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Topic: Simplifying boot with rEFInd (Read 689 times) previous topic - next topic
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Simplifying boot with rEFInd

Simplifying Boot with Syslinux got me interested in "lightweight alternatives to unnecessarily complicated GRUB", but syslinux did not work out for me.  rEFInd made a poor first impression, but after some customization I like it.

The installation is 1.88MiB.  Running refind-install produces the /boot/efi/EFI/refind folder, 1.2MiB, half of which is icons, and a UEFI boot entry.  I installed alongside grub, then after a trial period removed grub and artix-grub-theme (33.6MiB).

By default, rEFInd scans "conventional locations" for efi files and Linux kernels with EFI stub loader support and builds a menu. My first menu looked cluttered: it had 7 items, including grub, artix and windows, but not my frugal install of antiX in /. Tools (reboot, bios setup etc.) are displayed on a second line of smaller icons. Unwanted icons can be removed with the delete key.

The  refind.conf file is thoroughly remarked.  Editing it allows customizing the boot menu; for example "scanfor manual" restricts the menu to manually-entered OS stanzas.  I have three, artix, antiX and W10, based on examples given in refind.conf.  My file is only 25 lines after removing unused options and remarks.  :D There is no equivalent to update-grub, no files in /etc, no incomprehensible "do not edit" grub.cfg file, just edit and save refind.conf  :D 

It says here that full-disk encryption works with rEFInd. 

I hope this brief plug is useful.  Thanks to @stradjer for the syslinux how-to and apologies for stealing the title.