We will be seeing more hard disks larger than 2 TB, and more of (U)EFI, so GUID partition tables (GPT)will become more common.
It seems openSUSE does not handle GPT all that well, with BIOS or (U)EFI.
On reading the GPT fdisk tutorialI note, as one example, the following 3 quotes are from Booting from GPT in the “Installing to (U)EFI” section, (unfortunately openSUSE doesn’t fare much better in other areas of this doc’ either.)
- OpenSUSE 11.4 converts legal GUID partition tables into hybrid MBRs. Worse, it does it incorrectly—the hybridized partitions are all one sector too small! You can correct this problem after installing OpenSUSE by using the n option on gdisk’s experts’ menu.
- The OpenSUSE 11.4 DVD installer lacks two critical packages (elilo and efibootmgr). Therefore, the installation can’t complete unless you manually install these packages from some other source.
Although, openSUSE is not alone with problems here,
Ubuntu 11.04 has an extremely serious bug that causes it to erase any existing ESP, thus wiping out any existing boot loaders or other files installed there. Be sure to back up your ESP before you install Ubuntu to a (U)EFI system!
On the other hand,
Fedora 15 installed relatively painlessly for me on a “real” UEFI test system; however, its modified GRUB Legacy kicked the system into a resolution that was too high for me on a VirtualBox UEFI installation. Switching to GRUB 2 fixed that problem (but I had to fiddle with the GRUB 2 configuration file to get it to work).
And,
Any Linux distribution with appropriate EFI and GPT support in the kernel can be switched from BIOS-mode to UEFI-mode booting or vice-versa by installing a suitable boot loader and adjusting the firmware’s boot mode. This fact can be used to work around some of the more serious installation problems: Install in BIOS mode, install an EFI boot loader, reconfigure the BIOS, and reboot.
But, shouldn’t this be made easier, a few fixes, a modified GRUB and extra options perhaps?
Well, just a thought!