this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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You know that stuff that appears on the screen before the operating system? That is the computer's firmware. Sometimes it shows a brief memory check, sometimes it has a silly error message like "No keyboard detected. Press F1 to continue." Sometimes it's just a big image of the motherboard's manufacturer's logo. That firmware exists independently of the operating system, and will run even if you don't have any operating system installed.
Most people refer to the firmware as the "BIOS", but technically, BIOS refers to an API between the firmware and the operating system. About a decade ago, some people decided that "BIOS" was going to be replaced by "UEFI", and operating systems would start having a new way to boot. What ended up happening is: the firmware on all recent computers supports both UEFI and BIOS interfaces (and everyone still calls it "BIOS"). Recent Windows versions seem to only boot in UEFI mode, but most Linux distros can boot in either UEFI or BIOS mode. The GRUB bootloader can also start itself up in either UEFI or BIOS mode.
USB live operating systems are limited in size and may have less functionality than other operating systems, so maybe they are only able to boot in one method or another. Try looking around in the firmware (or "BIOS" if you prefer) to see if you can change the boot method to allow both UEFI and BIOS operating systems.
It may help if you can take a picture of some of the firmware's boot configuration menus.