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Get PC BIOS back on UEFI only system

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Re: Get PC BIOS back on UEFI only system

#61

Post by lproven »

Kwpolska wrote: post #37
LukeShu wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too late to edit: non-GPT, non-MBR For instance, whole-disk btrfs. Or old BSD partition schemes.

How much benefit would there be in whole-disk btrfs? The space taken up by GPT and the FAT32 EFI partition is a rounding error compared to the sizes of modern disks.

> The space taken up by GPT and the FAT32 EFI partition is a rounding error

I am not the OP and I do not do this. However...

Yes, the disk space used is a rounding error and one far right of the decimal point.

But there is extra space used in the human brain that sets this up.

Instead of `/dev/sda1` it's `/dev/sda`. Instead of `/dev/nvme0l0p1` or whatever (I own almost no NVMe kit) it's `/dev/nvme0l0`. And so on.

This could be helpful; I can certainly imagine it simplifying things somewhat.

Re: Get PC BIOS back on UEFI only system

#63

Post by arccy »

stewarts wrote: post #56
arccy wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you read it but didn't confess, you'd still be ineligible, you'd be harming rather than helping wine if you did sneak in contributions.

What percentage of people reading HN do you think are actively contributing to WINE source? I'm going to go out on a limb and claim less than a tenth of a percent. And that, to me, is probably 10-100x too high of a threshold.

Wanting to and reading Windows source is fine. What isn't fine is the suggestion to not admit to it.

Re: Get PC BIOS back on UEFI only system

#64

Post by superkuh »

mintsuki wrote: post #60
superkuh wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPT is not UEFI. It's just the format of the storage device. I have many computers with GPT formatted disks with actual master boot records at the start of the disk that boot MBR on both original BIOS machines and CSM BIOS machines. MBR is two things with the same name. It is both the format of the storage device and describes a booting mode using a master boot record and up to 4 partitions. GPT is one thing. It is a…

I know every word of what I said in the message you're replying to. While what you said is mostly accurate, as in MBR != BIOS and GPT != UEFI, never in my original message have I stated that that is the case. And the rest of what you said is incorrect, as per my original message. I invite you to read what I said again.

Oof. On re-read I see now this sub-thread's topic was "non-GPT, non-MBR". So my "response" was ... off topic and useless. Sorry.

I am not sure what I said that was incorrect though. As I'm always looking to learn, which bit? I am currently assuming the 'rest' about GPT on true BIOS machines. I suppose I have never booted off GPT formatted disks in true BIOS machines. I always boot off MBR formatted disks and just used the GPT as storage/etc.

But I'm unclear on how this would break things since you can still have the MBR in the first sector on a GPT formatted disk. And how could the true BIOS motherboards detect GPT format on the disks when they don't know about it?

Re: Get PC BIOS back on UEFI only system

#65

Post by mintsuki »

superkuh wrote: post #64
mintsuki wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know every word of what I said in the message you're replying to. While what you said is mostly accurate, as in MBR != BIOS and GPT != UEFI, never in my original message have I stated that that is the case. And the rest of what you said is incorrect, as per my original message. I invite you to read what I said again.

Oof. On re-read I see now this sub-thread's topic was "non-GPT, non-MBR". So my "response" was ... off topic and useless. Sorry. I am not sure what I said that was incorrect though. As I'm always looking to learn, which bit? I am currently assuming the 'rest' about GPT on true BIOS machines. I suppose I have never booted off GPT formatted disks in true BIOS machines. I always boot off MBR formatted disks and just use…

Because they do know about them. At least some of them do, of course.

Ideally, BIOS/CSM systems should not care about what type of partition table format a disk uses, and just boot by loading the boot sector (the 1st sector), and passing control to it.

In the real world, some machines will check for whether an MBR exists (by MBR meaning the partition table contained in the first sector, also called "msdos" partition table, naming varies depending on who you ask), some of them will check whether there is any partition set as active in said MBR, some of them will, indeed, check if there is a GPT (past any protective MBR), and ignore such disks - possibly because firmware writers thought that no GPT disk should be bootable on BIOS systems (Windows doesn't support it, so...), to avoid passing control to an empty protective MBR and possibly crash or hang as a result.

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