[PARTIALLY SOLVED] Installing Ubuntu 13.04 on a Toshiba Satellite C55-A laptop

[chris]

On 06/10/13 10:00, Jim Byrnes wrote:
> On 10/05/2013 02:58 PM, Jim Byrnes wrote:
>> On 10/05/2013 02:43 PM, Nils Kassube wrote:
>>> Jim Byrnes wrote:
>>>> Just got the above mentioned Toshiba laptop yesterday.  Would like to
>>>> install Ubuntu on it next to Windows 8 without activating Windows 8.
>>>
>>>> It booted but not to the normal screen.  I saw a non-graphical screen
>>>> with 3 selections Install Ubuntu  -  Try Ubuntu & Test media. I choose
>>>> Try Ubuntu and it booted to a command line:
>>>
>>>> Obviously a graphics problem.
>>>>
>>>> Specs say: Processor and Graphics
>>>>              AMD Quad Core A6-5200 Accelerated Processor with AMD
>>>> Radeon™ HD 8400 Graphics
>>>>              2.0 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache
>>>>
>>>> Googling on the HD 8400 and linux produced this hit:
>>>>
>>>> http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst13-8LINBetaDrive
>>>> r.aspx
>>>>
>>>> Which talks of a beta driver that supports this chip.
>>>>
>>>> So it seems there is no way to test Ubuntu on this machine before
>>>> installing it. Is that correct?
>>>
>>> I think you shouldn't expect that it would work after you installed 
>>> this
>>> version of Ubuntu. If the LiveDVD doesn't support your graphics
>>> hardware, it is unlikely that it would work with the installed system.
>>>
>>> As your graphics hardware is rather new, I would suggest to try the 
>>> beta
>>> version of Ubuntu 13.10 or wait until the release of 13.10 (next 
>>> week?).
>>> The article above talks about kernel 3.10 support and Ubuntu 13.10 uses
>>> kernel 3.11, so it may work with Ubuntu 13.10.
>>>
>>>
>>> Nils
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Thanks Nils, looks like 13.10 offers the best chance of sucess.
>>
>> Regards,  Jim
>>
>>
>
> Couldn't wait.  Downloaded and burned the 13.10 beta.  It boots up to 
> a fully fucntional Unity desktop.  Going to wait for the offical 
> release before attemting to install it.
>
> I still could use some guidance on wether or not it is possible to 
> install Ubuntu next to Windows 8 that has not been activated.
>
> Thanks,  Jim
>
>
>
Short answer yes, providing your Bunutu distribution suports uefi boot.  
Google for ubuntu 1310 and uefi boot with win 8