Friday, December 22, 2023

Debian's Calamara Installer and EFI Booting

Debian's Calamara Installer is a bit of a pain if you have multiple Linux Distributions in your PC or NUC box.
I wanted to install three Linux distributions on my NUC base with only 320GB SATA disk.

Come Christmas time, I stop all work and download, my favorite distributions by torrent client and test them on a USB stick and pick few of them for my daily work.
My pick this year are;
1. Debian Emmabantus Version 5
2. Russian Star Linux
3. Sparky Linux for games

Debian 12.2 has depreciated my NUC base and I cannot install it.
I am not in a hurry to by a ASUS Mini since I know the prices wil come down crashing.
Redhat and Suse I have given up long time ago.

Yes EFI does recognize only one distribution.
There is no way booting others.
I will work out a solution before New Year.

WiFi Settings
Almost all of the old Linux Distributions assume one is having a Wired Ethernet.
Except for Emmabanrus and Ubunru, all of them could not configure the WiFi including Debian 11 Version.
Debian 12 version (I could not test) probably may have figured out a solution.

I do not believe in monthly postpaid services for intermittent Internet work.
I use my cell phone for important information.
Once I have downloaded the Linux images I do not need an internet connection for my work.
A good dictionary is by my side for checking spellings and picking smart words.
So prepaid SIM card is used for my work and I keep a minimum balance for emergency calls.
I rarely use a cellphone and for the last 9 months I have given only one call to my bank in Ceylon.
The cell phone wastes productive time.
Email is cheaper and it keeps almost permanent record and one cannot deny receiving (even if it is in the junk folder) an email.
By the way, I erased everything in my email client.
Even Pinterest I consider as an inconvenience.

One more comment when Installing a distribution the current locality is important.
If the dialog box does not have your location, what one has to do is to go back a step in installation and select the language of use.
For me it is English.
In that stage all the countries that support Linux are listed and one selects ones own locality.
I used to do this after installation in the past.

Star Linux has many advantages.
It has its own database utility which is rarely found in Linux distributions.
It has good Boot Loader which identify other distributions already installed.
It has both legacy BIOS and EFI boot loader.
It has its own on the FLY utilities.
It has a total of only 1650 packages whereas Debian has over 2500 packages.
Only downside is it takes long time to install and one has to sit in front of the monitor and respond to its installment requirement.
It has good virtualization utility.
If you go down for a cup of tea it stalls and wait for your response.
Overall it is a good distribution to have in addition to Debian.

It is a military grade distribution for Stability and Reliability based on Debian Base.

Endless OS Version 5 is available.
I have downloaded it but did not test it live.

By the way, I am going to take a break and there won't be any blog pieces, the moment the election is declared.

I am not involved in any development but testing only.

Thanks a lot to the Community of Developers of Linux.
Without You Developers Linux would not have survived.

When I started only 32 guys worldwide.

I think it has gone up above 5% now.

Sucxnet

Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm first uncovered in 2010 and thought to have been in development since at least 2005. 

Stuxnet targets supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and is believed to be responsible for causing substantial damage to the nuclear program of Iran.

Although neither country has openly admitted responsibility, multiple independent news organizations recognize Stuxnet to be a cyberweapon built jointly by the United States and Israel in a collaborative effort known as Operation Olympic Games

The program, started during the Bush administration, was rapidly expanded within the first months of Barack Obama's presidency.


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