My Chat with AI, EFI, Microsoft's FAT Partition Dominace - SAGA

Microsoft has a  secret pact with OEM manufacturers to have an initial FAT Partition to boot with any firmware.

Snoope at Boot time.

I discovered this during 32 bit ERA and I gradually weaned myself off through, Puppy Linux, Peppermint, SuSe, Redhat, PCLinuxOS and finally Gnome of Debian.

I was a Window's guy to begin with and used Partition Magic to divide the my analogue PC Hard Disk to 15 Partitions, the maximum those days. 

I had huge books on  Linux and I used to Edit the Boot Loader manually to suit my preferences. 

There are things called Primary partitions and extended partitions.

There is a limit for Orimary Partitions to a maximum of 4. That means I can have only 3 Linux Distributions and First one was Reserved for Microsoft by default. 

1. Boot Windows.

2. Install Partition Magic

3. Make the 4th partition Extended to accommodate the Logical partitions with a symbolic link, so I can have up to 15 partition in total. 

In other words, I could have had 15 Linux Distribution in one hard disk.

But with having /boot, /root, /home, /var and /tmp according to Debian Protocol, I would have 4 additional Linux on top of Microsoft Windows.

If I have 2 hard disks:

1 primary and 1 Extended

1 primary and 1 Expended 

Then, I can have theoretically 30 distributions distributed over 2 hard disks.

But there is a caveat here.

Boot record has to be on the first drive and the second drive has to be connected at all times. I tried having the Boot Record on the second drive.

I still have the PC and two 1 terabyte SATA disks in Ceylon. I did not put them in my travelling bag fearing overweight but put the Laptop in instead.

Well, I could buy some SATA disks in Australia.

I used the First Hard Disk for my work including Microsoft Windows and the second hard disk was used for testing Linux Distribution.

This the time, I decided to test 100 Linux Distribution but it went up well beyond 200.

I did not like Live Sessions.

I wanted them installed.

MB

This was the Master Boot Record ERA with above restrictions.

Since, Partition Magic went commercial I quickly moved and discovered GPT.

I was into  Gnome Partition Tool and GPT Partiion Table very early. That saved me enough headaches, booting multiple Linux Distributions in one PC.

I had network of 16 IBM computers all discarded from America and Canada but in trim working conditions. 

They were all 32 bit computers and 32 bit computers were gradually phased out. 

I discarded the lot, except one and quickly moved to 64 bit compuers.

Coming back to AI and UEFI, 

EFI stands for Extensible Firmware Interface. 

U stands for Unified System.

All these are determined by Intel and big companies that manufacture hardware.

Linux guys were skeptical about EFI but slowly adopted it, since this firmware interface extended the capabilty of Linux without a hitch. 

In other words expanded its scope.

Before the half and hour discussion with AI I had a narrow view about evolving technology.

If my system works, I do not bother about investigsting new frontiers.

Then, comes a crazy Idea.

I would boot 10 Linux Distributions in my NUC and Old Laptop.

I have 11 in the Laptop with 500GB and 10 distributions in my NUC (But 2 or 3 are multiple instances of Debian).

So I had to stopp at 8 and not 10.

Getting there I had lot of problems.

Partly due to poor vision and partly due to lack of sleep.

Problems were

FAT partition

EFI

Type of File systems, basically EXT4 and Btrfs.

Linux Distributions have  there own approch to evolving technology but very little dialogue with the User.

Some of them begin to think you got to take what we give you, just like hegemonic Microsoft attitude.

While doing this multiple installation I got a bright idea.

I would boot Linux Distribution from a EXT4 partition.

I achieved it.

MANJARO ❤️ is now booting from an EXT4 partition placed FIRST

But after bit of fiddling.

Outcome

Three types of Linux Distributions.

1. Linux Distribution that bumsuck to Microsoft strategy.

UBUNTU, Bodhi, Emmabantus and almost all the Ubuntu derivatives.

