full disk install

[Member Ampersand]

I wanted to install antix 21 on entire disk (which is the only one in the device)
I partitioned it like this:

NAME       MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
loop0        7:0    0   1.3G  1 loop /live/linux
sda          8:0    0 465.8G  0 disk 
├─sda1       8:1    0   256M  0 part 
└─sda2       8:2    0   465G  0 part 

Disk /dev/sda: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD5000BPKT-7
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 0501B9A3-19A9-464B-9356-3AD6D20E2007

Device      Start       End   Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1    2048    526335    524288  256M BIOS boot
/dev/sda2  526336 975702015 975175680  465G Linux filesystem

Model: ATA WDC WD5000BPKT-7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  269MB  268MB  fat32              bios_grub
 2      269MB   500GB  499GB  ext4

However when I choose Customize disk instal and use ESP for sda1 and root for sda2 I received such a window with a warning (attached)

I understand I might have made some mistakes above, but I also wonder if
Can antix be installed without grub at all? Do I need to install grub even if there is no other OS than antix installed?

• This topic was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Ampersand.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Ampersand.
• This topic was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Ampersand.

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[Member PPC]

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Ampersand wrote:

Do I need to install grub even if there is no other OS than antix installed?

Yes, you do.

If you have nothing else on your hard drive that you want to keep, just use the default option to install to the full hard drive…
You also probably should create a swap partition, at least the size of your RAM.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by PPC.

[Member Ampersand]

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Thanks, so let’s sort out now how to exactly customize partitions. Swap is a different story, I will use a swap file, so irrelevant now.

Is it the correct question How should sda1 be prepared (flagged) in my case?

[Moderator caprea]

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I’m still confused when looking at this. Do you want to boot in UEFI mode or BIOS mode?
If UEFI you need a partition,like you created ,formated as fat32, bootflag set to boot, mine is set to boot and esp, mounting point is /boot/efi
If BIOS, you need for BIOS + gpt table, a partition not more than 2mb and NOT formated, bootflag bios_grub.

[Member Ampersand]

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I see, but I am also confused. I changed flags and the layout is currently:

Model: ATA WDC WD5000BPKT-7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  269MB  268MB  fat32              boot, esp
 2      269MB   500GB  499GB  ext4

I don’t mind BIOS, but I prefer UEFI. With the layout above, I still get the warning screen as above (https://www.antixforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2127-choose-part.png)

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[Moderator caprea]

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OK, no we are both confused. Did you update the installer before you tried to install?
sudo apt update && sudo apt install --reinstall antix-installer

and then try the installer again.
I wonder if one could ignore the message and choose continue.

Edit: There’s also the possibility to try the cli-installer.
Or wait, might someone else knows what’s going wrong here.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by caprea.

[Member Ampersand]

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caprea wrote:

I wonder if one could ignore the message and choose continue.

Yes I did it once. It resulted in a disk that could not boot.

Anyway, should I reformat sda1 to FAT32 as then there is the possibility in an active mount point input field to set mount point to /boot/efi as you suggested.

[Moderator caprea]

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Yes, I would try that.
It’s really important to update the installer, there have been bugs, that got corrected.

[Member Ampersand]

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I updated the installer(and it is slightly different now)(see attached image – “mount options” renamed to “Options”), but the warning window still appears after clicking “next” (/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2127-choose-part.png).
Can anyone guide me through this?
What is the proper partition layout to custom disk layout option within the installer? (any help page on this?)
@caprea – How did you arrive to install yours, as with the updated installer there is no more option to edit mount point when choosing “ESP/fat32” for sda1?

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[Member Ampersand]

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I skipped the warning, proceeded clicking “NEXT” and was pleased to find an option to add GRUB on the next screen. After installion the disk got bootable and GRUB boots allowing to boot antix afterwards. However GRUB got installed on MBR, so I guess sda1 is useless now. Greyed-out option on the attached screen. As said above, if GRUB is necessary, any way to install GRUB on ESP instead of MBR?

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   bios-on-mbr.png
   

[Moderator caprea]

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On the installed system please
sudo parted -l
You can see which partition table is used

ls /sys/firmware/efi
If the folder efi is found you are using UEFI.

If it’s UEFI with MBR partition table an ESP partition is nevertheless required.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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There ARE multiple ways to install operating systems on a disk, whether it is a solid state drive (SSD), removable drive, such as a USB drive, CD or DVD drive, or a physical, rotating hard disk drive (HDD). The classical way to install before new techniques were invented was this:

The starting point was a BIOS (firmware, Basic Input/Output System/Subsystem). Partitions were created and logical file and directory names, such as /, /root, /boot, /usr, etc. were assigned to physical locations, typically associated to devices listed under /dev, such as /dev/hd, /dev/sd, etc. usually with numbers added that corresponded to logical partition names.

The next evolution was the use of device, group, and user ID values – usually UUID is used, such as UUID=”ced9c231-2616-4423-ae13-de0d613eea06″, and PARTUUID=”c6c57119-8616-4004-bf58-fbe630d06772″. These can be used with either the BIOS method or the newer GPT.

What does GPT drive mean? Master Boot Record (MBR) disks use the standard BIOS partition table. GUID Partition Table (GPT) disks use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).

You can still use either an MBR or a GPT. If you use GPT, you must use UEFI.

I hope this helps distinguish between the technologies. A search engine can help you read more about any of these terms until you can understand them better.
Unless your system is so old that it won’t work with GPT and UEFI (and it comes with an OLD BIOS firmware, I recommend using a group ID partition table, (GPT) and the UEFI that replaces the old BIOS method.

--
Brian Masinick

[Moderator caprea]

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Something to read
Installing Operating Systems on UEFI Systems

[Member aluma]

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Ampersand wrote:

I skipped the warning, proceeded clicking “NEXT” and was pleased to find an option to add GRUB on the next screen. After installion the disk got bootable and GRUB boots allowing to boot antix afterwards. However GRUB got installed on MBR, so I guess sda1 is useless now. Greyed-out option on the attached screen. As said above, if GRUB is necessary, any way to install GRUB on ESP instead of MBR?

Sorry, off topic…
Why do you need EFI?
It is more practical to make a separate partition /home. Then, when you reinstall the OS, the home folder will remain unchanged, with all links, documents, and so on. Otherwise, with the inevitable formatting of the / partition, everything will be lost.
This is my computer, two root partitions for the OS and a common home.

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[Member Ampersand]

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see yourself…

$ sudo parted -l
[...]
Model: ATA WDC WD5000BPKT-7 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 500GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End    Size   File system  Name  Flags
 1      1049kB  269MB  268MB  fat32              boot, esp
 2      269MB   500GB  499GB  ext4               legacy_boot

$ ls /sys/firmware/
acpi  dmi  memmap

BTW I appreciate all the input above even if a bit off topic. I see the discussion is close to the outcome allowing to install GRUB on EFI System Partition.

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