Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help: boot loader info
Neil Bothwick wrote: > On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 17:27:28 -0500, Dale wrote: > >> I used cgdisk and GPT for my disk even tho it is small, only 300GBs or >> so, mostly out of habit. The grub install failed and I did a search. I >> found this and it worked. >> >> >> >> grub-install fails with "grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label >> contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible." > Simple answer, don't use GRUB :-) > > Seriously, GRUB is a bootloader, EFI is a bootloader. You are using one > bootloader to load another bootloader before booting the system. > > rEFIind and systemd-boot are both boot managers, they work with the EFI > bootloader - or you can boot a kernel directly without a boot manager, > but I prefer not to do that as it gives no opportunity to edit options > when booting. > > If you like simple, here is a config file I use with systemd-boot > > version 6.1.57-gentoo > linux /vmlinuz-6.1.57-gentoo > options root=/dev/sda3 panic=10 net.ifnames=0 i915.enable_ips=0 > > That's it! There is a separate file for each menu entry, but they are > this simple. There's also a global loader.conf, that runs to a massive 2 > lines here! > > Right now, I'm still using BIOS type boot. I've read where you and a couple others use something else and they do sound good but I just haven't got the nerve up to switch. When I build a new rig, I'll likely get into some other boot manager. In a way I kinda dread it but on the other hand, I just might like it. You and several others make the other options sound really good. That config kinda reminds me of the old grub. A title line, location of kernel and then options. Sounds easy enough. The new grub config is almost impossible to config by hand. They had to make a tool to do it. That says a lot there. ;-) I wish I could build the new rig tomorrow. Gotta buy the stuff first tho. Well, first, I gotta find a good mobo I like. I got a CPU cooler in. I got video cards, cables and such in route. Next month, case. Next month, likely a power supply and maybe a couple other small things. Then comes the big things. Mobo, CPU and memory. Ka ching. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
Neil Bothwick wrote: > On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 12:49:34 -0500, Dale wrote: > >> I usually use cgdisk, or cfdisk, but they all do the same thing. Just a >> different interface. As long as all this is documented, I'll just >> follow it and it should work. After all, efi has been around for a long >> while now. I'm sure millions of people have it installed, likely >> billions. >> >> I do wonder, can one still put things like memtest, Knoppix and such in >> that thing? I'm sure it can be done but never seen it mentioned. I >> started to put it on the old 770T but didn't now that I have that Ventoy >> USB thing. > Do you mean booting from the ISO images? That's a GRUB thing, it doesn't > matter how it is loaded, EFI or MBR. > > However, being able to do away with GRUB is, to me, a bigger benefit than > not being able to boot ISOs is a drawback. Use either systemd-boot (it > doesn't need systemd) or rEFInd. > > On my main rig, BIOS type, in my /boot I have memtest. Grub adds a entry for it. I guess I could also but Knoppix or something in there as well. I was just wondering if that is still a option with efi. I'd think it is. After all, it's like like being able to boot either Linux or windoze. Lots of people dual boot and I'm sure efi hasn't changed that. I kinda like grub myself. Sort of miss the old one but still. It does work well even if it does install a lot of kitchen appliances. ;-) Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 17:27:28 -0500, Dale wrote: > I used cgdisk and GPT for my disk even tho it is small, only 300GBs or > so, mostly out of habit. The grub install failed and I did a search. I > found this and it worked. > > > > grub-install fails with "grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label > contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible." Simple answer, don't use GRUB :-) Seriously, GRUB is a bootloader, EFI is a bootloader. You are using one bootloader to load another bootloader before booting the system. rEFIind and systemd-boot are both boot managers, they work with the EFI bootloader - or you can boot a kernel directly without a boot manager, but I prefer not to do that as it gives no opportunity to edit options when booting. If you like simple, here is a config file I use with systemd-boot version 6.1.57-gentoo linux /vmlinuz-6.1.57-gentoo options root=/dev/sda3 panic=10 net.ifnames=0 i915.enable_ips=0 That's it! There is a separate file for each menu entry, but they are this simple. There's also a global loader.conf, that runs to a massive 2 lines here! -- Neil Bothwick If you catch an exploding manhole cover, you can keep it. pgpZ0GJ2LcQL0.pgp Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
