On 2020.10.15 15:19, Jude DaShiell wrote:
On Thu, 15 Oct 2020, Jack wrote:
> On 10/15/20 1:28 PM, Jude DaShiell wrote:
> [snip...]
I just found out efi variables are not available on my new system.
portage is also upset. !!! Repository 'x-portage is missing masters
attribute in '/usr/local/portage/metadata/layout.conf' !!! !!! Set
'masters = gentoo' in this file for future compatibility
> >
> > I don't know what to do to clear this error.
>
This sounds like two separate issues. For the second, do exactly
what it says. You need to edit
/usr/local/portage/metadata/layout.conf to say "masters = gentoo".
I don't remember doing this on my system, but I do have an emacs
backup of that file without the "gentoo" on that line, so I
obviously made the edit. I wonder if that needs to be added to the
handbook.
>
On the other issue, what do you mean that efi variables are not
available? Is the system purely BIOS? That is certainly possible
if it is an older motherboard. If the system does support UEFI, are
you sure it is set in the BIOS?
>
The uefi isn't set in the bios. I'm not about to alter bios since
screen readers don't talk when that's being done.
I think you have two choices here. It seems your motherboard is
capable of booting in either UEFI or BIOS mode, but the default (or at
least current) setting is BIOS. You can have someone sighted enter the
BIOS setup for you and switch it to UEFI mode, or you can just stick
with BIOS mode. In some sense, that's actually simpler, since you
don't need an ESP/EFI partition. If your disk is formatted with an MBR
partitioning scheme (max four partitions, although one can be extended)
you will have no problem. However, and I have no experience here,
although some systems can boot in BIOS mode to a GPT partitioned disk,
there may be extra hoops to jump through. I'm sure others will chime
in with additional information.
Note that if you stick with BIOS booting, then you won't have any efi
variables, but in that case, you shouldn't need them.
Jack
