Comment 0 for bug 1860640

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lorn10 (kle) wrote : Add / Enable "32Bit UEFI Supportsupport" in Ubuntu?

Hi there!

I want to add here a request regarding the addition of a very nice, currently Fedora-exclusive, feature. It's called "32Bit UEFI Support" an makes it possible to boot and install a 64bit Linux onto a 32 bit (U)EFI based system which contains a 64bit CPU.

Source: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/32BitUefiSupport

So far I understand, this works through a special modified BOOTIA32.EFI file. That one acts as some kind of a "wrapper" which converts some (essential) EFI64 calls to EFI32 (during the boot-up).

I have tested this principle with latest Fedora 31 at an early Intel iMac which contains a 64bit CPU but has a 32bit EFI. To my big surprise it works absolutely GREAT!

There exist currently some ways to apply this principle also at other Linux Distros like Ubuntu and Debian. Unfortunately these are all quite complex and needs a lot of modifications. More information can be found at the following link:

https://medium.com/@realzedgoat/a-sorta-beginners-guide-to-installing-ubuntu-linux-on-32-bit-uefi-machines-d39b1d1961ec

I tried to modify a Kubuntu 18.04 LTS DVD ISO image but I failed. Fedora Linux uses a quite different DVD install layout (folder & file organization) which is not easy applicable at Ubuntu / Debian based Distros. In detail I tried to copy the mentioned BOOTIA32.EFI wrapper file into the /EFI/boot directory. Well, the edited / modified Kubuntu DVD image was not recognized by the 32bit EFI firmware (at an iMac). I have uploaded some of the needed files. Fedora seems to include also a special macboot.img file which is not present (in that form) in Ubuntu.

Kind regards, C. Leu
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