Grant Edwards wrote: > On 2023-10-18, Michael wrote: >>> The protective MBR and the BIOS boot partition are two different, >>> unrelated things. The BIOS boot partition is a real partition (usually >>> 1-2MB in size) that's present in the GPT parition table. It's used by >>> Grub as a place to store its files. >> Yes, this is needed on GPT disks when installed on BIOS MoBos. > There is a way to install Grub on GPT disks without it, but it takes > extra work and isn't worth it. You have to lock certain files in place > under /boot/grub so that block-lists can be embedded in sector 0. > > All of the disk label utilities I've seen recently will, by default, > leave a sizable empty space between the primary GPT table and the > start of the first partition (which typically starts at a 1MB offset > from the start of the disk). I've never understood why Grub won't use > that space they way it will use the empty space between an MBR and the > first partition. > >>> It must be the first partition, and it doesn't have a real >>> filesystem (grub uses some sort of private filesystem): >> I'm not sure it uses any filesystem. I understood it uses a raw sector jump >> from the MBR to the GPT partition type 0xEE. > I've read a couple vague but differing descriptions of it. One > description specifically referred to "files" (plural) and some sort of > grub-private-internal filesystem. However, it could be that it's > nothing but a single "file" starting at block 0 in that partition. > Whatever it is, it seems to be "opaque" in that Grub puts stuff in > that partition, Grub later uses that stuff, and nobody else needs to > know or care what it is or how it's organized. I haven't looked > through the Grub source code to try to see inside the black box... > > -- > Grant > I used cgdisk and GPT for my disk even tho it is small, only 300GBs or so, mostly out of habit. The grub install failed and I did a search. I found this and it worked. grub-install fails with "grub-install: warning: this GPT partition label contains no BIOS Boot Partition; embedding won't be possible." Using parted command. # parted /dev/sda # set 1 boot off # set 1 bios_grub on # q # then install grub. This happens on drives where GPT is used instead of MBR. This may be something you want to make note of. I guess it changes the way grub sees it or something. Anyway, it worked fine after that so may be worth making a note of in case one of you ever needs it. Dale :-) :-) P. S. My off topic Ubuntu thread is covering a lot of strange things. LOL
[gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On 2023-10-18, Michael wrote: > >> The protective MBR and the BIOS boot partition are two different, >> unrelated things. The BIOS boot partition is a real partition (usually >> 1-2MB in size) that's present in the GPT parition table. It's used by >> Grub as a place to store its files. > > Yes, this is needed on GPT disks when installed on BIOS MoBos. There is a way to install Grub on GPT disks without it, but it takes extra work and isn't worth it. You have to lock certain files in place under /boot/grub so that block-lists can be embedded in sector 0. All of the disk label utilities I've seen recently will, by default, leave a sizable empty space between the primary GPT table and the start of the first partition (which typically starts at a 1MB offset from the start of the disk). I've never understood why Grub won't use that space they way it will use the empty space between an MBR and the first partition. >> It must be the first partition, and it doesn't have a real >> filesystem (grub uses some sort of private filesystem): > > I'm not sure it uses any filesystem. I understood it uses a raw sector jump > from the MBR to the GPT partition type 0xEE. I've read a couple vague but differing descriptions of it. One description specifically referred to "files" (plural) and some sort of grub-private-internal filesystem. However, it could be that it's nothing but a single "file" starting at block 0 in that partition. Whatever it is, it seems to be "opaque" in that Grub puts stuff in that partition, Grub later uses that stuff, and nobody else needs to know or care what it is or how it's organized. I haven't looked through the Grub source code to try to see inside the black box... -- Grant
Re: [OT] Re: [gentoo-user] OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
Peter Humphrey wrote: > On Tuesday, 17 October 2023 17:41:23 BST Dale wrote: > >> Maybe some color coding would help??? > Not only that, but judicious use of colour would help a great deal. Having > everything in monochrome is no help at all. Neither is showing a numbered > list > of contents but no sign of the numbers in the text, so that the ranking of > headings and subheadings is lost. > > I've tried to raise a bugzilla entry on this but was rebuffed. > It could be that they would have to make use of additional tools and they don't want too. It could even be a security thing. Still, it needs something because sometimes, you think you still doing one thing then find out you have went into another step you don't need. I also thought I was done with one but later realized I missed a bit. It's just not real clear when you switching from one path to another. Thing is, there are quite a few paths, the biggest being BIOS or efi, systemd or openrc but there is some other minor ones. On one of the things I missed, I only realized I missed it because I've installed Gentoo several times. If I was a noobie, I might not have known until I tried to boot and something didn't work. I can't recall what it was tho. If you tried and they showed no interest, I guess it isn't going to happen anytime soon. :/ Dale :-) :-) P. S. Back to working on my fuel drums. What should be a one day project is taking me several days. I need more coal on the fire to build up steam.
