Hi.. I'm old school when it comes to computers. If I want to format a drive and throw linux on it (Anything but windows) could I do that with the newer PCs? I've heard some PCs have windows embedded in them.

... An independent is a guy who wants to take the politics out of politics.

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Re: Laptops
By: HusTler to All on Fri Oct 23 2020 04:58 pm

Hi.. I'm old school when it comes to computers. If I want to format a drive and throw linux on it (Anything but windows) could I do that with the newer PCs? I've heard some PCs have windows embedded in them.

... An independent is a guy who wants to take the politics out of politics.

i would stay away from asus laptops, but usually a desktop computer can have a linux install with a normal mobo and cpu
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Re: Laptops
By: HusTler to All on Fri Oct 23 2020 04:58 pm

Hi.. I'm old school when it comes to computers. If I want to format a driv and throw linux on it (Anything but windows) could I do that with the newer PCs? I've heard some PCs have windows embedded in them.

... An independent is a guy who wants to take the politics out of politics.

You pretty much can install Linux on most modern Wintel hardware. You just have to beware the computer may use UEFI instead of BIOS and need to disable some UEFI features for the computer to boot.

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Re: Laptops
By: Arelor to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 03:05 am

Hi.. I'm old school when it comes to computers. If I want to format a
driv and throw linux on it (Anything but windows) could I do that with

You pretty much can install Linux on most modern Wintel hardware. You just h to beware the computer may use UEFI instead of BIOS and need to disable some UEFI features for the computer to boot.

What is this "UEFI" I'm hearing about?? Can it be switched to a regular BIOS? Does it recognize older hardware?

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Re: Laptops
By: HusTler to Arelor on Sat Oct 24 2020 08:32 am

Re: Laptops
By: Arelor to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 03:05 am

Hi.. I'm old school when it comes to computers. If I want to format a driv and throw linux on it (Anything but windows) could I do that with

You pretty much can install Linux on most modern Wintel hardware. You just h to beware the computer may use UEFI instead of BIOS and need to disable some UEFI features for the computer to boot.

What is this "UEFI" I'm hearing about?? Can it be switched to a regular BIOS? Does it recognize older hardware?

UEFI is the modern replacement for the traditional IBM PC-compatible BIOS. The BIOS, if you didn't know, is the system firmware for Intel/DOS/Windows compatible computers. For a while, there were a lot of PCs that had dual-personality firmware: it could operate in either UEFI mode or as a "legacy BIOS" (you could toggle between the two options in the firmware setup screens). Eventually, the legacy BIOSes will be a thing of the past and all Windows-compatible PCs will just have UEFI firmware.
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Re: Laptops
By: HusTler to Arelor on Sat Oct 24 2020 08:32 am

Re: Laptops
By: Arelor to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 03:05 am

Hi.. I'm old school when it comes to computers. If I want to format a driv and throw linux on it (Anything but windows) could I do that with

You pretty much can install Linux on most modern Wintel hardware. You jus to beware the computer may use UEFI instead of BIOS and need to disable s UEFI features for the computer to boot.

What is this "UEFI" I'm hearing about?? Can it be switched to a regular BIO Does it recognize older hardware?

Old computers came with a BIOS. New computers come with UEFI, which is a different standard. Most computers that have UEFI have a BIOS mode, so you can run as if it had a regular BIOS if need be.

UEFI comes with the moderboard so you can't really run it in an old motherboard in practice, if you were asking that.

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Re: Laptops
By: Digital Man to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 01:36 pm

Eventually, the legacy BIOSes will be a thing of the past and all Windows-compatible PCs will just have UEFI firmware. --
digital man

Will that mean only the windows OS can be installed? I was reading the windows registration code will be embedded in the new chips. What will happen if I try and install Ubuntu or other flavor of Linux on the newer machines? Thank you for the explanation DM.

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Re: Laptops
By: Arelor to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 05:07 pm

UEFI comes with the moderboard so you can't really run it in an old motherbo in practice, if you were asking that.

I'm asking if I can install Linux on a UEFI computer that has the windows regi embedded in it? Some years ago I bought this laptop that had some verison of windows on it (I forget which). You couldn't install anything else on it. Not even another version of windows. Is that what's going to happen with these UEFI computers??

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Re: Laptops
By: Arelor to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 05:07 pm

UEFI comes with the moderboard so you can't really run it in an old motherbo in practice, if you were asking that.

