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ManFrommArch

Member

Registered: 2014-01-11

Posts: 8

[SOLVED]Installing GRUB, UEFI or not? what options to use?

Hi,
I have created an encrypted lvm partiton,
installed base,
did hostname setup etc,
I have one small partition besides the lvm and one for boot 300mb Linux Filesystem:

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name                          Flags
1      1049kB  5243kB  4194kB  ext3         BIOS boot partition      bios_grub
2      5243kB  320MB   315MB   ext2         Linux filesystem
3      320MB   240GB   240GB                Linux LVM                      lvm

I have now mounted the 300mb linux file system at /mnt/boot and I will try to install grub.
I do not know if i use this UEFI boot thing but i dont think so...
How can I install grub? What are the different cases regarding this? Following thinks is like a big mess I dont get the structure for those thinks, what I need to configure and how, hope I got some of it right:

HOOKS - I used, "base udev autodetect modconf block encrypt lvm2 filesystems keyboard fsck shutdown", hope it will work
UEFI
BIOS - I have a asus z87 pro motherboard, its new and should probably be using UEFI but i have not seen any indication for UEFI either, those vars are not found and the commands to look for UEFI does not seam to exist:(
MBR - Pops up everywhere but is never used right? Maybe some MBR is installed anyway because some os would look for it? Very confusing (I know what it is but do i need to care about it in this setup, guess not)
GPT - I used this
INSTALL TARGET - 1 or 2? I guess 2 and as i said its now mounted in /mnt/boot

Last edited by ManFrommArch (2014-01-12 22:08:10)

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: [SOLVED]Installing GRUB, UEFI or not? what options to use?

MBR is still a valid choice, especially if it is all your motherboard supports.

You really need to slow down and spend a lot more time reading through the wiki and getting your head around all of the different elements at play here. Once you have a clear mental model of how it all hangs together, you should be able to either complete the install or ask some meaningful questions.

---

Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

ManFrommArch

Member

Registered: 2014-01-11

Posts: 8

Re: [SOLVED]Installing GRUB, UEFI or not? what options to use?

Okey, thanks

srs5694

Member

From: Woonsocket, RI

Registered: 2012-11-06

Posts: 719

Website

Re: [SOLVED]Installing GRUB, UEFI or not? what options to use?

Most motherboards have supported EFI since mid-2011, so it's pretty much inconceivable that you'd have a new BIOS-only board today. The main exception I can think of is if it's some sort of specialty device or if you've replaced the firmware chip yourself (or somebody did that and then re-sold it).

I wrote the following page, which covers EFI basics for Linux installation:

http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/

Between that and the Arch wiki, you should be set for documentation, at least assuming you don't run into major EFI bugs. (ASUS products tend to have better-than-average EFI implementations, FWIW, although that's not really a guarantee of anything.)

I tend to recommend going with EFI for new installations unless there's a compelling reason to stick with BIOS/CSM/legacy. Although BIOS is more familiar to many people, the world is moving swiftly toward EFI, and EFI has some modest advantages today, which are likely to become bigger in the future.