XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-10   
   From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Tue, 10/28/2025 10:55 PM, Mike Easter wrote:   
   > Alan K. wrote:   
   >> DistroWatch had what I think is a pretty good q&a here this week.   
   >> Kinda hits home with recent events in Windows 10 EOL.   
   >   
   > I found some interest in the percentages of the ~1600 readers answering a   
   poll (so far); the numbers represent the status as of about 8 pm Tues evening   
   Pacific time.   
   >   
   > -----   
   > Are you new to Linux because of End of 10?   
   >   
   > Yes - new to Linux because of End of 10:     65 (4%)   
   > New to Linux but not because of End of 10:     40 (3%)   
   > Not new to Linux - switched before End of 10:     1269 (80%)   
   > Not new to Linux - have not switched to Linux:     210 (13%)   
   > -----   
   >   
   > I was somewhat surprised to see 17% of reader/respondents answering a DW   
   poll who were either new or 'non-linux' users particularly that 3/4 of those   
   weren't linuxers doing the poll.   
   >   
   > But, then after I puzzled over that, I read some of the explanations of   
   those who weren't sure how to classify themselves, so maybe my surprise was   
   'misguided'; I should've read the answers first and then decided if I was   
   surprised or not :-)   
   >   
   >   
      
   I own a Optiplex 780, with E8400 dual core and HD6450 video.   
   I just downloaded a famous distro. I used "dd" and put it on   
   a USB stick, knowing it is a hybrid OS, and will boot legacy   
   or boot UEFI. The Optiplex only boots legacy.   
      
   I boot up legacy and install. The install says it is finished.   
   I reboot. Now, I'm looking across the room, at the machine   
   right now. I've got a flashing underline cursor... and no   
   other response. It isn't complaining about no boot OS.   
   It's doing... "nothing".   
      
   That's the Optiplex for you.   
      
   Now, I'm going to use the Boot Repair DVD (Yann) and see what   
   I can cook up for fun.   
      
   The symptoms are, the distro is a hybrid, yet... it only *installs*   
   the OS in one mode, which is UEFI/GPT. As a second experiment, I   
   fed it a pre-canned legacy setup, and it *still* insisted on UEFI,   
   so my BIOS cursor can sit there blinking.   
      
   Do you see what being pig headed gets you ? :-) There is a   
   perfectly good GRUB for dealing with either mode. If the user   
   boots in Legacy, they want - a legacy installation THAT BOOTS FFS.   
   They don't want a science experiment, or, to use the experience   
   as a way to determine the supplier of the thing, is pig-headed.   
      
   Yes, I find the ecosystem very inviting, for a mass of inexperienced   
   users who won't know what to do with a flashing cursor. Many participants   
   (who now can't fill out the survey, because their cursor is flashing),   
   have now carried the PC out to the curb, for pickup.   
      
   You, as an experienced Linux user, at the current time I think you   
   would be shocked, about what kind of boot experiences are going   
   on after an install. Maybe we reached "peak install fluidity"   
   about five years ago, and it has gone downhill for no discernible   
   good reason. Except, pig-headed-ness by the tree-herders.   
      
   I have a distro here, when it fouls up the GRUB stage, it   
   bypasses all the rest of the steps in the installer, and tells   
   you it is "finished". What is the problem ? THERE ARE NO ACCOUNTS   
   IN THE INSTALLED OS. NONE AT ALL. After about a half dozen tries,   
   I've figured out a workaround, so it finishes and actually boots.   
      
   This is what the visitors to Distrowatch pine for. They want   
   to climb Everest, because the air is so much fresher up there.   
      
   Now, I'm off to find my Boot Repair DVD. I'm at the third camp   
   now, and I'm acclimatizing to the altitude, before the next stage   
   of the climb.   
      
   Turns out, getting past the roadblocks was harder than that.   
   The Boot Repair plus over-the-air upgrade to the boot repair   
   code, was able to come up with a chroot-in fix for the thing.   
   initramfs was missing. Had to make a new one while chrooted in   
   myself. First chroot recipe was wrong. CoPilot gave me a correct   
   recipe. mkinitramfs would not run without compression turned off.   
   Got the OS to boot. Threw errors on the screen. I'd already noticed   
   that fstab was missing, and how it was able to boot quite far without   
   a slash, is pure puzzlement. Back to hacking into the damn thing   
   and adding an fstab file and defining a slash mount. AND IT WORKED. :-)   
   Now drinking a beer from the top of Everest. This Linux stuff is EASY.   
   Why isn't everyone doing this. That's Ubuntu 24.04.3 installed   
   on an MSDOS disk with legacy boot working off sda1.   
      
   "Not new to Linux - have not switched to Linux:     211 (13%)"   
      
       Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)