From: stryder@telenet.be.invalid   
      
   On Tuesday 18 September 2012 14:55, Doug Laidlaw conveyed the following   
   to alt.os.linux.mandriva...   
      
   > I tried to boot one of the Mandriva 2012 ISOs today, but my BIOS   
   > didn't even see it.  I was about to blame the DVD or the release, when   
   > Fedora 16 did exactly the same thing.   
   >   
   > The Fedora forum suggested that my BIOS is out of date.  Something   
   > called EFI. I downloaded the latest update for my BIOS, but it made no   
   > difference.   
   >   
   > The guy who started the thread asked: "Does that mean I have to go   
   > out and buy a new computer?"  The reply was: "Not for this one issue."   
   > What else can he do, except change his distro?  I need to stop   
   > fiddling and stick with Mageia. No doubt the same thing will happen   
   > there and everywhere, eventually.   
      
   I'm not sure what the problem there is either, but EFI or UEFI is quite   
   a different thing from the BIOS.  It's a BIOS replacement, but unlike   
   the legacy BIOS - which runs on only one processor core and in real mode   
   - EFI/UEFI runs in protected mode.  It requires a special boot   
   procedure, and quite possibly the kernels on those DVDs were built to   
   support UEFI only without supporting the legacy BIOS boot mode - which   
   is silly, because the Linux kernel can easily support both modes in a   
   single kernel binary.   
      
   EFI is the first generation of this firmware.  UEFI is the second   
   generation and includes the dreaded "Secure Boot" facility which   
   Microsoft is pushing as a requirement for Windows 8 hardware   
   certification.   
      
   All computers or motherboards that carry the "Designed for Microsoft ®   
   Windows (tm) 8" stickers on them _must_ have an UEFI with Secure Boot   
   enabled.  So we can expect virtually all new motherboards to come with   
   an UEFI now, and getting that to work in native UEFI mode - on x86, they   
   also have a legacy BIOS compatibility mode - with any non-Microsoft   
   operating system is a pain in the butt.   
      
   --   
   = Aragorn =   
   (registered GNU/Linux user #223157)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)