Questions about bootloader step from installation guide

lardandweed · 2018-12-20 14:39:44

Hi! I'm new to Linux in general and have spent about a week tinkering with this. I'm installing Arch Linux in Virtualbox with rEFInd. I've 'succesfully' (meaning Arch boots into console. I'm not sure if anything's broken) installed Arch Linux according to the installation guide. I just have a couple of questions as follows:

1) Is the style I use for boot options in refind_linux.conf important?
I noticed the example provided in the wiki and Rod Smith's website uses different formats.

My refind_linux.conf following the wiki:

"Boot using default options"     "root=PARTUUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw add_efi_memmap initrd=/intel-ucode.img initrd=/initramfs-linux.img"
"Boot using fallback initramfs"  "root=PARTUUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw add_efi_memmap initrd=/intel-ucode.img initrd=/initramfs-linux-fallback.img"
"Boot to terminal"               "root=PARTUUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX rw add_efi_memmap systemd.unit=multi-user.target"

following Rod Smith's example:

"Boot with standard options"  "ro root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX initrd=/intel-ucode.img initrd=/initramfs-linux.img splash=silent quiet showopts "
"Boot to single-user mode"    "ro root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX initrd=/intel-ucode.img initrd=/initramfs-linux.img splash=silent quiet showopts single"
"Boot with minimal options"   "ro root=UUID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX initrd=/intel-ucode.img initrd=/initramfs-linux.img"

All six options boot successfully. I know the latter ones are read-only, and will give me some warning that the root device may be fsck'ed again later. Is this a problem? What about others? Which format is better?

2) No return messages when trying to verify microcode updates

dmesg | grep microcode

When I enter the above, I get back to console prompt again without any output. Does this mean I have not configured something correctly?

For what it's worth, I recorded every step I took during installation here.

Last edited by lardandweed (2018-12-20 14:41:03)

Trilby · 2018-12-20 15:17:53

For #1, those are not different "styles" they are specifying entirely different options. Are those options of any use to you?

For #2, see the wiki page on microcode:

wiki wrote:

The microcode might already be in your vendor bios and not show up loading in dmesg. Compare to the current microcode running grep microcode /proc/cpuinfo

For future reference please keep one topic per thread:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … ow_to_post

Slithery · 2018-12-20 15:28:45

Also as this is a VM then microcode updates are irrelevant/not possible. They should be taken care of by the host OS when it boots.

lardandweed · 2018-12-20 16:22:11

Trilby wrote:

Are those options of any use to you?

Hmm... I'm not really sure what the differences are between them. What I need is a 'basic' (if there's such a thing) boot option so I can use it as a platform for further learning.

What are the reasons to choose a parameter over the other? In particular:

read-only (ro) VS read-write (rw)
initramfs-linux.img VS initramfs-linux-fallback.img (from what I gather, the fallback initramfs loads some extra modules?)
including add_efi_memmap VS excluding add_efi_memmap

Last edited by lardandweed (2018-12-20 16:24:09)

loqs · 2018-12-20 16:36:09

lardandweed wrote:

What are the reasons to choose a parameter over the other? In particular:
read-only (ro) VS read-write (rw)
initramfs-linux.img VS initramfs-linux-fallback.img (from what I gather, the fallback initramfs loads some extra modules?)
including add_efi_memmap VS excluding add_efi_memmap

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 5#p1307895
The fallback initrd is created without the autodect hook.
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentatio … meters.txt

Slithery · 2018-12-20 16:36:13

Look it up yourself. All the information you need is freely available...
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentatio … meters.txt

Arch Linux

#1 2018-12-20 14:39:44

Questions about bootloader step from installation guide

#2 2018-12-20 15:17:53

Re: Questions about bootloader step from installation guide

#3 2018-12-20 15:28:45

Re: Questions about bootloader step from installation guide

#4 2018-12-20 16:22:11

Re: Questions about bootloader step from installation guide

#5 2018-12-20 16:36:09

Re: Questions about bootloader step from installation guide

#6 2018-12-20 16:36:13

Re: Questions about bootloader step from installation guide

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