Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:22:31 -0600 From: "James R. Van Artsdalen" <james-freebsd-current@jrv.org> To: David Demelier <demelier.david@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BSDInstall: merging to HEAD Message-ID: <4D391817.5050107@jrv.org> In-Reply-To: <4D38AB1F.8090308@gmail.com> References: <4D309563.1000404@freebsd.org> <4D38AB1F.8090308@gmail.com>
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On 1/20/2011 3:37 PM, David Demelier wrote: > Why does the installer use GPT partition by default? Do you know that > GPT is not supported on every (even modern) computer ? GPT is fully compatible with the universe of PC/AT BIOS-compatible computers, which is essentially all "PCs" going back to the IBM model 5170 released in 1984. GPT contains a valid boot sector which is sufficient for a PC/AT-compatible to boot the OS. There's also a valid MBR should anyone look for that. There have been reports of computers with buggy BIOSs that fail with GPT. It's not clear how to make them work since they're failing with a *valid* MBR, i.e., the failure indicates they fail with some correct MBRs and we can't be sure they'll work even if we write an MBR instead of GPT. PS. In a previous life I did PCs. Every system I released after 1988 or so would work with GPT. It's hard to get this one wrong and still be PC-compatible./ /
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