Debian on HP T620 terminal - hints

README.md

Installation tips

I use only Debian and net-inst image to install linux, and I use text install 😄

• When partitioning primary disk where will be Debian installed, create first partiton of size 256-512M as EFI System partition - this will set this partition as Bootable, and FileSystem=vfat .
• Don't forget about swap partition if you have not much too much RAM (at least of size of RAM), I usually create 4-8GB as 2nd partition on disk.
• You can optionally create partition for /boot that have about 1-2GB , FS=ext4,
• Or just use whole disk as / , FileSystem=ext4 - I almost always choose this setup - it's the most optimal.

Terminal won't boot Debian(linux)

If your terminal (T620 in my case) don't want boot freshly installed Debian then your terminal have crippled BIOS
(I think most terminals have this problem actually) - bios have hard-coded what (and where) efi file to look for.

Those crippled BIOSes look for file in EFI Partition:

EFI/boot/bootx64.efi

You need to create this path and copy grub binary (and rename it) to match path & filename that bios looking for.

Solution to fix this can be done:

1. at last step of install (when you get asked to reboot),
2. After running debian installer again (after reboot), go up to stage of setting up disk & partitions and then switch to anoter terminal...

If you choose 1 option then you'll need to remember what your disk have device name and which partition number is EFI parttion (it should be first one).

Fix T620 boot

Switch to another terminal e.g. 2nd one CTRL+F2 (or 3rd F3, etc...).

Get list of disks and partitions - it won't work if you want to do this at end (option 1) because installer will unload already fdisk , so you have to remember where you have EFI parttiton.

fdisk -l

(If you get fdisk: not found then you have to remeber where is EFI partition)

EFI partition should be first and smallest (around 256-512M), filesystem FAT16/32 or EFI System (in my case it's sda1)

~ # fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 119.24 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors
Disk model: SK hynix SC311 S
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 312C13F0-C108-4F70-9718-918EE40A9A4E

Device       Start       End   Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1     2048    999423    997376  487M EFI System
/dev/sda2   999424   8812543   7813120  3.7G Linux swap
/dev/sda3  8812544 250068991 241256448  115G Linux filesystem

[...]

Now we need to mount it, create directory and copy grub efi file to path that bios is looking for:

First mount EFI partition:

~ # mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt

Next, go to EFI directory (I also check what I have there with ls too):

~ # cd /mnt
/mnt # ls
EFI
/mnt # cd EFI
/mnt/EFI # mkdir boot
/mnt/EFI # ls
boot    debian
/mnt/EFI # ls debian
BOOTX64.CSV  fbx64.efi    grub.cfg    grubx64.efi    mmx64.efi    shimx64.efi
/mnt/EFI # cp debian/grubx64.efi boot/bootx64.efi
/mnt/EFI # cd /

If you didn't get any errors then it should work after reboot, now umount partition and flush buffers using sync .

~ # umount /dev/sda1
~ # sync

Now you can go back to terminal with installer (usually it's 1st terminal, use Ctrl+F1 to switch back) if you fixed this at end of install.

If you're running installer again then just type in console: reboot to reboot already.