On 12/28/25 9:20 AM, Joe wrote:
On Sun, 28 Dec 2025 09:10:33 -0600 Richard Owlett <[email protected]> wrote:I've been a computer _user_ since early 60's [undergrad E.E. student]. I have used multi-boot since the days of Squeeze. I wish to grok multi-boot. I currently default to Debian 12 , other options are available. After doing some years overdue disk housekeeping, I wish to *ADD* a clean install of Trixie. Some of the housekeeping will be for re-purposing some existing disk partitions. To safely do that, I need to know the details of the power on boot sequence and what files are used. I'm carefully not asking specific questions as decades of tech support (in another field) has taught me that "wrong questions" can cause as much grief as "wrong answers" ;{First question: BIOS or UEFI booting? This is at hardware level, before the OS is involved. Completely different boot system.
I assume BIOS as machine is a Dell Latitude E6410 {IIRCC introduced ~15 years ago}. GParted reports partition table as "msdos".
Is there a way to double check on a running machine?
