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Old 08-23-2016, 04:31 PM   #1
Altiris
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What special things do I need to do to use efi?


I have an Intel server board S5520hct which I am NOT SURE if it suppots EFI boot. There is an option in the BIOS called "EFI Optimized boot". However, I keep seeing UEFI and EFI being used interchangeably. I am thinking I need to enable the "EFI optimized boot" so that I can use the full 4TB on my hard drives, as currently the BIOS shows my 4TB hard drive as only being 1.8TB.

Will Slackware install without fuss with this "EFI optimized boot" enabled or do I need to do something special? I have come across this http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sla..._uefi_hardware and this http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:sla...uefi_and_elilo is that all I need?

I am especially confused about this part

Code:
You should DISABLE the old efivars sysfs interface found at:

    Firmware Drivers
        EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) Support
            EFI Variable Support via sysfs (CONFIG_EFI_VARS [=n])

as it is deprecated in favor of CONFIG_EFIVAR_FS, because it has a 1024-byte variable size limit, and because it can cause data inconsistency issues. However, if you do disable this, you will need a fork of the efibootmgr program that supports the new EFI Variable filesystem.
How do I disable that?

The README.txt http://mirrors3.kernel.org/slackware...EADME_UEFI.TXT does not show that I need to do as much information...not sure which to follow.

Last edited by Altiris; 08-23-2016 at 04:50 PM.
 
Old 08-23-2016, 04:52 PM   #2
zk1234
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UEFI is a BIOS replacement while GPT is a MBR replacement. What you need for your hard disk is GPT, which can work with both BIOS and UEFI.

Enable the "EFI Optimized boot" option mentioned by you. Boot a live CD and check if /sys/firmware/efi exists. If so, then you have UEFI.

.

Last edited by zk1234; 08-23-2016 at 04:55 PM.
 
Old 08-23-2016, 04:54 PM   #3
Altiris
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zk1234 View Post
UEFI is a BIOS replacement while GPT is a MBR replacement. What you need for your hard disk is GPT, which can work with both BIOS and UEFI.

Enable the "EFI Optimized boot" option mentioned by you. Boot a live CD and check if /lib/firmware/efi exists. If so, then you have UEFI.

.
Thank you!
 
Old 08-23-2016, 04:57 PM   #4
zk1234
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Altiris View Post
Thank you!
There was a mistake in my post: /sys/firmware/efi (and not /lib/firmware/efi). Sorry.

.
 
Old 08-23-2016, 05:11 PM   #5
Altiris
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zk1234 View Post
There was a mistake in my post: /sys/firmware/efi (and not /lib/firmware/efi). Sorry.

.
No problem, quick question...from my research, cfdisk does not support GPT and/or partitions more than 2TB yes? My BIOS was also showing only 1.8TB before. When I booted the Slackware DVD and ran cfdisk, it asked me this http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-25vUwh8_WV...box-arch14.png and I selected gpt and it showed 3.7TB ....I thought cfdisk did not support this? Why is it showing it? I thought I had to use cgdisk ?
 
Old 08-23-2016, 05:15 PM   #6
Timothy Miller
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Not sure about the 2 TB, but it's supposed to have supported GTP since 2.25
 
Old 08-23-2016, 05:33 PM   #7
zk1234
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Altiris View Post
No problem, quick question...from my research, cfdisk does not support GPT and/or partitions more than 2TB yes? My BIOS was also showing only 1.8TB before. When I booted the Slackware DVD and ran cfdisk, it asked me this http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-25vUwh8_WV...box-arch14.png and I selected gpt and it showed 3.7TB ....I thought cfdisk did not support this? Why is it showing it? I thought I had to use cgdisk ?
Both the newest cfdisk and lilo support GPT, but only partially.
Use cgdisk for partitioning, and lilo as a boot manager.

.
 
Old 08-23-2016, 05:46 PM   #8
Altiris
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zk1234 View Post
Both the newest cfdisk and lilo support GPT, but only partially.
Use cgdisk for partitioning, and lilo as a boot manager.

.
ooh sweet, okay thanks.
 
Old 08-23-2016, 11:00 PM   #9
rkelsen
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zk1234 View Post
Use cgdisk for partitioning, and lilo as a boot manager.
Does LILO need legacy booting? Beware that you may not be able to boot other OSes in legacy mode.

If you want to dual/multi boot, rEFInd is a very good option.
 
Old 08-24-2016, 01:33 AM   #10
hazel
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For uefi booting it's elilo.
 
Old 08-24-2016, 05:35 AM   #11
zk1234
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@hazel @rkelsen

Sure! But, despite the title of this thread, Altiris' problem is: "Can I use my big disk in BIOS". And the answers are:
1) You do not need EFI.
2) What you need is GPT.
Because of the two listed above:
3) gdisk for partitioning
4) lilo for booting

That's it.

.
 
  


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