I'm asking if I can install Linux on a UEFI computer that has the windows regi embedded in it? Some years ago I bought this laptop that had some verison of windows on it (Windows CE). You couldn't install anything else on it. Not
even another version of windows. Is that what's going to happen with these UEFI computers??

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Re: Laptops
By: HusTler to Digital Man on Sat Oct 24 2020 08:49 pm

Re: Laptops
By: Digital Man to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 01:36 pm

Eventually, the legacy BIOSes will be a thing of the past and all Windows-compatible PCs will just have UEFI firmware. --
digital man

Will that mean only the windows OS can be installed?

No, other modern OSes boot with UEFI too.

I was reading the
windows registration code will be embedded in the new chips.

It already is... well sort of. If by "new chips" you're referring to the Flash memory on the motherboard used by the system firmware (UEFI/BIOS), then yes, new Windows computers have had their Windows serial numbers stored there for a long time now. It's not new.

What will
happen if I try and install Ubuntu or other flavor of Linux on the newer machines? Thank you for the explanation DM.

Works fine.
--
digital man

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Re: Laptops
By: HusTler to Arelor on Sat Oct 24 2020 08:57 pm

Re: Laptops
By: Arelor to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 05:07 pm

UEFI comes with the moderboard so you can't really run it in an old motherbo in practice, if you were asking that.

I'm asking if I can install Linux on a UEFI computer that has the windows regi embedded in it?

Yes.
--
digital man

Sling Blade quote #2:
Karl (re: killing Doyle): I hit him two good whacks in the head with it.
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Re: Laptops
By: HusTler to Digital Man on Sat Oct 24 2020 08:49 pm

Re: Laptops
By: Digital Man to HusTler on Sat Oct 24 2020 01:36 pm

Eventually, the legacy BIOSes will be a thing of the past and all Windows-compatible PCs will just have UEFI firmware. --
digital man

Will that mean only the windows OS can be installed? I was reading the windows registration code will be embedded in the new chips. What will happe if I try and install Ubuntu or other flavor of Linux on the newer machines? Thank you for the explanation DM.

I expect Linux and BSDs to be installable on comsumer hardware after BIOS is phased out, since these operating systems have had UEFI support for years already.

There used to be some concern that modern hardware would not allow to boot unsigned software, ie operating systems that were not approved by the manufacturer, but so far that threat has not materialized. There are motherboards with signature lock-ins (the so called Secure Boot feature) but most of the time they can be disabled by the user from the UEFI menu.
7s

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Re: Laptops
By: Arelor to HusTler on Sun Oct 25 2020 11:18 am

I expect Linux and BSDs to be installable on comsumer hardware after BIOS is phased out, since these operating systems have had UEFI support for years already.

There used to be some concern that modern hardware would not allow to boot unsigned software, ie operating systems that were not approved by the manufacturer, but so far that threat has not materialized. There are motherboards with signature lock-ins (the so called Secure Boot feature) but most of the time they can be disabled by the user from the UEFI menu.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to buy enough computers with BIOS chips that will last till a kick the bucket. ;-) Seems to be the least stressful thing for me to do. Have you ever looked at all the PC's there are for sale on ebay? Yikes! I spend hours a day looking for bargains. I don't think the sellers even know what they're selling. lol

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Re: Laptops
By: Arelor to HusTler on Sun Oct 25 2020 11:18 am

I expect Linux and BSDs to be installable on comsumer hardware after BIOS is phased out, since these operating systems have had UEFI support for years already.

There used to be some concern that modern hardware would not allow to boot unsigned software, ie operating systems that were not approved by the manufacturer, but so far that threat has not materialized. There are motherboards with signature lock-ins (the so called Secure Boot feature) but most of the time they can be disabled by the user from the UEFI menu.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm going to buy enough computers with BIOS chips that will last until I kick the bucket. ;-) Seems to be the least stressful thing for me to do. Have you ever looked at all the PC's for sale on
ebay? Yikes! I spend hours a day looking for bargains. I don't think the sellers even know what they're selling. lol

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On 10/24/2020 5:49 PM, HusTler wrote:

Will that mean only the windows OS can be installed? I was reading the windows registration code will be embedded in the new chips. What will happen if I try and install Ubuntu or other flavor of Linux on the newer machines? Thank you for the explanation DM.

No, even with an embedded windows key, you can still run other OSes
(usually), there's a separate security setting of only running "secure"
or "signed" OSes, which limits you to mostly Windows and official Ubuntu loaders (not sure about redhat, popos, or others).

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