UEFI: LMDE, LTS or Latest?

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icmp_request

UEFI: LMDE, LTS or Latest?

Post by icmp_request »

Hello! :)

I have purchased a new Laptop which contains Windows 8 and is UEFI.

I am already an experienced Linux and Linux Mint user but I am pretty new to UEFI.

I do not want to wipe everything out but to re-size the Windows partition and install Linux alongside it.

I would like to do it with less workarounds possible (maybe even don't deactivate Secure Boot)

My question is simple: Which distribution is more compatible with UEFI?
- Latest Ubuntu-Based LTS (Maya 13)
- Latest Ubuntu-Based (Petra 16)
- Latest LMDE (201403) *

* I know LMDE is Rolling-Release but I don't know about its installation disk.

I already know the differences between these Versions. I've grown quite comfortable with LTS but I'm willing to try LMDE if it has more support. Petra 16 would be a last resort solution.

Bonus Question: Should I use rEFInd instead of GRUB?

Thanks a lot in advance! ;)
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Previous1

Re: UEFI: LMDE, LTS or Latest?

Post by Previous1 »

Wait until Mint 17 LTS comes out next month, or Ubuntu 14.04 if you're impatient.

All on UEFI/Secure Boot here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126
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austin.texas
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Re: UEFI: LMDE, LTS or Latest?

Post by austin.texas »

icmp_request wrote: My question is simple: Which distribution is more compatible with UEFI?
- Latest Ubuntu-Based LTS (Maya 13)
- Latest Ubuntu-Based (Petra 16)
- Latest LMDE (201403) *
I can't offer facts - but I am willing to speculate that the newer the version the better chance that it would be compatible with UEFI.

Another thing, I think a usb created with the dd command is more likely to work well, as opposed to creating a usb with any other method.
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icmp_request

Re: UEFI: LMDE, LTS or Latest?

Post by icmp_request »

Thanks for the replies!
Previous1 wrote:Wait until Mint 17 LTS comes out next month, or Ubuntu 14.04 if you're impatient.

All on UEFI/Secure Boot here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126
But if I understood the "Version" of the LMDE Installation Disk Correctly, it's from March 2014 (One Month Ago). Do you think it's not as updated as the future LTS?
austin.texas wrote: I can't offer facts - but I am willing to speculate that the newer the version the better chance that it would be compatible with UEFI.

Another thing, I think a usb created with the dd command is more likely to work well, as opposed to creating a usb with any other method.
Apparently yes, but I didn't know that the next LTS would be the next Ubuntu-Based Version. Maybe it's worth waiting for a while or trying LMDE. Thanks for the hint on the USB.
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Re: UEFI: LMDE, LTS or Latest?

Post by srs5694 »

icmp_request wrote:My question is simple: Which distribution is more compatible with UEFI?
- Latest Ubuntu-Based LTS (Maya 13)
- Latest Ubuntu-Based (Petra 16)
- Latest LMDE (201403) *
Right now, probably Mint 16. As others have said, though, waiting a few weeks for Mint 17 or using Ubuntu 14.04 (upon which it will be based) may increase your odds of success a bit. In fact, using Ubuntu is likely to be better for Secure Boot support; Secure Boot problems seem to be more prevalent with Mint than with Ubuntu.
icmp_request wrote:Bonus Question: Should I use rEFInd instead of GRUB?
Of course! (As rEFInd's developer, though, I'm biased. ;-) )
austin.texas wrote:I can't offer facts - but I am willing to speculate that the newer the version the better chance that it would be compatible with UEFI.
Within a series, that's generally true -- that is, Mint 17 is likely to be better than Mint 16, which is likely to be better than Mint 15, and so on. LMDE, though, is based on Debian rather than Ubuntu, and that throws a whole new wrinkle on everything, since Ubuntu released official UEFI support well before Debian did, so it's more mature in Ubuntu than in Debian. I'm not even sure offhand if Debian officially supports Secure Boot.
austin.texas wrote:Another thing, I think a usb created with the dd command is more likely to work well, as opposed to creating a usb with any other method.
That's what I've found, too. Most complex tools (like unetbootin) were designed with BIOS-mode booting in mind, and create USB disks that can't be booted in EFI mode. Distribution maintainers, OTOH, create images that are designed to be written out to both optical disks or USB flash drives and be bootable in both BIOS and EFI modes. This extreme flexibility creates its own problems, but for the most part they're less common than the problems created by specialized applications. The limits of those tools are slowly fading, but for now the most reliable way to proceed is to use dd.
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