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    "New" Dell Inspiron has secure boot

    Just an FYI. I just got off the phone with Dell Sales support to make sure of some details about the "New" Inspiron 15R I was about to buy. I was told "all" the new corporate and retail machines came with secure boot. It is enabled by default, but has the option to disable in BIOS. The forums will be a fun place when people start trying to get Linux on most newer machines. Also Dell no longer supplies install discs. This was always a plus. I got one three years ago with my current laptop. Now you have to buy them.
    Klaatu Barada Nikto

    #2
    Originally posted by 67GTA View Post
    "all" the new corporate and retail machines came with secure boot. It is enabled by default, but has the option to disable in BIOS.
    Both of these attributes -- secure boot enabled, and the ability to disable it -- are mandated by the Windows 8 certification requirements for x86 and x64 devices.

    Originally posted by 67GTA View Post
    Also Dell no longer supplies install discs. This was always a plus. I got one three years ago with my current laptop. Now you have to buy them.
    Direct your ire squarely at the hardware manufacturers, for it's their decision to do this, not Microsoft's.

    Originally posted by 67GTA View Post
    The forums will be a fun place when people start trying to get Linux on most newer machines.
    I hereby volunteer my services for helping any and everyone disable secure boot and return their machines to a fully self-owned state. (That is, to the extent that I can without actually purchasing such hardware myself!)

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      #3
      hmmmm... Maybe a new forum board needs to be started for just this situation?

      Comment


        #4
        I like that idea. I'm on a bus now; when I get situated in my office, I'll create a new forum.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by SteveRiley View Post
          I like that idea. I'm on a bus now; when I get situated in my office, I'll create a new forum.
          Done.

          http://www.kubuntuforums.net/forumdi...EFI-assistance

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            #6
            Well, it has
            Insyde H2O bios, but no secure boot options. It is set up with traditional bios. I guess they haven't implemented secure boot yet.
            Klaatu Barada Nikto

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              #7
              There shouldn't be a true UEFI without a mechanism to disable secure boot. Is there an EFI subdirectory anywhere on the hard drive, possibly contained inside a BOOT subdirectory? Can we see screenshots of the Insyde config pages?

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                #8
                It didn't have any special boot directory. I was looking for it after reading your UEFI thread before installing Kubuntu. It had a fat32 "Dell Utilty" partition for diagnostics, a recovery partition, and a Win7/ntfs partition. They are gone now They won't let you use the recovery image now to do a clean install without the crapware, so I nuked everyting and started over with a Win7 ultimate/Kubuntu Quantal dual boot. The bios options are strangely sparce though. I'll snap some shots tomorrow and post them.
                Klaatu Barada Nikto

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                  #9
                  My Acer 1420p laptop has a BIOS by Insyde, which I had never heard of before. It, too, has very few configurable options. I can't grok why PC manufacturers want to hide so much of that.

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                    #10
                    https://plus.google.com/photos/11129...L-bipPmocOLowE
                    Klaatu Barada Nikto

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by SteveRiley View Post
                      My Acer 1420p laptop has a BIOS by Insyde, which I had never heard of before. It, too, has very few configurable options. I can't grok why PC manufacturers want to hide so much of that.
                      "This ain't Burger King Toto. You "can't" have it your way!" >
                      Windows no longer obstructs my view.
                      Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
                      "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

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                        #12
                        An interesting BIOS update issued 10/25 actually has given me the option to enable UEFI. I'm guessing it was baked in, but not implemented yet? I prefer the legacy BIOS anyway.
                        Klaatu Barada Nikto

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                          #13
                          It's more likely that you've had UEFI all along, and it was simply running in BIOS compatibility mode without a mechanism to switch to UEFI mode. The update removed the "cloak."

                          I'm not aware of any instance where BIOS can be completely reflashed with UEFI.

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