What Bootloader or Boot Manage Is OS X Based From?

Question

Level 1

128 points

What Bootloader or Boot Manage Is OS X Based From?

Hi. Just curious. Since Linux and OS X have origins in Unix (Linux isn't Unix based though I believe) does it base its bootloader or boot manager (the one you see when you hold Option on reboot) from popular bootloaders like Grub or Lilo? Is OS X's boot manager/bootloader embedded in the EFI chip/firmware or it's in one of the hidden system files of OS X?

Thank you in advance.

Gbu.

P.S. Although I've played with Linux before on the PC, I've been trying to play with Linux (Ubuntu 11.10, Live CD or installing it to a Flash drive and USB external) on my iMac but I had to let it go coz' I can't make it boot on my iMac (late 2009 i7) inspite of the command line I had typed based on Ubuntu forum posts and the netboot type of install). The Live CD booted ok on a virtualization machine like VirtualBox (from Oracle) but from this VM I can't make it see my USB external to install it there.

iMac i7 Late 2009, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Oct 19, 2011 7:07 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Oct 19, 2011 7:12 PM in response to Alvin777

OS X uses the Darwin bootloader that most likely derived from the one used by FreeBSD.

If you partition your drive so you have a separate volume for Linux, then install Linux from the Live CD it will install the Grub bootloader modified to enable you to choose which OS to boot at startup time. Alternatively, the rEFIt bootloader provides a startup GUI sort of akin to the OS X boot manager.

Reply