On Mon, 19 Jan 2015 22:36:42 +0800
Robert Storey <robert.storey@???> wrote:

> I encountered an issue which hasn't been discussed here yet: support
> for UEFI boot (as opposed to BIOS) and a hard disk partitioned as GPT
> (as opposed to MBR).

[snip]
>
> Anyway, today I decided that it was about time I switched from MBR to
> GPT, so I went ahead and did that (for the laptop only).

[snip]

> Anyway, the important point is that Debian with UEFI/GPT was a
> disaster. Since I was setting up for multi-booting, I tried a number
> of other distros, and found that the problem is not limited to
> Debian. PCLinuxOS also failed to boot, even from a memory stick.
> Slackware Linux installed just fine. However, Salix (which is a
> Slackware derivative boasting a fancy live CD interface) had problems
> - it booted, but couldn't start Xorg.
>
> So the purpose of my post today is to plead with the developers to
> make sure that Devuan will work fine on UEFI/GPT, unlike Debian which
> seems to choke on it.

Hi Robert,

Nothing in my response should be construed to dispute or downplay your
plead: It's just a little general information.

I've heard anecdotes of the UEFI system writing to persistant memory on
the motherboard in a way that an app misusing UEFI could brick the
motherboard. Therefore, the only time I use UEFI is when I absolutely
must have Windows on the laptop, and the Windows that came on the
laptop requires UEFI.

On my desktop, what I do is have root (/) be a relatively small SSD
that can maintain its full size with an MBR boot. That drive
has /usr, /etc, and basically all of the OS that doesn't get written.
Then I have a separate, huge disk, for changeable data, such as /home
as one example, and I format that GPT (but it's not UEFI because it
doesn't boot). This gives me a very fast bootup and independence from
UEFI, which I think needs a lot more development before it's something
I want to use.

Of course, your use case is dual booting with the Windows that came
packaged with your laptop, and I think that might require UEFI. But
pure Linux/BSD situations, consider doing what I do and using the
ancient MBR system until UEFI becomes more solid.

SteveT

Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance