UEFI firmware and getting FreeBSD recognized by default: who to talk to?

[Thomas Mueller]

from Karl Denninger and my previous post:

> > This is scary (Bitlocker), sent me to Wikipedia to look up Bitlocker.

> > Can you turn Bitlocker off after turning it on and get your system back?
> You SHOULD (better have!) kept the recovery key.  If you have it, you
> can boot with it.  Then turn it off and back on, and it will generate a
> new key.
> > Now I am even more scared to ever get a computer with MS-Windows!
       
> > One think on my mind is if I need a new motherboard, would it have the undesired Secure Boot?  I guess I'd have to ask the seller and look on the motherboard manufacturer's website (MSI, ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte, or other).
       
> > I have no Secure Boot now.
> Probably.  But you can shut THAT off (and should) provided you wish to
> dual boot.  The exception is ARM-based systems, many of which are
> secure-boot ONLY.  For Intel machines I've never run into one that can't
> have it turned off (and I'd return it immediately if I found one.)
> > I am trying to set up UEFI to boot my FreeBSD and NetBSD installations, and later, Linux.

> Tom

> Easy.  Refind should do that and allow selection from a menu.

Can one recover after losing the recovery key?  I think I would want to avoid Bitlocker from the outset (malware!).

I was thinking about AMD Ryzen if I need to replace motherboard.  I would need a new CPU with any new motherboard, Intel or AMD-compatible, would also need new RAM (DDR4, I now have DDR3), and probaby a new case.

But I would keep and transfer any hard drives that are still good.

Can rEFInd find and boot FreeBSD, NetBSD, Haiku, etc?

I don't see any refind, however partially capitalized, in FreeBSD base system or ports, or NetBSD base system or pkgsrc.  I find efibootmgr now in FreeBSD, but not NetBSD, base system.

I would want to label boot options with the partition label (like WD2G18, WD2G19, WD2G20, WD2G21, and others) so I can see on the boot menu.

I also notice it is difficult to choose the root partition when booting UEFI.  I could create a zero-byte or very small file in root directory with the partition label name, like /WD2G18 on partition WD2G18 just to show up with ls.

Tom