installing gentoo after 7 years

Krog · Guru Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 339 Location: Roma, Italy

Hi, i'm a gentoo user since 10 years more or less, but i never needed to reinstall my system more than once (one time i really screwed it and i had to).
Now i'm changing my good old i7920 using good old bios not uefi to a new skylake pc using efi.
My 2 options now are:

1)somehow put the same disk on the new computer, configure a new kernel according to the new hardware, fixing the change from bios to uefi, re-emerge everything again with the new cpu flags and go on.

2)start from scratch

I probably want to do the second option, as a way also to clean my computer from some old mistakes or dirt.

But if I want to try the first option what is the best way to convert an old bios/mbr system to uefi/gpt?

The Doctor · Moderator Joined: 27 Jul 2010 Posts: 2678

1) will probably work in fallback mode. UEFI requires gpt partition tables. In addition, UEFI requires a small vFAT partition which basically replaces /boot. Assuming that your old system used gpt partition tables you may be able to simply reformat /boot and turn it into the UEFI boot partition.

2) Starting from scratch will work. The handbook is still excellent.

Or the middle path:

3) re-partition your disk and restore from backup. There is no major change between the systems, just the boot loader and a few kernel options.

I recommend you look into efibootmgr. It is simple and takes full advantage of the UEFI features.

Now for the general advice: turn off secureboot and then turn it off about 5 more times. It has a habit of being hard to turn off due to being tied to multiple options and causing your system to not boot.
_________________
First things first, but not necessarily in that order.

Apologies if I take a while to respond. I'm currently working on the dematerialization circuit for my blue box.

Maxxx · Guru Joined: 12 Jan 2016 Posts: 595 Location: Italia

You can create GPT from partitioning with "gparted" command... I see hard you can modify from MBR to GPT without format.
But you can leave MBR and boot in legacy mode from Uefi

Krog · Guru Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 339 Location: Roma, Italy

i forgot to add: i need to dualboot to win10 to play steam games that are windows only... so i can keep legacy mode on linux and windows, or linux but not windows?
i'm really sorry maybe i seem dumb but uefi is an entirely new universe for me

p.s. i'm using mbr, not gpt at the moment

Maxxx · Guru Joined: 12 Jan 2016 Posts: 595 Location: Italia

I have three HD... 1 windows uefi, 1 gentoo uefi and 1 debian not uefi... I can boot windows and gentoo with uefi and debian legacy mode (just set legacy mode boot in uefi menu - check if your motherboard allows this)

Maxxx · Guru Joined: 12 Jan 2016 Posts: 595 Location: Italia

Precisely, my motherboard allows you to set "uefi and legacy boot together", so that i can select HD that i want without reselect every time Uefi or legacy from Bios.

Krog · Guru Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 339 Location: Roma, Italy

googling i don't find this info but i assume asus is a serious company... i will buy this motherboard:
Asus Z170I Pro
ok, thanks for all the infos, now i just need the money :-)

i will probably order the new pc in 7/10 days

Maxxx · Guru Joined: 12 Jan 2016 Posts: 595 Location: Italia

I have MSI motherboard, but i think that Asus is very similar to MSI. Both have a graphical environment with mouse for set BIOS... both have EZ or Advanced mode for set.

Now find the money

Krog · Guru Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 339 Location: Roma, Italy

in 10 days i will get money from work :-)

motherboard: Asus Z170I Pro
cpu: intel 6600k
ram: corsair vengeance ddr4 2x8
cooler: corsair h100i
case: Phanteks EVOLV ITX

Maxxx · Guru Joined: 12 Jan 2016 Posts: 595 Location: Italia

And what's the video card?

Krog · Guru Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 339 Location: Roma, Italy

no money for the vga, i keep my nvidia 760 for a couple months and then i will upgrade vga too... another nvidia

Krog · Guru Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 339 Location: Roma, Italy

my old vga was too much big for that case (2,5 slots) so I ended purchasing a nvidia 1060 too :-)

windows in efi mode, linux in mbr/bios mode... I fought for 2 days to have linux in efi mode but I surrended... :-)

Maxxx · Guru Joined: 12 Jan 2016 Posts: 595 Location: Italia

Ok, now you boot gentoo in legacy mode... but this thread it could be useful for UEFI install:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1052564-start-0.html

In italian.

Krog · Guru Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 339 Location: Roma, Italy

what exactly i am "missing" using the legacy mode? everything works fine and i did'nt needed to do complicate partitioning and re learning everything

Maxxx · Guru Joined: 12 Jan 2016 Posts: 595 Location: Italia

In theory UEFI can prevent viruses starting at boot, but with "secure boot" disabled it should not change... and UEFI can boot HD biggest than 2 TB.

Krog · Guru Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 339 Location: Roma, Italy

nothing interesting for me, linux resides in a 64gb ssd and will probably be passed in a 500gb ssd when i will buy an m.2 unit for windows and free it's ssd :-)