website: review NetBSD page index and convert to GNU Boot point of view.

As the page is quite similar to the OpenBSD page, it should contain
similar changes.

Signed-off-by: Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <GNUtoo@cyberdimension.org>
This commit is contained in:
Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli 2024-09-27 18:08:26 +02:00
parent b23e3e8c97
commit f45da0d6cd
Signed by: GNUtoo
GPG Key ID: 5F5DFCC14177E263
1 changed files with 40 additions and 14 deletions

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@ -1,13 +1,38 @@
---
title: How to install NetBSD on x86 GNU GRUB payload
x-unreviewed: true
...
GRUB supports booting NetBSD kernels directly. However, you're better off
simply using the SeaBIOS payload; BSD works well with BIOS or UEFI setups.
This guide was written for NetBSD at a time where Libreboot was still
fully free.
GRUB is acceptable for booting unencrypted BSD installations. However,
encrypted BSD installations will probably require the use of SeaBIOS/Tianocore.
NetBSD is not a fully free softrware operating system / distribution
and so the GNU Boot project can't force its contributors to test GNU
Boot with NetBSD.
Because of that this page is only meant for people already Using
NetBSD. See the [BSD index page](index.md) for more details about how
GNU Boot deals with this issue and the way forward to a better support
for BSD systems in GNU Boot.
According to the Libreboot project at the time, GRUB supported booting
NetBSD kernels directly. However, they told that you were better off
simply using the SeaBIOS payload; They also told that BSD worked well
with BIOS or UEFI setups.
They also warned that while GRUB was acceptable for booting
unencrypted BSD installations, encrypted BSD installations probably
required the use of SeaBIOS/Tianocore.
In addition, GNU boot may also remove support for booting encrypted
BSD systems in the GRUB images it provides at some point, in order to
make GRUB smaller to fit computer with a very small boot flash size
(512 KiB) like the Intel D945GCLF, and unify the documentation, but
also because it can't currently test that due to the lack of fully
free BSD systems that are easily installable.
So if you already use NetBSD with encrypted partitions, and that want
to continue using it on a computer running GNU Boot, you should use
GNU Boot images with SeaBIOS.
Prepare the USB drive (in NetBSD)
---------------------------------
@ -107,7 +132,7 @@ Press C in GRUB to access the command line:
grub> knetbsd -r wd0a (ahci0,netbsd1)/netbsd
grub> boot
NetBSD will start booting. Yay!
NetBSD will start booting.
Configuring Grub
----------------
@ -115,11 +140,11 @@ Configuring Grub
If you don't want to drop to the GRUB command line and type in a
command to boot NetBSD every time, you can create a GRUB configuration
that's aware of your NetBSD installation and that will automatically be
used by libreboot.
used by GNU Boot.
On your NetBSD root partition, create the `/grub` directory and add
the file `libreboot_grub.cfg` to it. Inside the
`libreboot_grub.cfg` add these lines:
the file `gnuboot_grub.cfg` to it. Inside the
`gnuboot_grub.cfg` add these lines:
default=0
timeout=3
@ -135,11 +160,12 @@ seconds NetBSD will boot, or you can hit enter to boot.
Troubleshooting
===============
Most of these issues occur when using Libreboot with coreboot's 'text
mode' instead of the coreboot framebuffer. This mode is useful for
booting payloads like memtest86+ which expect text-mode, but for NetBSD
it can be problematic when they are trying to switch to a framebuffer
because it doesn't exist.
According to the Libreboot project at a time when it was still fully
free, most of the issues occur when using coreboot's 'text mode'
instead of the coreboot framebuffer. This mode is useful for booting
payloads like memtest86+ which expect text-mode, but for NetBSD,
accodring to Libreboot at the time, it can be problematic when they
are trying to switch to a framebuffer because it doesn't exist.
won't boot...something about file not found
---------------------------------------------