I hate these distributions.

I DO NOT use them.

2. Linux Distributions that use EFI and GRUB.

DEBIAN was the first Linux Distribution to adopt EFI but I would boot Debiaj without Windows in the system.

MX Linux and MX derivatives.

3. Linux Distribution indifferent to bith FAT and EFI.

MANJARO

ARCH Linux Gamer is SUPERB. 

BlueStar star is the most beautiful KDE Desktop.

Probably Linux MINT but I did not try it.

I hate Linux MINT again based on UBUNTU.

It is SLOWLY moving to Debian.

I tried it "Only Once" and it got the GRUB configuration WRONG.

Strangely, MANJARO comes top of the list.

BIG Linux second.

CachyOS nowhere (regarding my old lsptop). It can live with Debian but never with another ARCH especially Manjaro and I ditched CachyOS to the versatile BIG Linux with a Beautiful Plymouth. 

BIG Linux solved my problem.

CachyOS thinks it is the only Linux Distribution that landed on this Planet when booting on old Laptops.

I won't try it any more.

I'll settle with MANJARO, BIG Linux and MX Linux.

Spe❤️cial Mention

ELive Linux.

But the kernel is pretty old.

But comendable by having Blender.

I have a copy on my Laotop.

AI Advice 

1. Do the installation in daytime after a good night sleep.

2. Used multiple instances of EFI

One for Debian 

One for Testing distributions.

Fully agreed but won't try this method since things are working OK in both NUC and Laptop with each having 10 to 11 distributions

3. Try rEFind init

This I used in 2018 and 2020 Coronavirus pandemic when I tried TrueOS and BSD.

4. Write down the Partition Table in a Note Book. 

I have been doing that all my life. 

Since with age becoming a handicap (short term memory) It is  (writing down) is my default approach.

5. Ask AI before plunging into big ideas.

I am very happy with AI's technical advice,  I would consult it in advance in future adventures.

Please NOTE.

All these comments are for my Old Laptop.

It was in the attic to begin with and I revived it.

It looks brand new now.

REBORN OS and Peppermint Linux could not configure the Laptop's Keyboard.

Peppermint ,  PCLinux and Modicia are all in my NUC and they working fine.

Only distribution not there is ELive and I am going to ERASE one of the Debian instances and install ELve also.

This attempt was failed by ELive itself to extract few dollars from me.

I still have 300 US dollars pocket money in my wallet. I am going to use it to by a Photonicat2 portable Mini PC with Debian Installed.

This is my Answer to Elive Slow INSTALLER Ploy

1. Install Big Linux under 10 minuted.

Update about 1GB took about 10.

2. Debian Gnome

About 12 minutes to install.

1290 files in total.

7GB for the full system.

New Kernel.

Did not try updates.

It would do it own accord.

3. MANJARO took 7 minutes.

Update only 886MB.

Taking about 10 mintes.

Basic utilities consuned nearly 10GB with 3.4GB remaining for applications. Enough for Blende.

In other words just over half an hour I have 3 solid distributions installed without any hastle.

I am restarting Manjaro after UPDATES.

I gave it only 12GB.

Well, I will add AbiWord, Audacity, GIMP and VLC.

It took 10.3GB about 3GB more than Debian.

I have 1.4GB for top ups.

No Blender but it there in BlueStar Linux.

I have 555MB to Spare.

If I have to UPDATE it again it might fail but 12GB was enough to install my needs.

I gave 16.6GB for Debian.

I am going to give 15GB to Debian and give the extras to MANJARO.

In another half an hour I have accomplished what I desired.

I have to use Gparted my favourite tool to repartition. I might be able to add Blender to MANJARO.

Thank you Debian and GNOME.

Alll of them have LibreOffice as default but MANJARO give option for either OpenOffice or Libre.

If LibreOffice is not installed one can save about 1.2GB.

I wouldn't do that.

