Suggested option for the DVD Installer

[Nathan Whitehorn]

Such an option exists already: in the installer partition editor, choose 
the disk you are installing on, press "Modify", choose MBR (or GPT or a 
disklabel, or whatever you want), then partition as you like or press 
"Auto". If this isn't in the handbook, it should be.

What motherboard/BIOS is this, by the way? I'm trying to make a list of 
systems with problems. Machines that can't boot from GPT are usually EFI 
systems (which should work with the EFI media) and fail to boot because 
they think GPT means EFI. Older pure-BIOS systems shouldn't have 
problems -- you can boot 386s off of GPT without issue. There are a 
couple of exceptions (some Compaq BIOSes, if I remember right), but it 
would be nice to know what they are.
-Nathan

On 11/20/14 02:03, Rob Diamond wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
> I would like to suggest an option for an MBR install on the current 
> 10.1 DVD installer image. Some background:
>
> I'm a refugee from the Linux systemd wars.
>
> I have been running Gentoo for 10-15 years, but finally got fed up 
> with the problems of keeping my system up to date. If I left the 
> system for a couple of months then any attempt to upgrade 
> something/everything would block because of intertwined dependencies 
> and the fast pace of updates to packages. So a few months ago, after 
> trying various other Linux distros I installed Linux Mint. It's dead 
> easy to install, sound, video, printers work pretty well out of the 
> box. But I hate the complexity of everything, and the way it's 
> starting to look like Windoze:
>
> - grub2, with its unreadable config file and convoluted set-up and 
> update (Yeah, I know I could RTFM, but I don't want to waste a couple 
> of hours working out how to change some settings when I'll forget in a 
> couple of days).
> - the "quiet, splash" default boot option, with the mindless jiggling 
> logo instead of being able to see what's going on.
> - the byzantine complexity of systemd (Yeah, I know I could RTFM, but 
> I don't want to waste a couple of months working out how to change 
> some settings when I'll forget in a couple of seconds).
> - etc, etc
>
> BTW I'm NOT a FreeBSD noob. I started off installing 386BSD on a PC-AT 
> (if there's anyone here young enough to remember that !), and I've got 
> the Walnut Creek CDROMs for FreeBSD 2.0 and 2.2 in my bottom drawer.
>
> However, I had a problem getting FreeBSD to install on my "test" PC. 
> The motherboard is a few years old, and the BIOS has no clue about GPT 
> partioning. I first tried the default install, but (and it takes a 
> long time to boot and install off DVD) after rebooting my BIOS 
> couldn't find an OS. I tried Googling for a clue, but as usual the 
> problem is that there's way too much information out there and most of 
> it is not current. So next I tried partitioning with gpart and setting 
> up an MBR disk, but I kept getting complaints about the partition not 
> being 4k aligned. So then I tried using the "Expert mode" patitioning, 
> but I put a swap partition first, so.. no boot. Finally I found 
> something that said to make sure "/" was the first partition, and 
> (after re-booting and installing for the umpteenth time) I was in 
> business.
>
> It would have been much easier if there was a default MBR partioning 
> option, with a label saying something like "MBR partitioning for older 
> hardware", which would give installers a clue, and which got the user 
> going with the first (or second) install.
>
> We can't afford to put people off by making it difficult to get their 
> first installation running - once you have a working system it's 
> easier to learn about various aspects of the OS. But expecting 
> inexperienced people with older hardware to be able to work out how to 
> partition an MBR disk is unrealistic. They'll just give up and go back 
> to something like Ubuntu.
>
> My 2 cents worth.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Rob Diamond.
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