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Wednesday, 18 October 2023 18:45:27 BST Neil Bothwick wrote: > On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:23:23 +0100, Michael wrote: > > > Oh, and if you use GPT, you no longer need the MBR compatibility > > > partition, or whatever its called. I no longer need it so I can't > > > remember the exact name. > > > > Man pages of partitioning tools refer to it as "Protective MBR", > > although I've seen it mentioned in the interwebs as "protective GPT", > > which I think is more accurate. It uses the first sector (LBA 0) to > > store an MBR table showing the whole disk, or 2TB if smaller, as an MBR > > partition. This is the first partition on the disk, typically 1 MiB in > > size. It is meant to stop 20 year old partitioning tools from messing > > up a GPT partitioning scheme because they can't see it. Arguably > > nobody uses Windows 98 these days, so it should be safe to not have a > > protective MBR on your GPT disks. > > You need it if your hardware doesn't support EFI booting. Yes, quite right, a 4TB disk on a BIOS MoBo would need a GPT partitioning scheme to access all 4TB, but with an old MoBo you'd use a BIOS Boot Partition and GRUB as mentioned by Grant. signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 12:49:34 -0500, Dale wrote: > I usually use cgdisk, or cfdisk, but they all do the same thing. Just a > different interface. As long as all this is documented, I'll just > follow it and it should work. After all, efi has been around for a long > while now. I'm sure millions of people have it installed, likely > billions. > > I do wonder, can one still put things like memtest, Knoppix and such in > that thing? I'm sure it can be done but never seen it mentioned. I > started to put it on the old 770T but didn't now that I have that Ventoy > USB thing. Do you mean booting from the ISO images? That's a GRUB thing, it doesn't matter how it is loaded, EFI or MBR. However, being able to do away with GRUB is, to me, a bigger benefit than not being able to boot ISOs is a drawback. Use either systemd-boot (it doesn't need systemd) or rEFInd. -- Neil Bothwick "Of course, I could switch back to Windows. At least there, if I have a problem, I don't suffer under the illusion that I could ever fix it." - Unknown (paraphrased) pgpmvLUN21k6t.pgp Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Wednesday, 18 October 2023 14:57:51 BST Grant Edwards wrote: > On 2023-10-18, Michael wrote: > >> Oh, and if you use GPT, you no longer need the MBR compatibility > >> partition, or whatever its called. I no longer need it so I can't > >> remember the exact name. > > > > Man pages of partitioning tools refer to it as "Protective MBR", although > > I've seen it mentioned in the interwebs as "protective GPT", which I > > think is more accurate. It uses the first sector (LBA 0) to store an MBR > > table showing the whole disk, or 2TB if smaller, as an MBR partition. > > This is the first partition on the disk, typically 1 MiB in size. It is > > meant to stop 20 year old partitioning tools from messing up a GPT > > partitioning scheme because they can't see it. Arguably nobody uses > > Windows 98 these days, so it should be safe to not have a protective MBR > > on your GPT disks. > > The protective MBR and the BIOS boot partition are two different, > unrelated things. The BIOS boot partition is a real partition (usually > 1-2MB in size) that's present in the GPT parition table. It's used by > Grub as a place to store its files. Yes, this is needed on GPT disks when installed on BIOS MoBos. > It must be the first partition, > and it doesn't have a real filesystem (grub uses some sort of private > filesystem): I'm not sure it uses any filesystem. I understood it uses a raw sector jump from the MBR to the GPT partition type 0xEE. > $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/nvme0n1 > Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors > Disk model: Samsung SSD 980 PRO 500GB > 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: E81DD16A-A5AE-3C4A-AD3C-26DF2985827A > > Device Start End Sectors Size Type > /dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 6143 4096 2M BIOS boot > /dev/nvme0n1p2 6144 134219775 13421363264G Linux filesystem > /dev/nvme0n1p3 134219776 976773134 842553359 401.8G Linux filesystem This links explains the combos of BIOS vs. EFI MoBos and MBR vs. GPT partition table schemes: https://askubuntu.com/questions/500359/efi-boot-partition-and-biosgrub-partition signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
