About openbsd partitioning ....

chrisfromgreece

What is the simplest form of partitions that is required to boot openbsd on an efi system ? why i can't use one p artition including every root directory

20-100

The default OpenBSD partitioning is not mandatory, you can use a single partition if you want.
In fact, on an EFI system, you should have at least 2: the EFI system partition and OpenBSD's 4.2BSD partition.
Note that you can't put those partitions where you want : the EFI system partition has to use letter 'e', the 4.2BSD partition 'a' and 'c' is used to map the full disk.
The simplest way to get things done is probably to edit the default layout, delete all the partitions you don't want and modify partition 'a' to use the whole available space.

I haven't been able to install OpenBSD on an EFI system so far, even under QEMU, I hope you'll have more luck.

rvp

20-100 the EFI system partition has to use letter 'e'

On my OpenBSD install e is /usr (a is /; bis swap; d is /home and f is an "outside" Linux ext2 partition which is used to share data between OSes)

20-100 I haven't been able to install OpenBSD on an EFI system so far

Worked just fine for me. Did you copy the BOOT*.EFI files from here into OpenBSD's EFI System Partition?

bsduck

The default partitioning worked fine on my UEFI computer so at least it may work.

20-100

I've just made a quick test with OpenBSD 6.8 and I confirm the installation ISO fails to boot in UEFI mode.
However, as NetBSD 9.x issues with UEFI have been addressed in CURRENT, one can expect a future version of OpenBSD to work fine too.

For the 'e' slice, you're right, I've got mixed up with NetBSD, sorry.

rvp

20-100 I've just made a quick test with OpenBSD 6.8 and I confirm the installation ISO fails to boot in UEFI mode.

For some reason laptops seem to do UEFI better than desktops. Tried the USB install image and USB boot?

20-100 For the 'e' slice, you're right, I've got mixed up with NetBSD, sorry.

You have slices instead of wedges on NetBSD too? (I feel like I'm discussing cakes for some reason.)

chrisfromgreece

My laptop is efi only boot , doesn't support or has on bios any settings to disable efi , Asus Ryzen/Vega and openbsd installs and boots fine !

20-100

Lucky you!

I have several machines on which I make installation tests from time to time: a Lenovo Ideapad 120S (2017), an Intel NUC6CAYH (2016) and a Dell R610 (2010-2012).

The NUC6 is interesting because it supports both UEFI and legacy boot at the same time. Some years ago, I had installed Void Linux on it and it worked fine. At some point, I reinstalled it using a more recent Void ISO and it failed. With further testing, I realized that whichever OS I tried to install failed when both UEFI and legacy boot were enabled.

However, with just UEFI enabled, I could install any Linux distribution or FreeBSD, but neither NetBSD, nor OpenBSD (nor OpenIndiana and Tribblix, by the way). In legacy boot mode, I could install anything.

The R610 supports either UEFI or legacy boot, but not both modes simultaneously. However, the result was the same: Linux or FreeBSD could be installed in UEFI mode, but neither NetBSD, nor OpenBSD.

I have updated the NUC6 and the R610 firmware to their latest available versions but it made no difference.

I have recently tested NetBSD 9.99.75 on the same machines and installation in UEFI mode succeeded.

I have also tested installations under QEMU with either UEFI or legacy BIOS with identical results, so it is very easy to reproduce these issues if needed.

I have no clue as to why some OS boot on some machines and not on others while other OS boot on any machine. However, solutions exist and get implemented, and that's good. 🙂

20-100

rvp Tried the USB install image and USB boot?

When installing on bare metal, I always use USB install images.
I only use the ISO to create VMs.

rvp You have slices instead of wedges on NetBSD too?

Before hearing about NetBSD, I though wedges were just fried sliced potatoes... 😉
That said, I just use sysinst to partition my disk, so I have whatever it creates for me.

