href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>\r
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<p>Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update:\r
-6/27/2013, referencing rEFInd 0.7.0</p>\r
+3/1/2015, referencing rEFInd 0.8.7</p>\r
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-<p>I'm a technical writer and consultant specializing in Linux technologies. This Web page is provided free of charge and with no annoying outside ads; however, I did take time to prepare it, and Web hosting does cost money. If you find this Web page useful, please consider making a small donation to help keep this site up and running. Thanks!</p>\r
+<p>This Web page is provided free of charge and with no annoying outside ads; however, I did take time to prepare it, and Web hosting does cost money. If you find this Web page useful, please consider making a small donation to help keep this site up and running. Thanks!</p>\r
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<table border="1">\r
<tr>\r
<h2>Identifying Your Hardware's Capabilities</h2>\r
</a>\r
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-<p>Let's get the easy case out of the way: If you have a Macintosh with an Intel CPU, it's got EFI capabilities, and you'll be able to use rEFInd. Earlier Macs with PowerPC CPUs use OpenFirmware, and rEFInd can't be used with them.</p>\r
+<p>Let's get the easy case out of the way: If you have a Macintosh with an Intel CPU, it's got EFI capabilities, and you'll be able to use rEFInd. Earlier Macs with PowerPC CPUs use OpenFirmware, and rEFInd can't be used with them. If your computer shipped new with Windows 8 or later, it almost certainly supports EFI; Microsoft requires that computers that bear a Windows 8 logo support EFI, and boot in EFI mode.</p>\r
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<p>For everything else, it can be harder to tell. Your best bet is to locate a PDF version of your computer's or motherboard's manual and search it for the string <i>EFI</i>. Checking your firmware's options via the firmware setup utility (typically access by pressing Del, F2, F10, or F12 at boot time) is also worth doing, but you'll need to check every option yourself. Most EFI-enabled PCs include at least one reference to an option you can set; however, manuals and firmware setup tools often don't make a big deal of this feature, particularly on boards with relatively primitive EFI support. For instance, the manual for a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P motherboard includes the following paragraph, on p. 28:</p>\r
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<li>Launch a terminal program in GUI mode, or log in using text mode.</li>\r
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-<li>Type <b><tt>dmesg | grep EFI</tt></b>.\r
+<li>Type <b><tt>dmesg | grep -i EFI</tt></b>.\r
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</ol>\r
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<p>The result on a BIOS-based computer should be few or no lines of output. On an EFI-based computer, though, the output will be extensive:</p>\r
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<pre class="listing">\r
-[ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=dev000:\EFI\elilo\bzImage-3.2.7 root=/dev/mapper/nessus-g_root dolvm ro\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI v2.10 by TianoCore.org\r
-[ 0.000000] Kernel-defined memdesc doesn't match the one from EFI!\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI: mem00: type=7, attr=0xf, range=[0x0000000000086000-0x000000000009c000) (0MB)\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI: mem01: type=4, attr=0xf, range=[0x000000000009c000-0x000000000009d000) (0MB)\r
+[ 0.000000] efi: EFI v2.31 by INSYDE Corp.\r
+[ 0.000000] efi: ACPI=0x9cffe000 ACPI 2.0=0x9cffe014 SMBIOS=0x9cebef98 \r
+[ 0.000000] efi: mem00: type=3, attr=0xf, range=[0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000001000) (0MB)\r
+[ 0.000000] efi: mem01: type=2, attr=0xf, range=[0x0000000000001000-0x0000000000008000) (0MB)\r
...\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI: mem58: type=0, attr=0x1, range=[0x00000000fec00000-0x0000000100000000) (20MB)\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI: mem59: type=7, attr=0xf, range=[0x0000000100000000-0x0000000230000000) (4864MB)\r
-[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=dev000:\EFI\elilo\bzImage-3.2.7 root=/dev/mapper/nessus-g_root dolvm ro\r
-[ 0.844752] fbcon: EFI VGA (fb0) is primary device\r
-[ 0.853525] fb0: EFI VGA frame buffer device\r
-[ 1.061571] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17\r
+[ 0.000000] efi: mem62: type=11, attr=0x8000000000000001, range=[0x00000000ff980000-0x0000000100000000) (6MB)\r
+[ 0.000000] ACPI: UEFI 000000009cffc000 00236 (v01 LENOVO CB-01 00000001 ACPI 00040000)\r
+[ 0.632723] efifb: probing for efifb\r
+[ 0.634127] efifb: framebuffer at 0xa0000000, mapped to 0xffffc90021780000, using 8100k, total 8100k\r
+[ 0.634129] efifb: mode is 1920x1080x32, linelength=7680, pages=1\r
+[ 0.634130] efifb: scrolling: redraw\r
+[ 0.634132] efifb: Truecolor: size=8:8:8:8, shift=24:16:8:0\r
+[ 0.644648] fb0: EFI VGA frame buffer device\r
+[ 0.754748] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17\r
+[ 1.305636] fb: conflicting fb hw usage inteldrmfb vs EFI VGA - removing generic driver\r
</pre>\r
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-<p>I've actually cut quite a few lines from this output; there are a total of 60 <tt>EFI: mem<i>##</i></tt> lines on this computer. (Another of my computers has 148 such lines!) A BIOS-based computer will lack most or all of these lines, and certainly the <tt>EFI: mem<i>##</i></tt> lines. I've heard of some BIOS-based computers that produce the final <tt>EFI Variables Facility</tt> line, though.</p>\r
+<p>I've actually cut quite a few lines from this output; there are a total of 62 <tt>EFI: mem<i>##</i></tt> lines on this computer. (Another of my computers has 148 such lines!) A BIOS-based computer will lack most or all of these lines, and certainly the <tt>EFI: mem<i>##</i></tt> lines. I've heard of some BIOS-based computers that produce the <tt>EFI Variables Facility</tt> line, though.</p>\r
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<p>One caveat exists to these tests: It's possible to boot Linux in EFI mode but disable the EFI features that create the <tt>/sys/firmware/efi</tt> directory and the copious EFI output in <tt>dmesg</tt>. This can happen because your kernel was compiled without EFI support or because you've added the <tt>noefi</tt> line to your existing BIOS boot loader configuration. Some of these features will also be absent if the <tt>efivars</tt> driver is not built into the kernel and is not loaded as a module. Typing <tt class="userinput">modprobe efivars</tt> should load this module, so you might try that before concluding you've booted in BIOS mode. To the best of my knowledge, no major Linux distribution ships with EFI support disabled in any of these ways, so chances are your tests won't mislead you to thinking you're using BIOS mode unless you've recompiled your kernel or deliberately added a <tt>noefi</tt> parameter to your boot loader configuration.</p>\r
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<hr />\r
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-<p>copyright © 2012–2013 by Roderick W. Smith</p>\r
+<p>copyright © 2012–2015 by Roderick W. Smith</p>\r
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<p>This document is licensed under the terms of the <a href="FDL-1.3.txt">GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version 1.3.</a></p>\r
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