Linux kernel 3.19.2, EFI-enabled

I plan to re-investigate UEFI booting, so I have compiled a kernel with what seem like appropriate EFI-related configuration choices.

Here they are:

Bus options (PCI etc.)

  [*] Mark VGA/VBE/EFI FB as generic system framebuffer

Device drivers

  Graphics format

    Frame buffer devices

      [*] EFI-based framebuffer support

      [*] Simple frame buffer support

Firmware drivers

  EFI support

    <*> EFI variable support via sysfs

Filesystems

  Miscellaneous filesystems

    <M> EFI variable filesystem

Kernel hacking

  [*] Early printk via the EFI frame buffer

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...anyway, we shall see.

The kernel source, with patches and build scripts, is here:
http://bkhome.org/sources/kernel-3.19.2/
(us#er#na#me: pu#pp#y pa#ss#wo#rd: li#nu#x)

Patched kernel source as a PET:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-april/kernel_src-3.19.2-patched.pet

...note, I have previously placed these kernel source PETs in the 'pet noarch' repository, however that is not appropriate, as I run "make prepare" before creating the PET, which does some architecture-specific configuration and compiles some binaries.
So this one is in the 'pet april' repo.

Linux headers:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-april/linux_headers-3.19.2.pet

And here is the compiled PET, to be used in woofQ:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-april/linux_kernel-3.19.2-builtin_aufs_f2fs_squashfs_zram-efi-amd64-april.pet

...note, the only third-party drivers are aufs and ndiswrapper, the former is built-in not a module.

Here is the aufs utilities, compiled against the 3.19.2 headers:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky6/amd64/packages/pet_packages-april/aufsutils3-20150321-amd64.pet

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Comments

I am planning to implement booting when Secure Boot is turned off. This is an option in the UEFI-setup, launched by a key (DEL or F2 usually) at bootup.

Sometime ago, I went through this setup on a Windows 8.1 laptop, and I have just re-discovered the URL that guided me:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Dual-Boot-Ubuntu-and-Windows-8-UEFI/

Note that Quirky x86_64 7.0 to 7.0.2 requires that the UEFI-setup have "legacy boot" enabled.
This is because these quirkies are designed for PCs with BIOS, which is all PCs prior to the "win8" PCs.
However, apparently there are some PCs UEFI-setup that do not support legacy-boot, some that do but do not support mixed legacy and UEFI booting (which is what you want if you want to still be able to boot Windows).

So, I need to move to supporting UEFI booting for Quirky. Preferably both, so Quirky will boot on both UEFI and BIOS PCs.

Secure Boot, that is something I don't think you need on a PC. All win8 PCs can disable that, apparently, though there is a worry with Windows 10:
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/windows-10-to-make-the-secure-boot-alt-os-lock-out-a-reality/


I have created a USB Flash stick that boots on computers with BIOS or UEFI firmware, in the latter case it is proper UEFI booting, without "legacy mode".

I had to modify the kernel parameters, will report further on that.

Still a few things to sort out. Right now I am recompiling the 3.19.2 kernel, to create a PET, then will build Quirky.

Tags: linux