Hi Daniel, On 22/06/13 18:25, Dan062 wrote:
one more question... That Lenovo laptop you are using below, does it have a Windows 8 logo on it???
I recently purchased an Asus laptop to quickly replace my existing broken hardware, and it claims to have came preloaded with Windows 8. It has the new Windows 8 logo on the menu keys, and a Windows 8 logo on the bottom of the device (which actually seems to have been printed on the plastic, as opposed to being a sticker).
So my Queston is: does that mean that all these new laptops are not by Microsoft definition Windows 8 certified, and are running the non UEFI bootable version of Windows 8 (ie box set equivalent) (hence Toby being able to boot his Lenovo laptop without secure boot enable), and are not actually implementing secure boot and would therefore boot any version of Linux perfectly? Also, most manufacturers have pretty much given up on Windows 8 certification and UEFI anyway? Which kind of makes sense, since what it all means is being able to put a small Win 8 Sticker?
The first thing I did after taking the laptop out of the box was open it up and replace the HDD with the SSD from my previous laptop, which also already had a perfectly good Debian GNU/Linux installation that I wanted to keep. After doing this, I was surprised the machine wouldn't immediately boot. I had to go into the BIOS and change a few settings, such as one which enabled some kind of legacy boot mode (and was not clear that it needed changing at all), and another which disabled Secure Boot. After these steps, the laptop works great and I haven't had any problems. I'm typing this e-mail on it. Having said that, I'd suggest considering places like ThinkPenguin to get a guarantee of hardware compatibility and avoid paying the Microsoft tax - if you can wait for international shipping. Pioneer Computers, and possibly Dell will also ship you machines with GNU/Linux, but they may require proprietary drivers to work correctly if you aren't careful. As James pointed out, also make sure you don't get mixed up with Windows RT (basically a version of Windows 8 for ARM). Windows RT certified hardware *is* required to be locked down (unchangeable Secure Boot keys) and will surely give you trouble. Cheers, Adam