[arch-general] Install Archlinux on HP Elitebook

[TechnoTux]

may be off-topic  but i came by this article to install and run arch on UEFI without grup:
http://www.alaux.net/articles/uefi-and-linux-killed-my-grub-and-that-s-good

22.12.2017, 20:14, "Eli Schwartz via arch-general" <arch-general at archlinux.org>:
> On 12/20/2017 09:45 AM, David Rosenstrauch wrote:
>>  More of a workaround than a solution, but I stopped using grub
>>  altogether once they upgraded to grub2.  (The complexity of the grub2
>>  config file as compared to the simplicity of the grub-legacy menu.lst
>>  file is what eventually turned me away.)  I've started using syslinux in
>>  recent years, and have been quite happy with it.
>
> Kind of offtopic for this thread, but "the grub2 config file is too
> complex" is not actually a valid reason to stop using grub... because it
> isn't even true in the first place.
>
> I blame grub-mkconfig for this, as an automated tool for generating
> grub.cfg without any user interaction at all, it is rather grotty. But
> to make a fair comparison with syslinux, refind, systemd-boot and
> others, you'd need to compare the quality of the grub-mkconfig
> autogenerated output to the quality of the
> (refind|syslinux|systemd-boot)-mkconfig autogenerated output.
>
> Oh, wait. None of those have any such tool, and you are *required* to
> write your own handwritten config. :p
>
> And in fact, you can do the same exact thing with grub2 as well!
> Consider my grub.cfg reproduced below, or Earnestly's example grub.cfg
> at https://ptpb.pw/mk7y (courtesy of #archlinux on freenode):
>
> ```
> set color_normal=light-gray/dark-gray
> set color_highlight=dark-gray/light-gray
> set menu_color_normal=light-gray/dark-gray
> set menu_color_highlight=light-blue/dark-gray
>
> set timeout=1
> set default=0
> set btrfsroot=53731b6e-8cce-467c-bf07-be1b04207846
>
> # Use UEFI's Graphics Output Protocol.
> insmod efi_gop
>
> menuentry "Arch Linux" {
>     linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=$btrfsroot rw
>     initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux.img
> }
>
> menuentry "Arch Linux Fallback" {
>     linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux root=UUID=$btrfsroot rw
>     initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux-fallback.img
> }
>
> menuentry "Arch Linux ck kernel" {
>     linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-ck root=UUID=$btrfsroot rw
>     initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux-ck.img
> }
>
> menuentry "Arch Linux ck kernel Fallback" {
>     linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-ck root=UUID=$btrfsroot rw
>     initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux-ck-fallback.img
> }
>
> menuentry "Arch Linux LTS kernel" {
>     linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts root=UUID=$btrfsroot rw
>     initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux-lts.img
> }
>
> menuentry "Arch Linux LTS kernel Fallback" {
>     linux /boot/vmlinuz-linux-lts root=UUID=$btrfsroot rw
>     initrd /boot/intel-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-linux-linux-fallback.img
> }
> ```
>
> Consider the simplicity of this grub.cfg. A couple simple variable flags
> for setting colors and timeout, then the dead-simple menuentry for
> booting, replicated a couple times for each kernel/initramfs I have.
>
> If you want, you can split out each menuentry into separate conf files
> and `source` them.
>
> And if you *really* want to get fancy, sure, grub has an *optional*
> shell language you can use for weird fancy stuff. It's hardly mandatory,
> though, just because the familiar Debian-style autogenerator produces
> obtuse content like all autogenerators.
>
> I hate when people spread this misinformed FUD about grub, but I suppose
> it is largely grub's fault for encouraging the use of beginner tools and
> making it seem intimidating to even learn how it works. :(
>
> ...
>
> Hmm, I think I will invest the time in updating the Wiki page. This
> travesty cannot continue, I must make sure people are well-informed.
>
> (Also people really should use grub. It's quite nice to have a
> bootloader which supports encrypted boot and loading kernels from
> basically any filesystem without having to mount the ESP as /boot. I
> also get to use a small 2MB partition for the ESP, which is possible if
> you format it as fat12 which technically isn't supported by the standard
> but chances are it will work anyway because of recycling filesystem code
> that supports both on a generic level.)
>
> --
> Eli Schwartz