Booting UEFI/EFI Computers - What Works, What Doesn't

[mistfire]

X-Slacko Slim works fine on UEFI, even on Secure Boot mode. Vesa may not work on UEFI, use fbdev instead

[Illutorium]

My build of Lightweight Trusty are be works at UEFI too... (but it's a oldest anyway) -> murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=108681 [Non-Rationalise for Now at Stable only']

[Limbomusic]

Well, u asked what works and what doesnt, so here's my contribution
PC: Lenovo Ideapad 100. SSD drive, 4gb ram. (bought new a year ago)
UEFI.
Have a remastered version of tahr 6.0.5 with the 4.1.11 (or something) kernel.
(had to use the newer kernel or else wifi card was not found)

Boots from usb as long as secure boot is turned off.
As mentioned earlier in the thread, its easy to make a bootable usb on uefi machine.
Explained at http://blog.puppylinux.com/?viewDetailed=00009
and also on my own posting at http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=109702

I coulnd't install to disk tho, using the SETUP->PUPPY INSTALLER because Grub4dos wouldn't install - just got the error message:
"somewhat error occured" - I assume bacause of some windows 10 thing.
What DID work - was to install LICK - in win10 - dragged the .iso over and machine now works fine with dual-boot puppytahr/windows.

Whats NOT so good is my wifi connection just stops working. (have to setup wifi network again to get it going again)
Have researched this and there is apparently problems with the driver-modules for the Realtek8723be wifi card.
I have tried the rtlwifi-new-something.pet (which I mirrored on
http://helledussen.com/linux/tahr/) but it doesnt seem to work - same problem with connection.
I would really appreciate help from any puppy users with dealings with the rtl8723be wifi card.

[easyaspi314]

MacBook5,2 (MacBook non-Pro, non Air (13", Mid-2009)

Built-in EFI (not rEFInd, rEFIt, etc), on its latest El Capitan version (this Puppy didn't get Sierra).
I can put the version up if you wish.

Tried slacko 6.3.2, slacko64 6.3.2, and the test tahr64 6.0.6 UEFI build.

Old:

TL;DR: Works, but incredibly unreliably. Needs a workaround, and hangs for long periods most of the time before booting.

Real:
TL;DR: Works, needs workaround. Also hangs while booting if the built-in SuperDrive is broken.

OS X will only recognize a USB if the efi files are in a directory on the root of the partition. efi.img won't work, unless Puppy is directly burned to a CD.

This is what mostly works on a fat32 partition on GPT and MBR. I haven't tested hybrid MBR or the steps in this guide (but I want to boot Windows off it as well).

So, for a frugal install, instead of

---- /efi.img

it must be

---- /efi/
--------- /boot/
-------------- /bootx64.efi

After doing this, holding Option at boot will show "EFI Boot" as a boot option.

My MacBook seems to be very finicky. It prefers to boot from 64-bit (which is what I have heard a lot). When it isn't working, most issues arise from inability to find VESA BIOS extensions, mainly with "Mac Linux USB Installer".

I looked into the problem I had in the quote below and it seems to only happen because my SuperDrive is busted.

So ignore this quote, this has to be just me.

However, the main issue is that for some reason, about 75% of the time, it doesn't matter if it is on a live CD/DVD or a USB drive, you start the boot from GRUB, and it will hang on a black screen for 10 minutes plus before booting. The flash drive or DVD drive will go silent after a moment when it does that.

Out of that 75%, about 10% will just do nothing.

It seems to be related to unplugging the flash drive and plugging it back in, but I can't reliably get it to work.

I have tried pmediatype=whatever, pfix=ram, nomodeset, noefi, acpi=force, acpi=off, and noexec=off, but none of them do the trick.

It is still an issue, but I have even had this in Ubuntu 16.04.

The dmesg shows multiple attempts of accessing ata2, the device where the SuperDrive is internally connected, but reporting
"ata2: COMRESET failed (errno=32)"
repeatedly until it gives up. Then it boots.

I might have a faulty connection internally. I did get the thing used, and out of the box, it had an upgraded hard drive to 1TB, but the case was obviously pried off unprofessionally, as the edges are chipped off and some screws were missing.

I could try taking it apart later this month once finals are over and I don't have to rely on my MacBook for college work.

