One of my housemates asked me to install Linux on her brand-spankin'-new notebook, a MEDION Laptop AKOYA E14223 Intel Celeron N4120. Lots of words and numbers, but it comes down to this: affordable, not bad for a low-spec laptop and Medion is notoriously good with Linux.

The method of working was planned as this: stick in Linux bootable USB-stick, start laptop, F2 to the BIOS, turn off Secure Boot, change order of booting (USB first) and off you go! Yeah, right. That was not the actual case that happened. It gave me a black-screen and thought I heard someone in the laptop scream "Windows or go home!". Which is, of course, not the right thing to say to me.

Restore to factory settings: did not help.
Restore to set-up settings: did not help.
Importing EFI file: did not help.
Starting with a Linux distro that is known to have a valid signature (Ubuntu): did not help.
Importing Ubuntu EFI file: did not help.
Redo all of the above with different distro's: did not help.

Only option left, but not my favourite one: installing Windows and maybe trying it from within Windows. That one is currently going on, because Microsoft has to install loads of bloat and telemetry to make peoples' lives just a tad more miserable. After the installation was done, I was asked to choose my preferences of how Windows would run: with or without targeted advertising. Seriously? Without meant: advertisements that are not "personalized". Assholes.

Part of the plan was to make a bootable USB-drive from within Windows and I needed third-party software (hahaha) and while the first tries (without Windows) went on, I've been reading about Rufus. Installing Rufus has a storyline of its' own, i.e. it's not from the Microsoft store, so it was "illegal" and "dangerous". After looking through all kinds of options and misdirections, I was able to install Rufus and, thank Odin, able to run it.

First try, making a bootable USB: insert thumbdrive, start Rufus, say UEFI only, FAT 32 (hahahaha) and make bootable. Did it work? Hell no, of course not. Why would it work? And so I tried the hybrid-version, with MBR and UEFI and the MBR-only version, but to no avail.

This is where I gave up. It's not my computer and would I go deeper into the subject and try out more destructive methods for breaking free the machine, it could be not working anymore. A risk I can not take in this case.

Is Medion, after this adventure, still notoriously good with Linux? Yes, I think so, but Microsoft made computing such a closed and proprietary venture in this case, that I am doubting my opinion. I have never encountered such utter bullshit and I think it is ethically wrong to treat paying customers like that. The matter of freedom of choice comes to mind, for instance. Furthermore I am daring to say that Microsoft forces people to use their excuse for software, because otherwise no one would just buy it of the shelf.

I recommend before buying a computer, laptop, netbook or notebook, to inform yourself thouroughly via the internet (forums for instance) to see if a machine will run Linux, with secure boot on or off, and check also if you have the option to buy it without any OS. The latter would be my advise. For regular home users without any knowledge about computing and never heard of open source computing: either inform yourself or godspeed!

This is the very last time I have touched anything Microsoft and will never help anyone who has troubles using or installing it. I do not care for their inferior "choices" (in life).

Linux über Alles!