Installing Debian on UEFI Systems: A Guide to GPT Partitioning

VK — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 17:00:00 GMT

In this post, I describe the process of manual disk partitioning for installing Debian 12 Bookworm or Debian 13 Trixie and the issues that can arise with a locked bootloader. Debian is, in my opinion, an excellent operating system. I particularly appreciate its two-year release cycle, which feels far more practical than e.g. Ubuntu’s six-month cadence.

The recent industry-wide push for UEFI makes it virtually unavoidable on modern hardware. On paper, the features like "the GPT partitioning scheme that supports disks over 2TB" sound like pure progress. In practice, however, the UEFI standard has been heavily shaped by large vendors like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. They have implemented features such as Secure Boot, which are marketed as security measures but often functionally serve to lock users into a particular operating system. This is why installing Linux on a machine with pre-installed Windows has become an unnecessarily difficult struggle.

This guide will show you how, in most cases, you can take back control of your computer from vendors like Microsoft, Apple, or Google. You’ll learn how to manually configure disk partitions, using the older MBR layout when appropriate, or the GPT scheme required by UEFI systems. The goal is not only to ensure that Debian installs cleanly and boots reliably, but also to help you understand what’s happening behind the scenes, so you're not left wondering why the installer made certain choices for you.

Why use Chrome and why not? Case insensitive CTRL-F

VK — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 20:00:00 GMT

Google Chrome started to dominate web browsers usage stats as of 2012 and as of 2023 its market share is over 60%. Its engine even made it into Windows default browser Edge. Regardless of whether you like it or not, Google Chrome is now the dominant web browser and one that's hard to avoid.

I'm basically a conservative user, so even though many people around me have switched to Google Chrome in recent years, I've resisted as much as I can and stuck with Mozilla Firefox. I don't know exactly when it was, whether it was when some streaming service's DRM didn't work in Mozilla or when my favorite Linux distribution started using Chromium as its default browser, but Chrome-based browsers have found their way onto my computer.

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Installing Debian on UEFI Systems: A Guide to GPT Partitioning

Why use Chrome and why not? Case insensitive CTRL-F