The visible difference between the non-working version of sysinst in NetBSD 9.1 and the working one in 9.99.75+ is a new option surprisingly (and incorrectly) labelled "Delete everything, use different partitions (not GPT)" allowing to successfully and reliably install NetBSD in any context (bare metal, VM, UEFI, legacy BIOS).

[ The option label is incorrect because when selected, it correctly wipes the disk out (which earlier sysinst versions failed to do) and prompts you for the partition scheme to use, including GPT. ]

rvp

20-100 I just use sysinst to partition my disk, so I have whatever it creates for me.

A mount command or dkctl wd0 listwedges will tell you what you have. If your devices start with dk then you have the newer-style wedges. If you have devices ending in a, d, ... (like OpenBSD), then you have slices.

20-100 The visible difference between the non-working version of sysinst in NetBSD 9.1 and the working one in 9.99.75+

Lucky you. Even the latest 9.99.77 tells me bizarre things after looking at my partition layout (the wedges are not in order--they're layed out all over the place). So I'm still installing my NetBSD manually.

20-100

With an UEFI installation, I have wedges.

chrisfromgreece

Easy Peasy !
just select custom partition press a a
you're done you now have all your disk for root.
There is a partition you can't touch partition C what is this for ?
Probably its for efi causei i'm booting my pc with EFI or else openbsd doesn't work with my radeon pro for some reason.
I guess if i try to make an openbsd "distro"" i could use fdisk to create the required partitions then copy all the files from my installation chown adding the user and i'm done ?
I would like to create an openbsd distro with all firmware available and a graphical installer plus ready made desktop . Openbsd supports only intel and amd gpus. I'm wondering if it would work .
When openbsd boots with amd gpu if i pull out the amd gpu and have only an intel gpu should i have to remove any settings or it would detect the intel gpu and work out of the box ?

Sacerdos_Daemonis

chrisfromgreece "There is a partition you can't touch partition C what is this for ?""
C is the designation for the entire disc.

chrisfromgreece

Sacerdos_Daemonis i suspected that :-) Where it boots efi from then ? i have booted the installation usb in efi chose gpt partition then custom where is the efi partition stored ?

Sacerdos_Daemonis

I do not KNOW where the efi files are, but I assume they are in /dev/sd0a, which is where the boot loader is. I have never had to worry about it, because I set the BIOS to legacy mode which will boot both efi and non-efi systems.

chrisfromgreece

Sacerdos_Daemonis About that , i want to ask you a question for some reason when i dont boot/install via efi it seems that i can't start xorg do you know why ? i don't need efi anyway. I have a Radeon Pro i have nice performance also on 60fps youtube videos similar to linux.

Sacerdos_Daemonis

I do not know why. I do not see how the boot loader would have any effect on a system after booting. If "can't start xorg" means the GUI does not load and the system returns to the TTY, create a file
/etc/sysctl.conf
and add machdep.allowaperture=1
Some hardware require that addition for the kernel to access drivers. Again, I do not understand how the boot loader could affect a running system, but I am not an expert. So it is worth a try.

I have never used uefi boot and so have never had a need to research the matter. All I can say is that many people do use uefi with OpenBSD.

chrisfromgreece

Sacerdos_Daemonis I don't know too seems strange to me i don't need any efi of course but for some reason i have no xorg without efi on my radeon pro .
I have ported some applications that are not available on openbsd do you know if i can somehow get involved with porting ?

chrisfromgreece I have ported some applications that are not available on openbsd do you know if i can somehow get involved with porting ?

Very much like NetBSD, there is OpenBSD-wip ports, https://github.com/jasperla/openbsd-wip

I don't know if it works the same way, but I'd suspect it does.

Sacerdos_Daemonis

chrisfromgreece If you have the knowhow it is definitely possible. Many of the project's ports are created and maintained by individual users. If you are interested check the OpenBSD website.
[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/ports/testing.html]
[https://www.openbsd.org/faq/ports/index.html]
A few people who maintain ports are also active on the Daemon Forum.
[http://daemonforums.org/]