rEFIt compatible with the new iMacs?

[nizuri]

Hey there.

Has anyone tried to use rEFIt with the new iMacs? I always preferred it to the "hold alt at startup" method but I'm not quite sure, whether it would work.

The version is still 0.13 (march 09) and I'd use the bluetooth keyboard, which might be a problem.

I'd appreciate it, if anyone already tried it and would like to share what they found out.

 

[nizuri]

Ok, nobody tried it, does anybody have an idea if they changed anything (EFI, etc...) that might make it not work? I'd hate to install all the stuff of the past few days again in case I can't boot my mac or something.

 

[knewsom]

What's so hard about holding down the "option" key when you boot? Even a bluetooth keyboard should allow this, I think.

 

[Racerdog55]

I've tried it and it did not work I also like using the program.

 

[tsugaru]

refit works on my i7 iMac.

You may need to shutdown and power back up before it starts working.

To confirm:

open terminal

cd /efi
cd /refit
sudo ./enable-always.sh
(enter your password)

This forces the boot loader to load refit before bootx.

 

[nizuri]

Ok, thanks for all the posts! I've tried it and it works just fine. Even with bluetooth.
First I installed it on a USB stick and it worked, so I installed it on my Macintosh HD and that worked just fine too.

As tsugaru already said you have to restart into MacOSX (press alt during startup in case it starts Windows).
I didn't even have to force it using refit, just used the regular installer.

@knewsom

It's not only about pressing the alt key (although I dislike the concept of standing there, pressing a button down and waiting for the boat loader to show up ).

In my opinion rEFIt looks much better, you can fully customize it just like lilo or grub, you get a shell before booting a OS (kind of), disk partitioning, diagnostics, etc.

Thanks everybody!

 

[ScienceDoc]

Works fine with my i7 too. Although the windows boot from cd process "press space to boot from cd" does sometimes not detect any keyboard (bluetooth or usb).