Rich Freeman wrote: > On Tue, Oct 17, 2023 at 11:15 PM Grant Edwards > wrote: >> For example, if one >> of the links is down, Ubuntu is really fond of waiting a couple >> mintues for it to come up before it finishes booting. [If it doesn't >> wait for all the network interfaces, how is it going to do all that >> cloudy crap nobody really wants?] > I think the intent is to prevent dependency issues, though IMO that > would be better avoided by just setting dependencies on the systemd > units. However, many distros try to abstract systemd behind a wall of > distro configuration in part because they wanted to the original > transition to systemd to be seamless. > > I have a bunch of ubuntu hosts that have dual NICs and they just love > to take forever to boot. This is despite having only one entry in > /etc/netplan and having it have "optional: true" set. networkctl > shows one interface as "configuring" even after the system is up for > days. > > Hmm, might even be a systemd-networkd bug. I see ubuntu created > /run/systemd/network/10-netplan-alleths.network and it contains > "RequiredForOnline=no". > > Oh well, I rarely reboot so it just hasn't been on the top of my list > of things to fix. > > Honestly, I'd prefer if it just let me configure networkd directly. > I'm sure there is some way to do that, but I feel like if I do then > I'll have to read the release notes every time there is a new release > to make sure it isn't going to break it. If you're going to run a > distro like Ubuntu I've found it is generally best to just figure out > the "Ubuntu Way" and do it their way. If that isn't adequate, the > easier solution is to just use a more appropriate distro. > Funny you say that last part. That's just what I did. I was fine with Ubuntu until the network stopped working for no reason. I certainly changed nothing. When I couldn't figure it out, it made me think about using Gentoo instead. It went from adequate to needing something else. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
Grant Edwards wrote: > On 2023-10-18, Michael wrote: > >>> Oh, and if you use GPT, you no longer need the MBR compatibility >>> partition, or whatever its called. I no longer need it so I can't >>> remember the exact name. >> Man pages of partitioning tools refer to it as "Protective MBR", although >> I've >> seen it mentioned in the interwebs as "protective GPT", which I think is >> more >> accurate. It uses the first sector (LBA 0) to store an MBR table showing >> the >> whole disk, or 2TB if smaller, as an MBR partition. This is the first >> partition on the disk, typically 1 MiB in size. It is meant to stop 20 year >> old partitioning tools from messing up a GPT partitioning scheme because >> they >> can't see it. Arguably nobody uses Windows 98 these days, so it should be >> safe to not have a protective MBR on your GPT disks. > The protective MBR and the BIOS boot partition are two different, > unrelated things. The BIOS boot partition is a real partition (usually > 1-2MB in size) that's present in the GPT parition table. It's used by > Grub as a place to store its files. It must be the first partition, > and it doesn't have a real filesystem (grub uses some sort of private > filesystem): > > $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/nvme0n1 > Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors > Disk model: Samsung SSD 980 PRO 500GB > 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: E81DD16A-A5AE-3C4A-AD3C-26DF2985827A > > Device Start End Sectors Size Type > /dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 6143 4096 2M BIOS boot > /dev/nvme0n1p2 6144 134219775 13421363264G Linux filesystem > /dev/nvme0n1p3 134219776 976773134 842553359 401.8G Linux filesystem > > > > > I usually use cgdisk, or cfdisk, but they all do the same thing. Just a different interface. As long as all this is documented, I'll just follow it and it should work. After all, efi has been around for a long while now. I'm sure millions of people have it installed, likely billions. I do wonder, can one still put things like memtest, Knoppix and such in that thing? I'm sure it can be done but never seen it mentioned. I started to put it on the old 770T but didn't now that I have that Ventoy USB thing. It's going to be a while before I have to do this. I still haven't found a mobo. Not one I really like anyway. Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:23:23 +0100, Michael wrote: > > Oh, and if you use GPT, you no longer need the MBR compatibility > > partition, or whatever its called. I no longer need it so I can't > > remember the exact name. > > Man pages of partitioning tools refer to it as "Protective MBR", > although I've seen it mentioned in the interwebs as "protective GPT", > which I think is more accurate. It uses the first sector (LBA 0) to > store an MBR table showing the whole disk, or 2TB if smaller, as an MBR > partition. This is the first partition on the disk, typically 1 MiB in > size. It is meant to stop 20 year old partitioning tools from messing > up a GPT partitioning scheme because they can't see it. Arguably > nobody uses Windows 98 these days, so it should be safe to not have a > protective MBR on your GPT disks. You need it if your hardware doesn't support EFI booting. -- Neil Bothwick The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten per cent of its capacity ... the rest is overhead for the operating system. pgpuROacoEHmw.pgp Description: OpenPGP digital signature
[gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On 2023-10-18, Rich Freeman wrote: > Oh well, I rarely reboot so it just hasn't been on the top of my > list of things to fix. I don't really care much on the Ubuntu servers I maintain because they are rarely rebooted, and their network interfaces are always up. A couple weeks ago I was testing/troubleshooting some PCI-express board prototypes which meant rebooting dozens of times a day. I threw Ubuntu server on a spare machine for that, but the 2-minute delay drove me nuts. After futzing around for a while, I did get Ubuntu to boot in a timely fashion [but it meant I had to manually configure one of the network interfaces with 'ip' when I wanted to use it]. However, I never could get the serial console to work acceptably on Ubuntu. It worked fine during the kernel boot, but once systemd started up, the serial console got shut down. I wasted hours trying to figure out how to fix that before I gave up on Ubuntu. I finally ended up installing Gentoo/openrc, and then it only took a few minutes to figure out how to keep the serial console working. -- Grant
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Tue, Oct 17, 2023 at 11:15 PM Grant Edwards wrote: > > For example, if one > of the links is down, Ubuntu is really fond of waiting a couple > mintues for it to come up before it finishes booting. [If it doesn't > wait for all the network interfaces, how is it going to do all that > cloudy crap nobody really wants?] I think the intent is to prevent dependency issues, though IMO that would be better avoided by just setting dependencies on the systemd units. However, many distros try to abstract systemd behind a wall of distro configuration in part because they wanted to the original transition to systemd to be seamless. I have a bunch of ubuntu hosts that have dual NICs and they just love to take forever to boot. This is despite having only one entry in /etc/netplan and having it have "optional: true" set. networkctl shows one interface as "configuring" even after the system is up for days. Hmm, might even be a systemd-networkd bug. I see ubuntu created /run/systemd/network/10-netplan-alleths.network and it contains "RequiredForOnline=no". Oh well, I rarely reboot so it just hasn't been on the top of my list of things to fix. Honestly, I'd prefer if it just let me configure networkd directly. I'm sure there is some way to do that, but I feel like if I do then I'll have to read the release notes every time there is a new release to make sure it isn't going to break it. If you're going to run a distro like Ubuntu I've found it is generally best to just figure out the "Ubuntu Way" and do it their way. If that isn't adequate, the easier solution is to just use a more appropriate distro. -- Rich
[gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On 2023-10-18, Michael wrote: >> Oh, and if you use GPT, you no longer need the MBR compatibility >> partition, or whatever its called. I no longer need it so I can't >> remember the exact name. > > Man pages of partitioning tools refer to it as "Protective MBR", although > I've > seen it mentioned in the interwebs as "protective GPT", which I think is more > accurate. It uses the first sector (LBA 0) to store an MBR table showing the > whole disk, or 2TB if smaller, as an MBR partition. This is the first > partition on the disk, typically 1 MiB in size. It is meant to stop 20 year > old partitioning tools from messing up a GPT partitioning scheme because they > can't see it. Arguably nobody uses Windows 98 these days, so it should be > safe to not have a protective MBR on your GPT disks. The protective MBR and the BIOS boot partition are two different, unrelated things. The BIOS boot partition is a real partition (usually 1-2MB in size) that's present in the GPT parition table. It's used by Grub as a place to store its files. It must be the first partition, and it doesn't have a real filesystem (grub uses some sort of private filesystem): $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/nvme0n1 Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Disk model: Samsung SSD 980 PRO 500GB 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: E81DD16A-A5AE-3C4A-AD3C-26DF2985827A Device Start End Sectors Size Type /dev/nvme0n1p1 2048 6143 4096 2M BIOS boot /dev/nvme0n1p2 6144 134219775 13421363264G Linux filesystem /dev/nvme0n1p3 134219776 976773134 842553359 401.8G Linux filesystem
