New laptop on order dual booting with Kubuntu?

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GIGABYTE AERO 16 OLED BKF 16" Gaming Laptop - Intel® Core! i9 RTX 4060 1 TB SSD
Is arriving next week. I wonder if anyone has experience with these newer generation laptops with dual-booting and the UEFI/TPM in place?
I would like to keep the Win 11 installed but will probably never use it.
Ideally I would externally clone the new M2 drive in the new laptop and stash it safely for emergencies then use a spare 2Tb M2 in it’s place, I have a few lying around. So maybe clone the new 1Tb to the 2Tb then try and install kubuntu on that. Any thoughts?

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What experience of dual booting Windows and Linux do you have? Why should newer generations of hardware make things easier or harder to dual boot?

The issues with hardware are still the same, in my opinion. Does Linux have the drivers for all the bits and pieces of the newer hardware? Linux developers are continually working hard to keep Linux firmware (drivers) up to date. Depending on the newness of the hardware the latest version of Kubuntu/Ubuntu may be needed.

The issues with Windows are still the same. Use Windows tools to resize, move, delete, create Windows partitions and Linux tools to resize; move; create, delete Linux partitions. Defrag Windows partitions before and after resizing partitions. Make sure Windows still boots.

There are rules to follow when dual booting Windows and Linux. Turn off Windows Fast Startup and BitLlocker.

Do you wish to dual boot with Windows and Kubuntu on the same drive or on separate drives?

Regards

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Hi graymech, thanks for your reply. I have a lot of experience dual booting Linux/Windows but mainly on older hardware using desktops. I do have an old Samsung laptop that has dual boot but this was initiated long before the days of secure boot and TPM were introduced.
As I said in my query, my intention is to remove the original new M2 drive from the laptop before even switching it on, clone that 1Tb M2 to one of my spare 2Tb M2 drives and then add a Linux flavour. That way I hope to retain the integrity of the original Win 11 installed and then work on the Linux system as my main O/S.

That’s the plan anyway.

Inxi report here of current desktop system, it’s pretty ancient mainly used as an HTPC with Mythtv as well as my daily desktop.

System:
  Host: linuxmint Kernel: 6.8.0-35240528-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.11 Distro: Kubuntu 24.04.1 LTS (Noble Numbat)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: STRIX Z270E GAMING v: Rev 1.xx
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1501
    date: 07/13/2021
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-7700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
    L2: 1024 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2345 min/max: 800/4500 cores: 1: 3400 2: 3401 3: 800
    4: 3100 5: 3100 6: 800 7: 3361 8: 800
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA TU116 [GeForce GTX 1660] driver: nouveau v: kernel
  Device-2: Conexant Systems CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video
    Decoder with 3D Comb driver: cx23885 v: 0.0.4
  Device-3: Conexant Systems CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video
    Decoder with 3D Comb driver: cx23885 v: 0.0.4
  Device-4: GEMBIRD Generic UVC 1.00 camera [AppoTech AX2311]

Cheers Tony.

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i have no idea how licensing works - but I unless you need complex graphical hardware stuff like ROCM or CUDA equivalent on (or on the non-free side; games that don’t run on Proton) Windows - why not virtualise?

KVM (via libvirt) is fantastic and when configured correctly feels snappier than windows ( probably not true; but not feeling trapped in windows has a liberalising function. )

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Hi - I used to run VmWare but since being bought out their pricing model changed for the worse under Broadcom so I have moved to virtualbox.

I have never tried KVM (and have only seen it mentioned a couple of times so have no experience with it).

I agree it has been liberating to move almost entirely away from Windows over the last decade. I used to need it to run my swimming Pool software when I lived in Perth, but since repatriating back to the UK I have only fired it up a couple of times, usually for running Spice (a pcb making app), the Linux equivalent doesn’t cut it.
The main reason I want to keep it instead of totally zapping Windows is in case a fault develops in the laptop in the future. I can then return it to its pristine state for service.
Cheers Tony.

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UEFI is a definite improvement over old-fashioned Legacy BIOS

  • Using GPT allows 128 partitions
  • Partitions easier to manage (they are all primary)
  • Support for large storage devices

TPM (FTPM, PTT, TPT) & Secure Boot

  • Windows 11 will boot with TPM or Secure Boot enabled or disabled
  • Ubuntu 24.04 as above
  • TPM enabled can prevent a Linux distro from booting
    e.g. 2021 Lenovo 11.6" Netbook

As a home user, I disable TPM and Secure Boot because this type of “Tamper Evident Seal” does not afford me any extra protection.
It’s essential to always apply OS security patches.

I imagine that TPM and Secure Boot would be mandatory in a corporate environment with shared, often unsupervised PCs.

In a nutshell, embrace UEFI with GPT
Secure Boot and TPM - user choice

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Thanks for this,
I am very familiar with UEFI, GPT and their merits.

I am not so sure about the ramifications of the latest iterations of TPM and secure boot and in particular the zeal with which Microsoft is implementing them.

I appreciate your clarification.
Tony.

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If you’re running certain PC graphics cards, hardware, or operating systems such as Linux or previous version of Windows you may need to disable Secure Boot.

The text above is found in a Microsoft article
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/disabling-secure-boot?view=windows-11
Microsoft themselves recognise that there are situations where Secure Boot is an impediment.

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