uefi The Linux Foundation's UEFI Secure Boot Pre-Bootloader...

[sunrat]

I had no problem in installing Debian Squeeze on a pc with UEFI

Ok, spill the beans. How did you do it? This is a hot topic over at Debian forums lately too.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

@ Fran... I build mine all the time, but won't the newer mobos have UEFI on them regardless?

[amenditman]

@ Fran... I build mine all the time, but won't the newer mobos have UEFI on them regardless?

UEFI and SecureBoot are not the same thingy.

Secure Boot (or more properly Restricted Boot) is a small part of the UEFI spec. Secure Boot is the Microsoft specific application of it.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Ah... so, new mobos won't have that?

[amenditman]

UEFI is here as the BIOS replacement, Intel made it, Apple uses it. We are stuck with it.

 

The motherboards will support it, you will be able to turn it on if you want it.

But it is not turned on by default unless you buy a pre-built computer (specifically labelled as Windows 8 compatible).

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Ah... IC.

 

Good to know.

 

Thanks.

 

[Guest LilBambi]

@ Fran... I build mine all the time, but won't the newer mobos have UEFI on them regardless?

 

I think the article you posted from Fedora says it best:

 

Microsoft requires that client PCs which carry the Windows 8 logo must enable UEFI Secure Boot and install Microsoft-provided key material. The required X.509 certificate is shown in Figure 1.2, “Microsoft Trusted X.509 Certificate for their Secure Boot implementation”. System vendors are encouraged to include other root certificates as needed, but those are not required to be present.

 

BOLD and BOLD/RED emphasis mine

 

That's why I say, building our own will be the deal once again - not just by choice. There was a time when OEMs were not such a great value, and we had little trouble installing other OSes on OEM computers. Not so anymore it seems.

[Peachy]

The motherboards will support it, you will be able to turn it on if you want it.

But it is not turned on by default unless you buy a pre-built computer (specifically labelled as Windows 8 compatible).

 

It depends on the motherboard actually. On all the recent ASUS and Intel boards I have had experience with UEFI is the default in the sense that when you enter the firmware it is typically UEFI. Whether your system gets installed in UEFI or BIOS compatibility mode depends on your OS installation medium. If it's BIOS-only your system will do a standard BIOS installation. If the installer is dual mode you have to select the installation mode via the firmware boot menu. When you do this you have a choice of selecting to boot the optical/USB installer in either UEFI or BIOS mode. For a Windows installation you just have to format the hard drive as GPT rather than MBR to continue in UEFI installation mode. Linux can install to either disk format. I've been doing UEFI installations with Windows 7, 8, Server 2008, Server 2012, openSUSE, SLES, and Ubuntu since early 2012. I've also managed many different multi-boot configurations. In one case I've multibooted a BIOS-based Linux distro on a GPT disk, too. In this case you let another grub2-uefi handle both kernels.

[amenditman]

It depends on the motherboard actually. On all the recent ASUS and Intel boards I have had experience with UEFI is the default in the sense that when you enter the firmware it is typically UEFI. Whether your system gets installed in UEFI or BIOS compatibility mode depends on your OS installation medium. If it's BIOS-only your system will do a standard BIOS installation. If the installer is dual mode you have to select the installation mode via the firmware boot menu. When you do this you have a choice of selecting to boot the optical/USB installer in either UEFI or BIOS mode. For a Windows installation you just have to format the hard drive as GPT rather than MBR to continue in UEFI installation mode. Linux can install to either disk format. I've been doing UEFI installations with Windows 7, 8, Server 2008, Server 2012, openSUSE, SLES, and Ubuntu since early 2012. I've also managed many different multi-boot configurations. In one case I've multibooted a BIOS-based Linux distro on a GPT disk, too. In this case you let another grub2-uefi handle both kernels.

My comment referred to the nature of Secure Boot, not UEFI.

UEFI is the 'new' standard. It has some good features, but does most of the work in a hidden way. Users don't have intricate control over it once it starts. (Core Boot allows the user to control and interact with it in many ways. It is a minimal Linux based shell environment with the abliity to run commands and simple scripts.)

Secure Boot (or Restricted Boot, if you want to call it that) is optional on motherboards with UEFI, unless they are part of a computer sold with the Windows 8 logo, then it is mandatory (but the hardware vendor can allow the user to turn it off).

[Guest LilBambi]

LIke upgradable BIOS ROMs, UEFI will prove even more problematic in time; particularly due to malware, I think.