Some Basic Questions / Multiboot and Partitioning related

[outragedtony]

Hello world,

first - big thanks to everyone contributing their time to create Chameleon! This is my constant in all these (seemingly and actually) different ways of getting OSx to work and the trillions of "installation guides"...
Now trying to decide on my partition layout for booting OS X, windows and linux - what a mess. Here are a few points I am still unclear about (with chameleon I mean 2.rc4):

1) Can Chameleon chainload grub installed to a logical partition?
apparently, no.
2) Can Chameleon be installed on MBR-only partition setups (seperate/OS X root partition)?
answered by official chameleon  features:   - hybrid boot0+boot1h loaders for both MBR and GPT partitioned disks

3) Are there any disadvantages in terms of updating/maintaining OS X when Chameleon is installed onto the OS X root partition (apart from convenience issues)?

To clarify, like I understand it at the moment - please correct me:

EFI:
+ completely separated from OS, less prune to “accidentally” fubar
+ reinstall OS without touching your customized quirks and no need to reinstall chameleon
- slightly more complex to maintain (mounting + permissions)

seperate partition:
+ reinstall OS without touching your customized quirks and no need to reinstall chameleon
+ easier maintaining than with EFI
- Cameleon files visible to OS

OSx partition:
+ Chameleon files easily accessible
- Chameleon files easily messed with
- Chameleon has to be reinstalled after Osx reinstallation

[rocksteady]

Hello Tony,

Just a quick one:

How many HDs do you plan to use for your 3-OS box? I'd suggest giving OS X its own dedicated HD

If you're comfortable with basic HD/partition concepts & commands, go for EFI or a small separated partition and fstab it the way you like

[outragedtony]

Hi Rocksteady,

unfortunatley I have only one HD (Laptop). I try to avoid a hybrid-setup, this sounds a bit scary. If I could chainload grub on logical, this would work with separate partition for Chameleon. If not, I would have to put it on OSx root.

However, I am close to just going with the frankenstein mbr/gpt concept - many people seem to use it with bootcamp, anyway. Stupid stubborn windows refusing to install on bios-based gpt setups...

EDIT - potential mbr-only setup:

sda - Chameleon stage0
sda1 - Chameleon stage1 + boot + /Extra/...
sda2 - Win7
sda3 - OS x
sda4 - extended
sda5 - /boot  <-- grub2
sda6 - /
sda7 - /home
sda8 - optional Data partition

[outragedtony]

Bumping: Seems like Chameleon does not scan logical partitions. Tried it with Chameleon installed to usb-key, only my primary partitions showed up.

Would still be great if someone could comment on the disadvantages with having Chameleon on OSx root (especially in terms of updating/troubleshooting a kext gone wrong etc).  Thanks!

[rocksteady]

I'm not your man for multibooting Tony, simply because I prefer dedicated boxes for different OSs and like to administer them via each box's X server/ssh etc

For every taste there is a colour though so back to your question:

Would still be great if someone could comment on the disadvantages with having Chameleon on OSx root (especially in terms of updating/troubleshooting a kext gone wrong etc).

Have no fear + get going with Chameleon on MacOS X partition, as long as you keep your /Extra clean + tidy, you won't see any hiccups. Later, when you have your setup ready you can re-evaluate bootloaders.

btw: boy do you sound adventurous, abusing a poor toy-like 2.5 HD w/ 3 different filesystems 

btw2: prime example of a thread that makes sense, searching, following up, editing etc. Welcome

[r0m30]

Bumping: Seems like Chameleon does not scan logical partitions.

Correct, Chameleon also wants boot1h/boot to be on the active partition on an MBR disk.  Windows expects to be on the active partition too, hence the issues with sleep, editing the BCD, etc.

Would still be great if someone could comment on the disadvantages with having Chameleon on OSx root (especially in terms of updating/troubleshooting a kext gone wrong etc).

The only thing I would add to what rocksteady said was that if you go with a separate partition (EFI or just a small additional partition for Chameleon) you can turn off journaling.  This allows you to access and modify the Chameleon partition with a Linux rescue system. Linux HFS+ support will allow you to write to a journaled HFS+ filesystem but it is "unsupported", I don't know if that means guaranteed corruption and I don't want to find out.  If you broke something on the real OSX partition you still have to boot the install DVD and use terminal to fix it or do a time machine restore.

[outragedtony]

Have no fear + get going with Chameleon on MacOS X partition, as long as you keep your /Extra clean + tidy, you won't see any hiccups. Later, when you have your setup ready you can re-evaluate bootloaders.

thanks! I was under the impression that it may somehow constrains updating directly.

btw: boy do you sound adventurous, abusing a poor toy-like 2.5 HD w/ 3 different filesystems 

I know... basically, OSX would be the system of choice, win7 for casual gaming, and I somehow grew attached to my years old and tuned out arch install... just moving it to a small partition, mostly to have a backup system I can also do work on if needed.

If you go with a separate partition (EFI or just a small additional partition for Chameleon) you can turn off journaling.  This allows you to access and modify the Chameleon partition with a Linux rescue system. Linux HFS+ support will allow you to write to a journaled HFS+ filesystem but it is "unsupported", I don't know if that means guaranteed corruption and I don't want to find out.  If you broke something on the real OSX partition you still have to boot the install DVD and use terminal to fix it or do a time machine restore.

Nearly sold to Chameleon on OSX root - but this one is a clear showstopper. Thanks for reminding me about HFS+ journaling support in linux, bogus writing support is not exactly helpful in rescue operations.