UEFI

 

 I installed several Linux distributions on my dynabook N40, and among them, Ubuntu install USB can work as Live Linux. So I can try out Linux as is. Ubuntu is very convenient because it recognizes Wifi as default for dynabook N40, whereas other distributions often Wifi does not work at first stage. That is  ,of course , Ubuntu is the leader of Linux for clients. It is a long time ago when we had to spend a whole night compiling kernels and modules with different options to install devices that were not recognized by default (:-).

So the installation of Ubuntu on the dyanbook N40 ended easily, but when I disconnect the USB and rebooted, to my surprise, it did not boot properly (;_;). The "System Reset" message appeared for a moment on the startup screen, and then the system just kept rebooting.
I have investigated various things, and it seems to be related to the UEFI. The transition from the old BIOS to UEFI is progressing, but the dynabook N40 is a product from the early days of UEFI and does not seem to be very sophisticated. I tried several countermeasures such as tweaking GRUB2, using repair tools, and of course, changing UEFI options, which I could find on the net, but none of them worked.
I had no choice but to try various distributions other than Ubuntu, such as Slackware and Arch Linux, but that didn't work either. CloudReady, which is supposed to be based on Linux, was able to boot from the dynabook storage without any problems, so there must be a solution to this problem.

Install Linux

 

I installed CloudReady on my dynabook N40 and it runs crisply as a free version of ChromeBook and I can listen to music using bluetooth speakers. It is very comfortable, but there are rumours that CloudReady will be completely merged with ChromeOS in the near future and that crosh will also disappear.

On the other hand, I want to use the command line to do github and many other things. I've always loved the shell, command line and vi (:-), but as I get older, I'm thinking more and more that I don't mind using GUI (:-). But if there is no command line at all, for example, how do you do git with a GUI?　I get lost (laughs).

So, after a long time, I downloaded an ISO file of a Linux distribution, and using dd from CloudReady's crosh to created a boot USB. After rebooting, as usual (:-), I hit F12 repeatedly, booted from the USB and installed Linux.  That means it is farewell to CloudReady (:-), even in very short time. 

It had been a while, so I installed several distributions while doing some research. I actually tried Slackware, Arch Linux and Ubuntu. Each of them installed fine, but in conclusion, I gave up using all but Ubuntu because the wifi network on my Dynabook N40 could not work. The installation process may have been wrong, but this time I did not go into too much detail about that for now.

So, for the second time in more than ten years, I am now an Ubuntu user (:-+).