[OT] Re: [gentoo-user] OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Tuesday, 17 October 2023 17:41:23 BST Dale wrote: > Maybe some color coding would help??? Not only that, but judicious use of colour would help a great deal. Having everything in monochrome is no help at all. Neither is showing a numbered list of contents but no sign of the numbers in the text, so that the ranking of headings and subheadings is lost. I've tried to raise a bugzilla entry on this but was rebuffed. -- Regards, Peter.
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Wednesday, 18 October 2023 08:36:06 BST Neil Bothwick wrote: > On Tue, 17 Oct 2023 21:50:35 -0500, Dale wrote: > > > EFI is much simpler to work with. for one thing, you don't need the > > > monster that GRUB has become. > > > > While I kinda dread it, it does seem that quite a while ago, it has > > become much easier. I noticed as I went through the install of Gentoo, > > there didn't seem to be a lot of stuff to do with efi. One might could > > think it is quicker and simpler as you say. I recall when it first came > > out. It was complicated but I think most of that was because it was new > > and the documentation was not quite there yet. After all this time tho, > > that shouldn't be a problem. > > > > It's a bridge I'll have to cross tho. It looks easy enough. Biggest > > thing is partitioning the drive differently. Gotta remember that. O_O It is a relatively simple bridge to cross. Use gdisk to partition the drive, which if you've used fdisk before you'll find it quite similar. If you prefer it fdisk will work too, but make sure first you create a GUID Partition Table (GPT) and not an MBR table. You can also use sgdisk to create a 1GB EFI System Partition (type 0xEF00) in a single command, as your first partition in an empty disk; e.g.: sgdisk -n 1:2048:2068470 -t 1:ef00 -c 1:"ESP-Boot" /dev/sda Then format it: mkfs.fat -v -F 32 -n ESP /dev/sda1 mount it as mnt/gentoo/boot and 'mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot/EFI', to store at a later stage your kernel/initrd in it, before you continue with the rest of your installation. That's all there is to it. > If you usually use a separate partition for /boot, all you need to do > differently is set its partition type to EF00 and format it with FAT > instead of ext2. > > Oh, and if you use GPT, you no longer need the MBR compatibility > partition, or whatever its called. I no longer need it so I can't > remember the exact name. Man pages of partitioning tools refer to it as "Protective MBR", although I've seen it mentioned in the interwebs as "protective GPT", which I think is more accurate. It uses the first sector (LBA 0) to store an MBR table showing the whole disk, or 2TB if smaller, as an MBR partition. This is the first partition on the disk, typically 1 MiB in size. It is meant to stop 20 year old partitioning tools from messing up a GPT partitioning scheme because they can't see it. Arguably nobody uses Windows 98 these days, so it should be safe to not have a protective MBR on your GPT disks. signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
Re: [gentoo-user] OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
Dale wrote: > Neil Bothwick wrote: >> On Tue, 17 Oct 2023 11:41:23 -0500, Dale wrote: >> > Neil, I tired that command journalctl but not sure about the > options. It either returned a lot or nothing related. I'll make > note of the systemctl command. If Ubuntu survives, I may need it > one day. ;-) If it returned nothing with -p err, nothing logged an error since the last boot, which is odd considering something is broken. without -p err, you get everything from the system log, it's like doing "cat /var/log/messages" but only since the last reboot. You could pipe that through grep, searching for the name of your network interface. >>> Well, I didn't search for err. I followed some other advice I found >>> while