I don't know if this is directly related to EFI, but on Slacko (and Slacko64) 6.3.2, battery stats are only reported in /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0, not /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0. I have tried everything, trust me.

In tahr64, oddly, the battery stats work perfectly.

As a result of this, there is no battery icon in Slacko.

I modded powerapplet_tray 2.6 (can't find 2.7.x sources) to make it work with power_supply here. Sorry, no PETs, just source code.

It also has a lot of other issues, mostly with drivers. But these were simple to fix once you found the solution.

(in case you are wondering, WiFi, brightness control, trackpad, and standby mode were the main ones).

Another thing:

Removed the boot hang which was a problem with my already broken hardware.

Slacko64-6.9.6.4-uefi.iso boots with no battery stats, but WiFi works…:D
Ubuntu 16.04 doesn't have battery stats either.

[Limbomusic]

diggin this right now
http://helledussen.com/mp3/2017/Sheryl% ... t%20up.mp3

[Mike Walsh]

Hey, Limbomusic.

TBH, if you're having problems with the built-in wifi card, it might be just as easy to use a wifi 'dongle' instead.....especially if you choose one with a universally supported chipset.

Two I can recommend are these:-

http://uk.tp-link.com/products/details/TL-WN725N.html

Uses the Realtek 'r8188eu' chipset driver; where not supported natively, rcrsn51 has compiled a load of drivers for various Pups/kernels...

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=107047

This thing works brilliantly, and has a very good range.....and, as a 'nano' design, is so small it can be left in all the time. And being TP-Link, the build quality is exquisite.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The other one is this:-

http://www.netgear.co.uk/home/products/ ... 3100M.aspx

The NetGear WNA3100M. A 'mini' design, this, as opposed to a 'nano'. I've used this extensively, and have yet to find a Pup that doesn't natively support the Realtek RTL8192CU chipset; it's been supported since k3.3, in early 2012.

Where it's not supported, again, rcrsn51 has compiled a bunch of drivers for it, here:-

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=100675

Just my two-penn'orth.


Mike.

[perdido]

Well, u asked what works and what doesnt, so here's my contribution

Whats NOT so good is my wifi connection just stops working. (have to setup wifi network again to get it going again)
Have researched this and there is apparently problems with the driver-modules for the Realtek8723be wifi card.
I have tried the rtlwifi-new-something.pet (which I mirrored on
http://helledussen.com/linux/tahr/) but it doesnt seem to work - same problem with connection.
I would really appreciate help from any puppy users with dealings with the rtl8723be wifi card.

There is a possible fix for ubuntu trusty tahr that may address your issue.
This is if your 8723be connects but the connection slows down after being connected.
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/ubun ... altek.html
Make a backup of the rtl8723be.conf file if you try this.

That info came from here http://skamilinux.hu/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=220
I have not tried this, just throwing stuff to see if it sticks

.

[Limbomusic]

Thank you Mike and perdido
But the 4.9.15 kernel fixed this issue - as I posted here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=110535

[BarryK]

Years ago, when UEFI first came in, that would be 2012, I read somewhere that a USB Flash stick should have a GPT (Guid Partition Table) to be able to boot, and not a MBR (the old technique for drive partition table).

The UEFI specification states that the drive can have GPT or MBR, and all that is necessary is it have what is known as an ESP fat partition.

However, early UEFI firmware was buggy on some PCs, and would only boot off a stick with GPT.

So, all my releases of Quirky Linux, image files for Flash sticks, created a GPT drive.

However, I have grown to dislike GPT very much, and recently wondered if it is ok to go back to MBR. Here is a link to Quirky Xerus64 8.2.2, usb 8GB image:
http://barryk.org/news/?viewDetailed=00628

What I would like to know, is does it bootup on your UEFI PC? (which is all of them manufactured from 2012).
Of course, the UEFI-setup has to select the USB stick, and do NOT enable "legacy mode" if that is an option in the setup -- it isn't needed.

In case you are a newbie, here is how to write the image to a drive:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky ... nstall.htm

Oh, just remembered, uploaded the image "xz" compressed. If you are running Windows, there are Windows tools for writing an image to flash stick, but they only understand a "gz" compressed image -- so, I will upload it now.

[Lassar]

Formated Xubuntu partitions on my uefi computer.

Used the universal installer on Kodipup. (Xenialpup64 CE 7.0.8.5)

This caused my windows 10 & Kodipup not to boot.

Spend a day researching repairing windows 10 boot.

Refind boot manager helped me to get back into windows.

Part of the repairing included deleting the ubuntu directory on
the system partition.

I have found out since then, that the univeral installer is only for
mbr formatted disk drives, not uefi gpt disk drives.

I decided to tried the LICK v1.2 puppy linux iso installer.

It was very easy to install.

All I had to do was run LICK-1.2.0-win32.exe from windows, drag &
drop Kodipup iso to the Lick program, and chose the windows partition to
install kodipup to.

Lick installed the iso, and created the boot manager.

Lo and behold, I now have a boot menu screen showing windows, and kodipup
boot entries.

[Limbomusic]

Lassar - In case u wanna have a background-image in the LICK-menu.
http://helledussen.com/linux/files/LICK ... _lick.html

[8Geee]

Just some simple questions...

Presuming the Windows environment, is Fat16/Fat32/NTFS the allowed formats? Is a linux partition ext3 or 4 allowed?

If a separate partition is made with different Drive Letter, will Lick install the iso to such "new" drive?

Thanks
8Geee

[gyro]

@BarryK

My desktop has a UEFI "bios", I have "compatability mode" enabled.
But when I use the "bios" "Boot Menu", I can choose a UEFI boot on a device that has UEFI support.
I was able to successfully UEFI boot your image.

gyro

[gyro]

Presuming the Windows environment, is Fat16/Fat32/NTFS the allowed formats? Is a linux partition ext3 or 4 allowed?

My experience is that Windows usually ignores partitions containing Linux file systems. Both drives in my desktop have a combination of NTFS and ext4 partitions.
You can still see their presence in Windows "Disk Management".

gyro

[Burn_IT]

It will see them and use them IF you load the drivers!!

[marcus.bdg]

Thank you all who made the Puppy 7.5 . Just succeeded booting it in a ECS Liva XE (Intel 3060 , 2G/64G emmc , UEFI , no installed OS) . How :
a) Downloaded XenialPup64 7.5 iso file ,
b) With Ubuntu 15.4 , dd the iso into a 8G usb flash (SanDisk) , but it didn't boot ;
c) With Windws XP , downloaded Unetbootin and made a bootable usb flash (the same 8G) , it didn't boot either ,
d) Downloaded Rufus 2.18 and made a bootable Puppy in iso mode , using the same usb flash above , it started booting but stoped asking for a partition path ,
e) With Ubuntu , opened the iso file and the usb flash bootable file , to compare ,
f) Added to the bootable usb flash file : Isolinux.bin , Islinux.cfg , Initrd.gz and Boot catalog , it finally booted well .
I am browsing using a usb modem 3g , but wifi may need additional driver which ECS does provide in its website (for Ubuntu 14.04 , don't know if works for this Puppy) .

In Liva's UEFI : disabled "Fast Boot" and "Secure Boot" , changed boot order to boot from usb flash first .

[mikeslr]

I am browsing using a usb modem 3g , but wifi may need additional driver which ECS does provide in its website (for Ubuntu 14.04 , don't know if works for this Puppy)

Probably won't. Wifi drivers are "Kernel Specific", and the kernel used in Xenial 7.5 --based on Ubuntu 16.04-- is different than that used in Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr).

If it doesn't work, ask for help on the "User's Section" or the Xenial 7.5 thread.

If nothing works under Xenial, you might want to try a Tahrpup 6.0.6 you'll find here: http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pu ... 20-6.0-CE/. The Tahrpups are 'binary compatible' with Ubuntu Trusty Tahr. The ISO versions with 64 in their names indicate they are 64-bit OSes. Uefi in the name indicates they contain the signature required by UEFI constructed computers. [It's ignored when booting a 'bios' computer]. I'd also suggest trying this tahrpup: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 810#982810, but it is only 32-bit and, to be honest, I don't have a uefi computer so I have no way of testing that the uefi files I added, as discussed in that post, actually work. And using a later kernel may not have the same drivers included in Ubuntu Trusty Tahr and the original Tahrpup based on Trusty Tahr's binaries. Might -- Puppy Devs set out to include all drivers that are likely to be needed; but can't be expected to think of everything.

mikesLr