came with the system and containing 
>>Windows, and my GPT formatted FreeBSD disk. I wrote a 
>>FreeBSD BootEasy boot into the MBR of the Windows disk 
>>and it CAN boot the GPT disk just fine. Not ideal for 
>>most, but it works well for me
> 
> Based on a comment I say, waiting till the empty folder 
>icon appears and then plugging in the install memstick 
>causes the mini to boot from disk.  That just downright 
>weird, but it works.  I could live with that, but this is 
>an unattended server and would experience some down time 
>if I am not there when there is a power failure.
> 
> I just found some "instructions" for using MBR with 
>bsdinstall, but given there is an effort to create a UEFI 
>boot which I suspect would expect to find the GPT boot 
>partition, perhaps I should just go with the memstick 
>approach?

Hello,

If you still have a drive with OS X on it, you may have 
some luck with OS X's bless command:

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Reference/Manpages/man8/bless.8.html

I got a late 2012 mac mini to boot FreeBSD 9.1 (AMD64) 
from a hard drive using 'bless' (unfortunately I don't 
remember the exact command line parameters I used).  If 
you're looking to dual boot, the only luck I had (without 
resorting to using third party software like rEFIt) was to 
put the OS's on different drives and install FreeBSD using 
MBR on the second drive.