Setting up an ASUS notebook for dual boot

NOTE:  this from 2013 – it is still interesting to me.

 

From: an older sibling

Sent: Sunday, June 2, 2013 8:04 PM

I got the new notebook working with Linux! Here is the compilation of the notes I made along the way. Now I need to figure out how to turn the touchpad off - it appears that the function key does not work in Linux.... I will be in Detroit the next few days on a job. g

Setting up an ASUS K55N notebook for dual boot

Installing Kubuntu to dual-boot on a new Windows 8 notebook

 

The Platform: ASUS K55N notebook, AMD A8-4500M quad core processor operating at 1.9 GHz, 4 Gib RAM, 500 Gib hard drive, and Windows 8. From that, even though it was not obvious in the literature, you can determine that it is running a 64-bit OS and the main board has the infamous UEFI "Secure Boot" system. (Microsoft requires all computers sold with Windows 8 to use Secure Boot, and Windows 8 is a 64-bit OS. A little research shows that 32-bit operating systems cannot run on UEFI Secure Boot hardware.)

 

First try: I installed an Oracle Virtualbox virtual machine (VM) into Windows. Then I installed Ubuntu 12.04.02 (64-bit for AMD) in the VM.The biggest problem noted was speed - the lack of it. It ran about the same as on my ancient Pentium 4 PC. 

 

One advantage of the VM approach it that it is easy to undo: just use the Windows "Add & Remove Programs" application from the Control Panel. The other advantage is that you don't have to mess with the "Secure Boot" owner interaction prevention system. 

 

My second attempt was to go for dual boot, using Kubuntu 12.04 (64-bit for AMD) as a "lighter" alternative to Ubuntu - and it gets away from that horrible Unity system. Reading the available literature indicated both that dual-booting could not be done successfully and that lots of people have done it successfully. The big key seems to be success in finding and disabling "Secure Boot" so that you, the owner of the machine, can actually do what you want with your machine. 

 

The first task was to find out how to access the relevant settings. As this is a UEFI machine, it does not have a traditional BIOS ROM exposed, and no function key to press during boot. Also, the "how to" is generally undocumented by the hardware manufacturer. (Microsoft doesn't say anything about it either, because that's hardware and they are a software company.) On this machine, 

• Start the computer and let it go into Windows normally. 
• Use "Add & Remove Programs" to remove the ASUS "Instant ON" feature. (I am leaving out everything I went through to discover that little item.) 
• Go to Windows Settings: hover at the upper or lower right corner of the screen, then when the fly-out menu appears click on the gear icon. (Microsoft calls the fly-out menu "charm" - I refuse to.)
• Select Settings, then Change PC Settings, then General, and then Advanced Startup. The computer will restart. 
• A "Choose an Option" screen will appear during the boot process. Select Troubleshoot, then Advanced Options, then UEFI Firmware Settings. The computer will restart. 
• This time you should get something that resembles a traditional BIOS screen. (It isn't, but it looks & works like one.) Go through the screens and do these: 

• Enable Legacy Mode
• Enable Launch CSM
• Disable Fast Boot
• Disable Secure Boot 
• In the boot options, choose the DVD drive and set it to boot first.
• Put the Kubuntu Live-CD in the drive and close it. 
• Press F10 to save settings & exit. The computer will restart. 

If all goes well it should boot to the operating system on the CD. At that point I set it to install Kubuntu alongside the existing Windows system, and just let it do what it needed to with partitioning. 

On subsequent boots you will get a multiple choice selection screen. The "real" operating system (Kubuntu) is at the top of the list, so just press Enter - or do nothing for 10 seconds or so. The first time you will have to go through a lot of software updating, but that's pretty normal these days, unless you roll your own. 

Compared to my old Intel Celeron powered HP notebook (yes, the one that died in the middle of a five-day job on the other side of the country!) or my ancient Pentium 4 desktop, this system is blazing fast. 

I am keeping Windows on the box mostly from an excess of caution. First, I'm sure I don't yet know all of the evil interactions between the UEFI Secure Boot and Windows - I don't want to take the chance that completely removing Windows 8 might "brick" the system. After all, the only way I know to get into the UEFI settings is through Windows! Also, there are some software developers who produce desirable products but for Windows only. If I want one of those, and it won't run in the WINE environment, then I might need to use Windows.

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Then there are those developers who have products for Mac OS-X (built on the Linux kernel) and/or Google Android (built on the Linux kernel) but insist they don't support Linux systems!

I use Evernote and Box - and a few other applications - all of which have clients for Windows, Mac and Android - but not for other major Linux distributions such as Debian, Red Hat and their derivatives (Like the *Ubuntu family.)