Four ways to install Linux on a Windows 8 PC

Microsoft's RTM version of Windows 8 believes that many people have tried it, and if installing Linux on a Windows 8 PC is difficult, what should we do? Here are four ways to do this.

Start Linux on the UEFI

First, you need to start Linux on the UEFI. With the exception of Macs, few PCs use UEFI to replace the BIOS, so people are less concerned with starting Linux from Uefi.

Now, many people who want to run Linux on a Mac use the Compatible support module CSM to provide emulation of the BIOS on the Mac. This is cumbersome and poorly run and can be worse on a secure Boot Windows 8 pc.

There are other better ways. The best way to do this now is Rod Smith's efi-booting Ubuntu on a Mac guide. Other, such as Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-hartman's technique is also worth a try. The biggest problem is the secure Boot.

Protect startup and Linux security

Ideally, Microsoft and its partners would deploy secure Boot in the way Linux Foundation said, to facilitate Linux installation, but that would not happen.

So, we have three different ways of replacing. At this time, also do not know which one can succeed. May eventually be used. This is a bad thing, but as Microsoft continues to dominate the field, Linux developers have to work hard to do it in the toughest situations.

First of all, Linux developers need to deal with this problem. James Bottomley of the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board released the Intel Tianocore Uefi startup code and code that some Linux programmers can use to eliminate the Secure boot limit for Windows 8.

Intel Tianocore is an open source image of the Intel Uefi. Until recently, the mirror did not have Microsoft's authentication code for secure boot, and now it has this feature. Delivering this functionality to developers has greatly expanded the crowd using Uefi Secure boot.

This allows programmers who have no access to UEFI security boot hardware to have a "virtual platform to experience their solutions." But this is a dilemma choice, do the security boot of the Tianocore firmware only a few weeks, the signature tool has not appeared, so there is a long way to go.

Even so, developers using their own security accessories to lock up the virtual platform for security, this is a big step for developers using their own keys to use UEFI security.

One way: Create a UEFI Secure boot key for some versions. This approach is also canonical to Ubuntu. Some people, such as the Free Software Foundation, hate this approach.

Fedora, Red Hat's community Linux version decided to use Microsoft's key signature service VeriSign. So in Fedora's plan, Fedora will use Microsoft's system to create its own Windows 8 system, compatible with the UEFI security boot key.

Of course, in many open source circles, this approach is like a cloud. Red Hat developer Matthew Garrett defended it, saying: "It's cheaper than any of the options available." It is compatible with a large number of hardware and allows Fedora to avoid having privileges over other Linux.

Frankly, as the Ubuntu creator Mark Shuttleworth, no plan can be perfect, but "the flaw in Secure boot is designed to eventually authorize Microsoft's keys on every PC." Secure Boot's inability to support multiple signatures on key elements means that this option is limited, but we have been pursuing a good result. ”

Of course there is another way: use open source hardware and software. This, of course, is a result that Linux PC Open-source vendors are happy to see.

With Uefi's secure boot, Linux versions do not need to be signed with Microsoft or use their security boot. It would be nice to start a computer with open source boot mode. Indeed, Uefi's secure boot is implemented at the original device manufacturer level, and all newly purchased PCs have secure boot.

So Open-source vendors will definitely not want to disable or use Fedora and Ubuntu methods. Disabling can be, but disabling some of the features that protect security is silly. For the long run, the 2012-year machine keyboard that runs Linux is simple at first, but then becomes more complicated. It also has a significant impact on OEMs. The worry is that desktop Linux is too difficult for new users, and will gradually worsen Linux's decline.

To summarize, here are some of the things that Linux does today on Windows 8 PCs:

You want the OEM to disable secure boot during the pre-boot period. If so, installing Linux on a Windows 8 PC is no more difficult than on a Windows 7 system. However, this option is not available on the Windows RT arm system.

Using Linux, such as Fedora, you can use Microsoft's own Windows 8 signing tool to provide a secure boot compatibility key.

Using Linux versions, such as Ubuntu, will itself provide secure boot compatibility keys.

Discard Windows 8 systems and use open source hardware.

Some Linux distributions, such as openSUSE, do not yet know how they should handle the situation.

So far, you don't know how to run Linux on a Windows 8 notebook or desktop. It depends on how the OEM is going to handle secure Boot.