While ELive takes 3 to 3 1/2 hours install with so msny unnecessary applications which I never use.

I install BlueStar Linux to get everything except Blender in one go but it has the latest kernel but takes little longer to UPDATE.

By the way, Peppermint OS after UPDATES failed to configure GDM and that space I  used to install DEBIAN. Since it claims it is minimal distribution based on Debian, I decided to give the minimal space well below my standatd of 25GB. Now I know with Debian GNOME, I can go doen to 15GB. When one dies that it takes longer to install alteady gone beyond 20 minutes.

Unpacking took  22 minutes.

Now configuring the system. Configuring took 8 miutes minutes and Debian GNOME needs half an hour to install.

Only one file UPDATE.

Comparison of BIG Linux with ELive

Please note some of my comments about ARCH derivatives are related to my Old Laptop.

They have no problem with my NUC.

There is no comparison.

Big Linux is the Winner.

Like Manjaro it installs within 10 minutes, simply because there is no Live UPDATES as with CachyOS.

After installation it states that there are UPDATES available but it does not force me to click a button for UPDATES.

The onus is mine.

I know where it is and I click UPDATES when basic set up is configured.

It is usually over 1GB. 

I click uodates, after a little while, It says system is up to date

Often, before I come back from a cup of CEYLON TEA the installation is over.

It is very beautiful

Lot of Desktop designs to choose.

I have two choices

One for NUC.

One for ACER Laptop.

THANK You GOOGLE for helping me on one finger typying.

My Ultimate choice is can I installed Blender.

Audacity 

VLC and my AbiWord.

As a supporter of LibreOffice I now always make a point to install it.

I use to ditch it or Remove it deliberately.

LibreOffice takes space more than even the Blender.

Having installed Elive after some PAINFUL 3 hours experince of waiting, I thought it is cakewalk installing Elive on my NUC.

It says BOGUS system integrity failure ti take ove my hard disk.

I am a hard nut.

No one can entice me.

I gave the lowest partition size of 16.6GB.

Enlightenment dedktop needs only 415MB.

It failed, since it could not digest my Partition Table of 20 partitions.

By the way, they know me for ages, from Yahoo Mail.

My first and the oldest email.

They still send messages to Yahoo Mail which I delete as they come.

I gave my gmail and there were two messages from Elive with a free download of version 49. 

I already had 50 version in my hand

This is almost a sham. 

That what I going to write in my book.

I have nothing against developers asking for donations.

But I scuttle instances in which or until a few bucks are scooped from the gullible. 

This is what the teeage scammers do.

I am going to erase the USB with Elive image. I have only 12 USB sticks under 16GB. The "Only USB" stick which my son in law bought in Australia was 32GB. 

I do not want to waste 32GB stick for a 4 to 6GB image.

Smallest image is 1.1GB of PUPPY EasyOS.

4ML Linux is small (300MB to 1.2GB) but I haven't tested it fir a long time.

4M stands for 

Maintenance  for booting problems 

Multimedia for Audio and Vudeo

Miniserver for Network and file sharing.

Mystery for clssic games.

I actually bought second hand SSD for 50 bucks and I left it in Ceylon. 

I was to go back in 3 months with over 2000 books on shelves. 

On second thought it was a blessing.

Avoided Ditva the recent storm and floods which twisted the Railway Track near our home. I used to walk dangerously on the metal plates to the University (short cut), as a student on the side of the track with missing plates in the middle. 

One can easily fall to the river through these misding metal plates.

Now the Food and Feul Crisis.

I love reading to Linux computing.

My book on mosquitoes will never see the day light. I left all the notes in Ceylon.

By the way, I will have no more on Linux until my book on "Linux Essentials" is published.

All these probing was to make the book relevant. 

Even my book on exotic Fruits and Vegetables of CEYLON did not take that long to write.

There are 5 books to be finished.

I am already thinking about the 6th Title.