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Re: Linux system



On 23/05/18 11:36, Anhony wrote:
Hi support
Could you please send to me the instructions for using UEFI to install Linux such a debian, in place of Windows 10 onto a laptop. I have used BIOS many times, butmy laptop has UEFI and I have no idea how to use it. I need the instructions from start to finish including final saving to hard drive
Thanks
Tony

Tony,

have you installed Debian before? With UEFI, the process is almost identical. The main difference is to make sure that you boot via UEFI. This should cause the installer to install everything required to boot in UEFI mode. I recommend booting a live image to confirm that you are able to boot a thumb drive with UEFI. My UEFI gives me the option of UEFI or CSM (BIOS) mode; make sure you choose the right one. The presence of /sys/firmware/efi indicates that you booted in UEFI mode. UEFI also requires a small /boot/efi partition; the installer should take care of this (but I am not sure because I use a complicated manual layout).

Full installation instructions:
https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch/amd64/
Section on UEFI installation:
https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch/amd64/ch03s06.html.en#UEFI

Laptop users should also consider LUKS disk encryption. I use it everywhere.

The most likely thing to go wrong with a laptop installation is not UEFI but non-free firmware for your network adapters. Find our what network hardware you have and be prepared with firmware packages on a thumb drive, or use a non-free iso with extra firmware. The second most likely problem is getting your graphics adapter working, but this can typically be fixed later by using a non-graphical installer. Intel iGPU ("HD Graphics") are well-supported and should just work.

What model is your laptop?

What distribution of Debian would you like to install? You should also consider our close friends at Ubuntu. Debian for completeness, configurability, and open source purity. Ubuntu for a guided user experience.

As an aside, I recommend this excellent TED talk on why choice reduces happiness:

Dan Gilbert: The surprising science of happiness
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy

Kind regards,

--
Ben Caradoc-Davies <ben@transient.nz>
Director
Transient Software Limited <https://transient.nz/>
New Zealand


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