searching. >> Adding -p err means you only see error messages sent to the system log, >> skipping the reams of info stuff. I always run "journalctl -b -p err" >> after booting a new kernel, it tells me instantly if I've made a screw up. >> >> Of course, if I screw up really badly, the thing doesn't even boot... > > I wish I had that info then. It may have proved helpful. To be > honest tho, when it failed the first time and I banged on it pretty > good, I thought the BIOS messed up. It wouldn't see anything network > except in that one place where it showed disabled. It was weird. > > I recall when I installed Gentoo for the very first time, first kernel > did the panic thing. I got back to where I could fix it and rebooted > into a new kernel. It booted. Ever since then, even tho I have bad > luck with so much other stuff, I don't recall having a kernel fail to > boot the first time. I may have to go add some driver for some > trivial thing but it gives me a login so I can work without booting > rescue CD, mounting, chrooting and all that. Now if everything else > would work that good. ROFL > > Thanks for the help. I'm happy now. > > Dale > > :-) :-) Just a minor update. I rebooted and tried to mount a encrypted drive. It failed. I went back to the Gentoo dm-crypt howto and checked my kernel config and sure enough, I left a few options out. I enabled some more stuff, rebuilt and then rebooted. After that, I was able to decrypt and mount the encrypted drive like usual. Also, I roughly timed the boot up of the new install. From the time BIOS comes up to a login prompt, about 40 seconds. That's not to bad for a older rig. BTW, that rig has 16GBs of memory. Between the faster CPU, more memory and such, it should be a bit better. Just wish it had a case. :/ I'll get one somewhere. Now I'm kinda looking forward to updating my backups. lol Dale :-) :-)
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 03:15:56 - (UTC), Grant Edwards wrote: > > I have 4 Ubuntu-based machines here and over the last 6 years I've > > never seen a 1 minute delay to login, much less 5 minutes. > > I see it all the time. Two minutes is the most common delay that I run > into, but I've seen longer. The two-minute delay I frequently run into > has usually got something to do with networking. For example, if one > of the links is down, Ubuntu is really fond of waiting a couple > mintues for it to come up before it finishes booting. [If it doesn't > wait for all the network interfaces, how is it going to do all that > cloudy crap nobody really wants?] There are different ways of waiting for the network to come up in systemd, depending on your needs. Is lo enough, do you need an external network connection available, or do you need one up and working, do you have more than one network connection. It seems like Ubuntu is taking the safest-for-all approach of waiting for all network interfaces to be fully configured. > The really fun part is that since the methods used for configuring the > network on Ubuntu change with the seasons, 95% of the suggested fixes > you find are irrelevent even if they were on-target at one point. But change is good and new is better, no matter what it breaks, isn't it? ;-) -- Neil Bothwick If you can't be kind, be vague. pgpZpAWq4f7ap.pgp Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: OFF TOPIC Need Ubuntu network help
On Tue, 17 Oct 2023 21:50:35 -0500, Dale wrote: > > EFI is much simpler to work with. for one thing, you don't need the > > monster that GRUB has become. > While I kinda dread it, it does seem that quite a while ago, it has > become much easier. I noticed as I went through the install of Gentoo, > there didn't seem to be a lot of stuff to do with efi. One might could > think it is quicker and simpler as you say. I recall when it first came > out. It was complicated but I think most of that was because it was new > and the documentation was not quite there yet. After all this time tho, > that shouldn't be a problem. > > It's a bridge I'll have to cross tho. It looks easy enough. Biggest > thing is partitioning the drive differently. Gotta remember that. O_O If you usually use a separate partition for /boot, all you need to do differently is set its partition type to EF00 and format it with FAT instead of ext2. Oh, and if you use GPT, you no longer need the MBR compatibility partition, or whatever its called. I no longer need it so I can't remember the exact name. -- Neil Bothwick leep is an excellent way of listening to an opera. - James Stephens (1882-1950) pgpV5x9WzHIYI.pgp Description: OpenPGP digital signature
