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I'm installing a GNU/Linux system; specifically, it's antiX GNU/Linux 19.3. I'm on a rather old system - from around 2000, and it's a 32-bit processor.

Now, if I just go through the installer and only set values it asks me for, it seems grub2 gets installed so that, at the grub prompt, I only see (hdN disks, not (ata . IIANM, that means only the BIOS is used to access disks, not the drivers which grub2 could be equipped with.

Is there anything I can do during the Linux installation to ensure grub2 is installed with the relevant drivers?

Note: This question stems from an issue which came up in another question of mine.

einpoklum
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1 Answers1

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If your distribution's installer provides an option for it, it could be as simple as ticking a check box "use direct ATA support in GRUB" or something similar in the installer's "install a bootloader" screen.

But if not, most Linux installers offer a root shell on another virtual console. You could wait until the installation is almost done and the installer has configured a standard version of the bootloader, then pop into a shell, chroot into the newly-installed OS and re-run the GRUB installation process using grub-install --disk-module=native <any other necessary parameters>.

You would then have to find out a way to override the distribution's GRUB package update procedure to do the same automatically (or just ensure the automatic GRUB reinstallation on package update will not happen), or else you might some day find that the distribution has released an updated version of GRUB, it has been auto-reinstalled using default --disk-module=biosdisk and you're now subject to the limitations of the old BIOS you tried to avoid... and if a necessary GRUB module, kernel or initramfs file happens to be now located outside the BIOS-supported area of the disk, your system will suddenly no longer boot on its own.

einpoklum
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telcoM
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  • Could you provide an actual example that we can read about or try of a system that doesn't boot if GRUB is left alone to its default settings ? –  May 09 '21 at 04:21
  • It seems that biosdisk is related to Live Images https://www.linux.org/threads/understanding-the-various-grub-modules.11142/ –  May 09 '21 at 04:23