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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[Rant] A few days ago, I asked if Mint would run okay on a Lenovo T460 (I appreciate all the advice). I got it working, but the installation was a big pain and I totally blame Lenovo. (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I got the T460 refurbished and I really didn't want to run Windows 10 on it. I last used Linux for any real length of time a good 20 years ago, so I'm pretty inexperienced with it at this point and I had to figure out how to install it myself.

They made it unreasonably difficult to first install an OS from a USB stick. I had to go into the BIOS, turn UEFI to legacy, turn off secure boot, reboot to boot from the USB stick, install Mint, then turn legacy back to UEFI to get it to boot from the hard drive. This took about 2 hours of trying to figure it out by doing a lot of forums reading.

I do not blame the Mint community or the Linux community as a whole. There is absolutely no reason that it should have been that hard to install Mint on that notebook.

I don't even think getting into the BIOS once time should be necessary, but changing a BIOS setting so you can install the OS and changing it back so you can run the OS off the internal drive is just ridiculous and I find it hard to believe Lenovo couldn't have just made it easier. I'm fairly convinced this was intentional on their part.

I'm not an IT professional or anything, but I know enough to figure this stuff out with effort, but it shouldn't have taken that effort. It should have been almost plug-and-play. This is 2024. The notebook isn't even 10 years old.

Is there actually a good reason for this or are they just kissing Microsoft's ass?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

…what?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It tends to be more reliable and is easier to work with

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yeah, okay, but what has that got to do with the price of fish? I think you’re misunderstanding the post entirely:

When OP mentions going into the “BIOS” they’re using the term as the common name for the device settings menu that you can enter on boot. It is however a UEFI-based device. What OP had to change was the “Boot Mode” from UEFI Mode to Legacy (or BIOS) mode. This affects how the UEFI looks for Operating Systems to boot, forcing it to search for Master Boot Records rather than EFI partitions, and booting those in a compatibility mode. This seems to be a bug with Lenovo’s implementation of UEFI, as it did not detect the Linux Mint Live USB’s UEFI partition. Most Live USB’s are still set up with a backup BIOS bootloader. OP then had to go back into their “BIOS” (UEFI) and re-enable UEFI boot mode to be able to boot into their newly installed Linux Mint partition.

What I’m struggling to understand is why you gave the advice “you should use UEFI” when OP was already using a UEFI-based system…