[ubuntu-uk] heads up - Secure Boot Problems for Linux Users Are Here Already

[Michael Holmes]

On 31 October 2011 09:58, Robert Flatters <robert.flatters at gmail.com> wrote:
> This will be a growing problem, if there is no step processes in place to
> get UEFI turned off you HP Guy will have big problems in the coming months.
> I fear Microsoft is trying to lockout Linux from installing on new machine.

UEFI isn't something you "turn off". It's a new loader for PC systems
that replaces the BIOS - and for good reason. The BIOS works in 16-bit
real mode, is slow to boot, and cannot boot hard drives over 2TB -
which is now an issue. It also has very limited facilities to
interface with hardware, hence why BIOS screens look like TTYs for the
most part.

You're confusing UEFI with the proposed UEFI "security standard" that
is Secure Boot. They're not the same. UEFI alone does not prevent you
from booting into Linux.

Imagine that you want to buy glasses, and that the frames are
UEFI/BIOS/whatever, and the lenses are operating systems.

BIOS is like the old pair of frames you have that are a bit bent and
scuffed, and generally becoming unfit for use. UEFI is like a new,
stylish and modern set of frames. These new frames might not fit the
old lenses, because of the different shape, but soon new lenses will
hit the market that fit it. You are *not* being actively prevented
from changing out the lenses at will.

Secure Boot is different - imagine these new frames had a lock on
them, and you had to go to an authorised vendor to fit in new
authorised lenses. That lock is the equivalent of the UEFI Secure Boot
initiative. Your freedom to change the lenses has been taken away,
most likely under the pretence that "lenses not certified for use
with" these frames could "cause damage to your eyesight". In both
cases, anti-competitive actions are being disguised with good
intentions.

HTH,
Mike