UEFI is a pain compared to Legacy BIOS

UEFI boot loader is a pain.

Luckily my PC has the option to remain in BIOS mode.

BIOS supports duel booting with Linux.

I had no problem after erasing Windows from the system with BIOS.
I used to have at least 8 Linux distributions in with the 15 partition limit, it has.

By using swap partition one can make faster page transfer.
Usually swap partition should be twice the RAM one  has.

BIOS has 2 terrabyte limit for the disk.
If you have two disks you can have 30 partitions and it is more than ample for a simple guy.

I use NTFS partitions for Data storage which Linux can read.

(FAT partition is bit dicey).

One terrabyte is ample for a Linux guy who uses resources effectively.

Now come to my 5 year old Laptop it supports UEFI for Windows only.

It effectively blocks duel booting with Linux.

I have used BSD to erase the Windows boot menu but it secretly keep the Windows script in the hardware, I believe.

Certainly, not in the hard disk which I have  erased  and it says there is no bootable media.
I cannot go to BIOS and it is password protected and the vendor who sold it in Singapore did not give me the password.

Had I known.this scenario, I would have asked.

In any case it was for my son and he soon lost interest after two.years.

Then I used my normal techniques and erased everything and I could not boot Linux.
Then by accident I discovered BSD CD and it erased using Internet connection and installed ESP partition and BSD.

At that time BSD had only limited software and I finally got the Debian 9 booted with the help of the ESP created by BSD.

It also had PCLinux.

Then I lost interest mainly due to the demise of our dog (its pictures in the laptop contributing to shutting it off)  and I used my PC exclusively for my routine work.

Now Coronavirus made me to revisit the Laptop and I updated it with Debian 10 and booted OK.

I erased PCLinux in the processes and one day I installed Ubuntu 20-10 and it destroyed the ESP booting and reverted me to Windows booting with password protection.

I could not boot Debian 10.

Then deliberately, I pulled the defective Ethernet wire that connected to my PC and burned it and I lost all Internet connections to boot BSD.

I thought of booting with WiFi but I did not have data having exhausted all with two failed downloads of Knoppix 9.

Now nothing else to do I booted the  Endless OS and it erased everything and installed its Ostree but it won't let Linux duel booting.

Even Knoppix 8.2 won't touch the Windows UEFI boot record or and GRUB utility failed.

Endless OS can be booted on an external disk and it has limited software from the DVD.

Without Internet I cannot install new applications.

Finally I used  MultiSysyem Linux on a FAT partition and booted the Laptop with a 16 GB USB and a 600 GB SATA disk.

Peppermint is on.
Pinguy OS is on.
Multisystem is on.
Gpart is on.
Knoppix is on.
Emmabantus is on.
All Puppy Linux except FATPup.

I am.back to full orientation even without the Internet.

I think, Coronavirus incarceration was a blessing in.disguise.

Me and my humble beginning of Linux

I cannot believe that I am posting this from an elegant  Nokia (pioneer of cellphones or it was called a brick those days) cellphone and not from a dumb and dark terminal of a PC with a standard keyboard.

1. Linus Torvalds's Linux is three decades old.

2. I entered it 20 years ago, 10 years after him.

3. Thanks to the loads of books at that time including Redhat 8.

4. My first book "Using Linux,  5th Edition" by four authors, namely Jack Tackett, Steve Burnett, Rob Napier and Jeff Tranter started  the spin.

Now I am good at spinning a Googly like Mulathiran.

Cricket was my only obsession then and now total disinterest, thanks to Indian IPL, terminated by Coronavirus.

5. No waning of my interest in Linux.

Since I am winding up my blog here  by mid July, it is fitting tribute to Google for allowing me to post Linux 100 here.

6. This piece, is for those guys/girls who have learnt only a few Linux commands and did not read a book at all, but posting as WEB GURUs (really bogus guys/girls) to read how Linux community including Ubuntu Community developed the Linux enthusiasm globally.

Read my books on Linux which even describe partitioning using Partition Magic under Windows hood to begin with.

7. Thanks to Emmabantus for extending its outreach to even Africa.

8. Thanks to MultSystem from France for helping me to carry all my favourite Linux in a USB stick or SATA disk.

Of course I am still struggling with my French accent but persevering.

9. Now to nitty gritty of Linux.

10. It is truly multiuser, multitasking with full implementation of  ITP/TC protocols, which windows could not implement or handle, then.

11. I started with dumb terminal using and editing fsdisk (Caldera) and cfsdisk (Debian) and particularly Partition Droid of Redhat.

I hate dumb terminals and thanks to X-Windows for Graphic interface that I love.

12. The book had 3 CDs and it all started with this book.

13. Of course, I used Knoppix and Pendrive Linux (humble beginning on a 100 MB USB with Puppy Linux booting) extensively from Knoppix 3.9 to 7 to 8.2 on USB sticks.

I still could not download Knoppix 9 English version due to bungling of MobiTel and Dialog.

14. As a dog lover, Puppy Linux  is my ultimate favourite including FATPup in 64 bit version.

15. There were no CDs then Internet and Floppy Disks were the installation methods.

16. Linux is text based and not resource hungry and my son's first computer had only 4MB RAM and could not find another 2MB RAM extension then.

I used Debian 6 with six or seven CDs to boot it dual with Windows 95 which I hate to this day.

The book recommended 16 MB but ideally 32 MB RAM.

I still have that PC in my bedroom as a souvenir.

Windows destroyed  three or four hard disks of my office computer, with the then Dean who was a friend of mine over my shoulder.

To begin with over 40 floppies to install, taking full 8 hours.

17. Partitioning the disk either using partition magic or fdisk or partition droid was the first step.

18. It needed 64 MB  Swap and 128 MB for root files.
Rest of the MBs of a 1 GB space of my hard disk was for user partitions including home partition.

Now my SD card booted with Peppermint Linux has 32 GB (bought in Singapore).

19. It was LILO boot menu and but it became easy with with the GRUB boot loader.

20. I am into BSD using ZFS partitioning on tank structure routine on my Window's Laptop devoid of Windows but booting well to BSD only alone or Linux multiples if I desire.

21. I have Endless OS on a SATA disk but it won't dual boot with Linux.

22. I think that winds up 20 years of perseverance but not one night on 10 or less Linux commands to fiddle with in the web.
Linux has over 60,000 utilities in it's repositories but mastering a few will get your job at hand done especially with a server clouds now in operation.

I am fully retired now but with an eagle eye on what is going on.

23. What is annoying with Windows is that the operating system once installed is bare of any useful software and one has to install piece by piece often paying money.

Linux distributions have multitude of applications already installed with the first boot. 

I rarely need anymore except Abiword that is deleted due to popular LibreOffice.

24. What I like most is to run my PC over decade without losing a single file (in spite of this ability I make copies and copies of my books on preparation ) in my PC.
It is a different story with the laptop, I test and erase numerous distributions but boot with USB, often with Knoppix.

I do not format my home partition and it's files remain with same home name over and over again and the password is rarely changed a bit as a precaution.

This strategy was useful when I was busy working with lot of responsibilities  including  conducting examination under a strict protocol.

25. Other odd thing that stand out with virtual keyboard is that they have already forgotten how to use F1 to F12 function key layout.

It used to be F1 to F8 then.

26. If you need the latest in Linux subscribe to Linux Magazine and Linux Voice that comes from Germany not USA.