How to install Linux on machines/mainboards with UEFI firmware

I wrote about installing Linux on machines/mainboards with UEFI firmware in http://wolfgang.lonien.de/2015/08/done-with-rebuilding-the-computer/). This is how I did it on my upgraded computer at home, where I dual boot Debian “Jessie” and Windows 10. And since a colleague at work had some trouble with a new Lenovo machine, here are some tips which might help:

1. Check your boot medium (more help in happyassassin and in reddit)

[de153403@oc0654677850 ~]$ sudo tail -f /var/log/messages

Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: new high speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=058f, idProduct=6366
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: Product: Flash Card Reader/Writer
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: Manufacturer: Generic
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 058F63666438
Nov 27 08:06:31 oc0654677850 kernel: usb 3-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Nov 27 08:06:32 oc0654677850 kernel: Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
Nov 27 08:06:32 oc0654677850 kernel: scsi6 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Nov 27 08:06:32 oc0654677850 kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
Nov 27 08:06:32 oc0654677850 kernel: USB Mass Storage support registered.
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access Multiple Card Reader 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 61071360 512-byte logical blocks: (31.2 GB/29.1 GiB)
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sdb: sdb1
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
Nov 27 08:06:33 oc0654677850 kernel: ISOFS: Unable to identify CD-ROM format.

[de153403@oc0654677850 ~]$ sudo parted /dev/sdb
GNU Parted 2.1
Using /dev/sdb
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) p
Model: Multiple Card Reader (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 31.3GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 31.3GB 31.3GB Microsoft Basic Data

(parted)

From the article on happyassassin:

“See that Partition table: msdos? This is an MBR/MS-DOS formatted disk. If it was GPT-formatted, that would say gpt. You can reformat the disk with the other type of partition table by doing mklabel gpt or mklabel msdos from within parted. This will destroy the contents of the disk.”

2. So make sure it’s a GPT drive, and copy over your Linux OS image, then boot/install.

I just read an article on ZDNet which reminded me of it. There are possibly many ways to do it, but the two links above helped me to successfully get both Windows (first), and Linux (second) onto that new SSD, and even if I should ever upgrade any of these again, they won’t overwrite each others MBR – because there isn’t one anymore.

Hope that helps anyone who wants/needs this information.

As always, thanks for reading.

P.S. – Update from Sunday, November 29th, 2015:

Debian developer Andreas Metzler just did the same, with one of the newest self-assembly projects of c’t magazine (Skylake generation CPU). He describes it on his blog. And the keyword for an UEFI boot medium is Rufus.

My black & white portrait series

I’ve uploaded my black & white portraits again which I took so far this year. I’ve told people that these are for an exhibition, so they know they’ll be publicly displayed. Won’t show all of them in this blog post, but here is one:

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Linliang

Some other portraits and model photos that I like will follow.

Thanks for viewing.

Some photos of Zuleikha, one more of Tuna

I uploaded some photos of Zuleikha and one of Tuna today. These are like I took them with different cameras, like the Olympus E-520, E-PL1, and E-PL5 (didn’t have my E-M10 yet). Dates range from early 2010 until October of last year:

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7dap5133776-zuleikha

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7dd_4276657-zuleikha

7de_1120073-zuleikha

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Again, I changed nothing here, there’s neither any “retouching” nor any cropping, not even exposures are changed. All I did was adding some Exif and IPTC titles and tags. Life is too short for the rest – and I’m a photographer, not a painter.

Thanks for viewing.

P.S.: Of course I asked Zuleikha, and she allowed me to upload these. That might change as she grows older, who knows… but maybe she’ll appreciate some memories as she does even now (she loves her baby pics, but these were mostly taken by Mitchie, not by me).

P.P.S.: Tuna was bribed with some cat food. Not while taking her photo with Mitchie’s camera and manually focused OM macro lens, but for allowing me to upload it 😉

The inevitable cat photo(s)

I have my camera set to display black & white since a while. And for the moment, after reading this blog post of Mike Johnston, I decided to also set it back to record only jpg images, in the sRGB colour space. So what I see isn’t only what I get, but I’ll have to live with the results. Which means that I’ll have to do everything just right before I even press the shutter button.

Of course I want to test that in real life, with people, on the streets, everywhere. And with my studio strobes. Here’s a photo of Tuna the cat, my favourite model to test new things and techniques with:

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Tuna die Katze – Tuna the cat, November 2015

This was taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M10 camera and with the Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm/1.4 fully open at f/1.4 – with the help of my two studio strobes firing at 1/16th power each. Remotely triggered using cheap Yongnuo radio remotes.

Thanks for reading. And thanks of course to Tuna for modeling like a pro.

Sarah

Here’s another photo which I like, from April 2011. Sarah is naked, tho you don’t see much of that:

7dbp4230567-sarah-bw

Sarah, April 2011

B&W Ilford HP5 film simulation, like the one in my former post. But this was taken with my E-520 camera (10MP), and with the 50mm/2 Zuiko Digital Macro lens. Like the one of Zuzana, I took it in the Haenson studios (a bit down South from here).

Thanks for viewing.

P.S.: I dedicate this one to Eve Arnold, who always saw the woman behind the model. That’s why Marilyn trusted her more than any other photographer.

(NSFW) Zuzana

Last year in January I took some photos of a former “playmate”, as they are called by some magazine. Here’s an Ilford HP5 simulation of one of the photos I liked:

7de_1182122-zuzana

Zuzana, January 2014

Thanks for viewing.