Zero-bloat Ratatui in UEFI, no OS

qemu-demo.mp4

physical-demo.mp4

What is it?

This library provides a (no_std) UEFI backend for Ratatui that is based on the uefi crate.

Together with uefi, you can create rich TUI's that run as EFI applications.

Examples

• efimux is an EFI application for booting other EFI applications, built on ratatuefi.

Also check examples/.

Running in QEMU

1. Install packages:

   pacman -S qemu-system-x86_64 edk2-ovmf

   (optionally, install some graphics backend (recommend sdl+opengl), but you can also VNC into the VM)

   pacman -S qemu-ui-sdl qemu-ui-opengl

2. Create virtual EFI layout

   just create-virtual-uefi-layout

   then build and symlink the .efi in:
   (<EFI> is something like ./target/x86_64-unknown-uefi/debug/<PACKAGE-NAME>.efi)

   ln -sf <EFI> esp/efi/boot/bootx64.efi

3. Start QEMU

   just qemu

Running on a physical machine

from https://rust-osdev.github.io/uefi-rs/tutorial/hardware.html

Connect a USB drive. Follow steps below.

# Create the GPT, create a 9MB partition starting at 1MB, and set the
# partition type to EFI System.
sgdisk \
    --clear \
    --new=1:1M:10M \
    --typecode=1:C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B \
    /path/to/disk

# Format the partition as FAT.
mkfs.fat /path/to/disk_partition

# Mount the partition.
mount --mkdir /path/to/disk_partition /mnt/ratatuefi

# Copy in the boot executable.
cp -rL esp/efi /mnt/ratatuefi/

# Eject the USB drive
eject /path/to/disk

Important

disable secure boot on machine before trying to boot

Now try booting the USB drive!