Re: EFI for Dummies?

Hi Didier,

Yes, naturally I will write it up. I have a blog at thomasgood.com that is
devoted to photography but also to Slackware. So I have articles about
using the GIMP to solarise images sitting next to pieces about the Zenitar
16mm MF lens and Praktica SLRs that I love.

Regarding the issue:

My biggest problem is that I don't have any idea of how to modify the EFI
partition. I have a hat trick of tools (Chicago Blackhawks won last night
so hockey metaphors abound): the EFI BOOT directory on 14.1, elilo, and
efibootmgr. The efibootmgr is not happy because the usb boot stick is
booting the system in Legacy mode and so no efi variables are appearing in
/proc.

And here's the rub - I don't know how to "install" elilo (and the contents
of the EFI BOOT dir) as I am unaware of any tool like the liloconfig dialog
script. I reckon I'll try to make an EFI boot stick and turn off Legacy
support to see what happens as it seems safer to approximate what I want
rather than to trash my EFI partition.

BTW, each new version of windows is a catastrophe but 8 is particularly
"special" - all they did was bury the essential tools even deeper (in you
know what). My problem is that the EPSON SEIKO iscan driver that worked
13.1 doesn't work in 13.37 (haven't tried 14.1) and I need it to scan
negatives as I continue to shoot film as well as digital.

PS - note to John: I'd rather use a boot stick than grub2 because my
experience with slack is that if we give an iteration most issues go away...

TAG
--
Thomas Altfather Good
National Writers Union - UAW Local 1981
National Press Photographers Association
International Federation of Journalists

www.thomasgood.com

IMPORTANT: All photographs and other original materials are copyright under
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GFDL<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License>dual
license. Reuse, modification, and redistribution are permitted but
attribution is required. Credit photos to: "Thomas Altfather Good"

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On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 5:56 AM, Didier Spaier <[email protected]>wrote:

> Hello Thomas,
>
> On 21/06/2013 15:41, Thomas Altfather Good wrote:
>
>> Hello.
>>
>> I am running slackware64-current on an HP Pavilion p2-1334 dual boot
>> machine.
>>
>> I'm not into bleeding edge but the 64 bit 14.1 (aka current) is the
>> only slackver that sports the EFI directory, that I'm aware of. I
>> tried stable version to no avail. Current seems to be viable.
>>
>> Here are the details -
>>
>> The HP p2, afflicted with windows 8, has been modified:
>> 1) recovery partition removed, /dev/sda3 split and /dev/sda4 formatted as
>> ext4
>> 2) legacy bios support turned on, secure boot off, fast boot off, post
>> messages on - atapi cd/dvd drive successfully used to install slack on
>> sda4
>> 3) usb boot stick set to boot /dev/sda4 works fine, win8 boots when
>> stick is removed (a boot menu appears but win8 is the lone option)
>> 4) X working, after initial hiccup atheros NIC working fine...in
>> general slack 14.1 appears to be a nice version
>>
>> I can seen now that the current /boot directory has several elilo
>> efi-related files that got planted during install.
>>
>> I also have a src tarball for the efibootmgr, I am going to build it now.
>>
>> Can any kind soul tell me what I must do (beginning with "remove the
>> shrinkwrap") to:
>>
>> 1) properly configure (and install?) elilo and get it operational
>> 2) get the p2 to dual boot
>>
>> Many, many thanks. I have researched this and every doc on the web
>> contradicts its siblings. I am confused. I do know that I have zero
>> interest in grub(2) - I've been using lilo since Slack 2.3 and really
>> want to use elilo, esp. as I already have it in place.
>>
>> Once I get this going I intend to write the process up so that any of
>> my fellow nitwits out there don't have to trip over themselves as much
>> as I have.
>>
>> In terms of prep, I have a bottle of Laphroaig, a pack of Camels,
>> aspirin, and a Slayer CD at the ready (God Hates Us All).
>>
>> Please advise and thanks for your patience and assistance.
>>
>> TAG
>>
>
> Unfortunately I can't help you as my old Thinkpad T61 do not have UEFI
> (did I write: hopefully ?), but I'm very interested in the outcome and I
> think that Pat would be as well.
>
> Would you come up with a simple procedure to  configure elilo for
> Slackware-current (once installed), I guess that Pat could use that to
> write a how-to he could include in Slackware 14.1, if not an 'eliloconfig'
> script similar to 'liloconfig'.
>
> I can EFI boot an ISO image of Slackware-current in a VirtualBox VM but
> then my laptop is so much overheating that it wouldn't be prudent to run it
> long enough to actually install it.
>
> So if you don't mind, I suggest you tell you adventures in EFI land in a
> thread in the Slackware forum @ linuxquestions.org.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Didier
>
> Install Slackware in your native language: Slackware Internationalization
> Project @ http://slint.fr
> Want to contribute? Read http://slint.fr/pub/**TRANSLATORS<http://slint.fr/pub/TRANSLATORS>
> Internationalized ISO and USB installers: http://slint.fr/pub
>
>
>
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