31 May
2022
31 May
'22
9:18 p.m.
J Leslie Turriff composed on 2022-05-31 15:23 (UTC-0500):
I've been using an EFI (not UEFI) system for
years to run OpenSuSE Linux (since I have no
Windoze on my machine I saw no reason to fool with UEFI, which had teething problems
when
I got my motherboard). Now I'm trying to install Ubuntu 20 LTS on a separate drive,
but
the installer is complaining about EFI and boot partitions. I've searched for help,
but
all I get is UEFI stuff. I don't want to reset my BIOS because then I wouldn't
be able
to boot back to my old system if I have problems with Ubuntu.
Is anyone here interested in giving me a helping hand?
It's possible to have a UEFI on one disk and MBR/Legacy on another, but you'd
have
to manually construct required stanzas to enable booting one type from the other
type. That's no problem at if you don't mind booting from the PC's BBS menu
whenever you wish to boot from the other disk. Also, other can be added to current
and vice versa manually by constructing /boot/grub2/custom.cfg and/or editing one
of nn_CUSTOM in /etc/grub.d/. I've never actually tried booting UEFI Linux from
Legacy Grub, but I have booted Legacy Linux from UEFI Grub. I never spent much
time marrying Legacy with UEFI, because it's so much simpler just to get used to
using the BBS hotkey when needed.
What could possibly be different about the basics between EFI and UEFI I've never
pondered, other than without U it would be older and thus less well developed than
newer versions.
I have 8 UEFI PCs including 1 Mac. All but the first are booting UEFI. UEFI is
more sophisticated and IMO a vast improvement. Its different, but in this case
different is better. My first that isn't using UEFI was my first exposure to UEFI,
and an upgrade that included moving 3 disks with RAID1 on 2 of them, so I was only
interested in quick success, not learning RAID in a UEFI context at the same time
as learning UEFI.
IIRC, I have only one out of 30+ working multi- multiboot PCs on which Ubuntu is
installed other than on an only disk. One OS installation per disk I never do.
IMO, your best way forward, subject to any EFI limitations imposed by your PC, is
to install Ubuntu in EFI mode, then at some point in time convert the openSUSE
installation to EFI mode.
--
Evolution as taught in public schools is, like religion,
based on faith, not based on science.
Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!
Felix Miata