I’m currently using Ubuntu and I want try a different distro but so far the only one I’ve tried was Porteus but I had an issue where Porteus wouldn’t boot if it was installed on top of ext4 but would boot fine if it was installed on top of fat32, which is also another potential problem because Porteus requires a save file for persistence when using Windows filesystems. If there is a problem where my computer can’t boot with an ext4 filesystem, Ubuntu doesn’t have this problem because sda1/2/3 all use a different filesystem.
If I’m correct on this, would I be better off trying Porteus on ext3/2 and hoping it works or just use it with fat32 and have a separate partition formatted for ext4 to serve the same purpose as sda3 in Ubuntu and possibly store the save file (if I have the correct understanding of how save files work).
Also, I would just use NTFS but not only have I heard that it has issues with Linux, I’ve had issues using it with Linux, so I’m using fat32 for stability.
I did and here is what I got:
`Disk /dev/loop0: 2.31 GiB, 2481483776 bytes, 4846648 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk /dev/sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Disk model: TOSHIBA MQ01ABF0 Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Disk identifier: 814379C6-2C7D-4B17-A8D0-94DD15C7A10E
Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sda1 2048 4095 2048 1M Linux filesystem /dev/sda2 4096 1054719 1050624 513M EFI System /dev/sda3 1054720 976771071 975716352 465.3G Linux filesystem
Disk /dev/sdb: 29.11 GiB, 31260704768 bytes, 61056064 sectors Disk model: Cruzer
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: gpt Disk identifier: 4F11B734-C1FB-49E2-85D8-BF2ED72EDBB3
Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/sdb1 64 5162663 5162600 2.5G Microsoft basic data /dev/sdb2 5162664 5171159 8496 4.1M EFI System /dev/sdb3 5173248 61056000 55882753 26.6G Linux filesystem
Disk /dev/sdc: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Disk model:
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x6f39c797
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sdc1 2048 48337111 48335064 23G 83 Linux /dev/sdc2 * 48338944 49387519 1048576 512M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32) /dev/sdc3 49389566 976771071 927381506 442.2G 5 Extended /dev/sdc5 49389568 976771071 927381504 442.2G 83 Linux
Partition 3 does not start on physical sector boundary.
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 29.72 GiB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x00000000
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/mmcblk0p1 8192 62333951 62325760 29.7G c W95 FAT32 (LBA)`
ls cannot access '/sys/firmware/efi/efivars': No such file or directory:If that is the error you are saying that I’m not supposed to get, I don’t have the choose between UEFI and BIOS. I only have UEFI and legacy, which I can’t use because if I try to enable that, no Linux distro can boot at all. So, I have no idea how I can’t be use UEFI when it’s the only one that works on this computer.
If you can’t list
/sys/firmware/efi/efivars, then you have somehow booted up in MBR (aka BIOS) mode. The Arch wiki has a good page on the differences.This could be a small problem with your laptop’s BIOS settings. You should be able to enter the BIOS settings by hitting Delete, Escape, or one of the F-keys when the laptop is just starting up. You should google your laptop make, model, and “enter bios settings” to find out what you need to press. (I just press it repeatedly right after pressing power)
Once in your BIOS settings, you can poke around at the boot options to see if you can let it boot the USB as UEFI (right now it’s only booting it as MBR; the CD supports both so that it works with more systems). There might also be an option in the BIOS settings to boot a specific device. If so, you might see 2 entries for the USB listed. You can try each one, checking the ls command after booting up. One of them should boot UEFI and then the ls will work.
My best guess as to what’s happening: your computer can boot UEFI from your HDDs, but it only wants to boot the live USB as MBR (either it sees that first or can’t see UEFI because of a setting). Your disks are using GPT tables, so the installer is assuming it’s UEFI. When the installer installs the bootloader, it can’t copy your EFI firmware to the new install, because you’re not booted UEFI, so you’re ending up with a broken bootloader. Until you figure out how to resolve this, you’re gonna have a bad time with almost any distro (possibly even reinstalling Ubuntu).
I tried booting the live CD from a USB on an old MacBook Air I have, but it only sees 2 different UEFI options, both of which run the ls command successfully.
I’m commenting from my phone now because I can’t boot into either distros now and I’m trying a solution that someone else mentioned but for some reason, everything is extremely slow and nothing in the LiveCD is working properly. My computer is probably dying and I don’t have another computer that I can run Linux properly on, so I’ll probably have to switch back to Windows until I can afford a new computer.
Anyways, in the bios there is only UEFI and legacy. That’s what I thought you meant when you said there were two boot options. The LiveCD only gives me one boot option.
It’s too late for this, I’m just going to go to bed and hope for a miracle.