Windows Surface RT: There is a desktop?!

Last week i had the opportunity to use a Windows Surface RT tablet. For several month i am using a windows 8 laptop, which is equipped with a touchscreen. So i am used to the new tiles interface and i knew at least on laptops, you have the desktop-applications and the "tiles"-applications.
I was curious, how it feels to work without having "two worlds" of applications on a device...
But it was for me big suprise: If you install Microsoft Office on a RT device, you get the desktop back:

 On a tablet with a display size with 10.6 inches (27cm)? I tried to write a document and it wasn't easy to hit the right icons...
By saving the document it was astonishing, that i got a file chooser. From my Nexus 7 i was used to get no folder structures or similar things:

There are two problems with this desktop applications: If not in full-screen mode, you have to work with really small windows and resizing is very difficult and

 the applications are not shown in the application bar:

They are all summarized with desktop... There is no way to switch directly to your word application or powerpoint.  You have to move the desktop und then choose your Office application....

Dual-Boot on UEFI PCs: Booting Ubuntu only works randomly

In my posting about using ubuntu on a Windows 9 laptop, i ended with:

But now rebooting works like expected (with Ubuntu and Windows 8).

After some more reboots and trying to start ubuntu, booting ubuntu only works randomly. Sometimes it worked after walking through BIOS/UEFI. Sometime it did not work at all.
Even doing some more boot-repairs did not make any improvement.
Just give up and no ubuntu on this machine?
I found some strange things, which did not work either. But at the end there was one solution which worked:

Disable secure boot
Run boot-repair once again

.After disabling secure boot on BIOS/UEFI you have to run boot-repair until it really write grub once again (first execution asked for some additional packages to install and did not wrote grub).
Now the statement from the other posing could be done:

But now rebooting works like expected (with Ubuntu and Windows 8).

Linux and UEFI: Files, Mountpoints, Commands...

With Windows 8 secure boot is used. That means if you want to add a Linux kernel, this kernel has to be signed. After installing Ubuntu on a Windows 8 machine, here the directory listing of the /boot directory:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   844882 Okt  9  2012 abi-3.5.0-17-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    17402 Apr 21 18:48 boot.efi.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root        0 Apr 21 18:49 boot.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   147884 Okt  9  2012 config-3.5.0-17-generic
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root      512 Jan  1  1970 efi
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root     4096 Apr 21 18:45 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 23040071 Apr 21 16:33 initrd.img-3.5.0-17-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   176764 Jan  3 23:48 memtest86+.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   178944 Jan  3 23:48 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw------- 1 root root  2901710 Okt  9  2012 System.map-3.5.0-17-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  5129040 Okt 17  2012 vmlinuz-3.5.0-17-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  5130968 Okt 17  2012 vmlinuz-3.5.0-17-generic.efi.signed

The directory grub contains all files related to grub/grub2. The directory efi is a mountpoint:

/dev/sda3 on /boot/efi type vfat (rw)
/dev/sda3         258048   48975    209073  19% /boot/efi

This partition is a partition, which was created from Windows 8 and contains the following:

./efi/Boot
./efi/Boot/bg-BG
./efi/Boot/bg-BG/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/BCD.LOG
./efi/Boot/cs-CZ
./efi/Boot/cs-CZ/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/cs-CZ/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/da-DK
./efi/Boot/da-DK/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/da-DK/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/de-DE
./efi/Boot/de-DE/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/de-DE/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/el-GR
./efi/Boot/el-GR/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/el-GR/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/en-GB
./efi/Boot/en-GB/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/en-US
./efi/Boot/en-US/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/en-US/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/es-ES
./efi/Boot/es-ES/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/es-ES/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/et-EE
./efi/Boot/et-EE/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/fi-FI
./efi/Boot/fi-FI/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/fi-FI/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/fr-FR
./efi/Boot/fr-FR/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/fr-FR/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/hr-HR
./efi/Boot/hr-HR/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/hu-HU
./efi/Boot/hu-HU/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/hu-HU/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/it-IT
./efi/Boot/it-IT/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/it-IT/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/ja-JP
./efi/Boot/ja-JP/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/ja-JP/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/ko-KR
./efi/Boot/ko-KR/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/ko-KR/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/lt-LT
./efi/Boot/lt-LT/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/lv-LV
./efi/Boot/lv-LV/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/memtest.exe
./efi/Boot/nb-NO
./efi/Boot/nb-NO/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/nb-NO/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/nl-NL
./efi/Boot/nl-NL/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/nl-NL/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/pl-PL
./efi/Boot/pl-PL/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/pl-PL/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/pt-BR
./efi/Boot/pt-BR/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/pt-BR/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/pt-PT
./efi/Boot/pt-PT/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/pt-PT/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/qps-ploc
./efi/Boot/qps-ploc/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/qps-ploc/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/ro-RO
./efi/Boot/ro-RO/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/ru-RU
./efi/Boot/ru-RU/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/ru-RU/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/sk-SK
./efi/Boot/sk-SK/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/sl-SI
./efi/Boot/sl-SI/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/sr-Latn-CS
./efi/Boot/sr-Latn-CS/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/sv-SE
./efi/Boot/sv-SE/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/sv-SE/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/tr-TR
./efi/Boot/tr-TR/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/tr-TR/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/uk-UA
./efi/Boot/uk-UA/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/zh-CN
./efi/Boot/zh-CN/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/zh-CN/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/zh-HK
./efi/Boot/zh-HK/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/zh-HK/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/zh-TW
./efi/Boot/zh-TW/bootmgr.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/zh-TW/memtest.exe.mui
./efi/Boot/BOOTSTAT.DAT
./efi/Boot/Fonts
./efi/Boot/Fonts/chs_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/cht_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/jpn_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/kor_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/malgunn_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/malgun_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/meiryon_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/meiryo_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/msjhn_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/msjh_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/msyhn_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/msyh_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/segmono_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/segoen_slboot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/segoe_slboot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Fonts/wgl4_boot.ttf
./efi/Boot/Resources
./efi/Boot/Resources/bootres.dll
./efi/Boot/Resources/de-DE
./efi/Boot/Resources/de-DE/bootres.dll.mui
./efi/Boot/BCD
./efi/Boot/BCD.LOG1
./efi/Boot/BCD.LOG2
./efi/bootmgr
./efi/BOOTNXT
./efi/EFI
./efi/EFI/Microsoft
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bg-BG
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bg-BG/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bg-BG/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/boot.stl
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgr.efi
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/cs-CZ
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/cs-CZ/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/cs-CZ/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/cs-CZ/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/da-DK
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/da-DK/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/da-DK/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/da-DK/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/de-DE
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/de-DE/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/de-DE/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/de-DE/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/el-GR
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/el-GR/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/el-GR/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/el-GR/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-GB
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-GB/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-GB/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-US
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-US/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-US/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/en-US/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/es-ES
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/es-ES/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/es-ES/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/es-ES/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/et-EE
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/et-EE/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/et-EE/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fi-FI
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fi-FI/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fi-FI/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fi-FI/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fr-FR
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fr-FR/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fr-FR/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/fr-FR/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hr-HR
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hr-HR/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hr-HR/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hu-HU
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hu-HU/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hu-HU/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/hu-HU/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/it-IT
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/it-IT/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/it-IT/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/it-IT/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ja-JP
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ja-JP/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ja-JP/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ja-JP/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ko-KR
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ko-KR/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ko-KR/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ko-KR/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/lt-LT
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/lt-LT/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/lt-LT/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/lv-LV
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/lv-LV/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/lv-LV/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/memtest.efi
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nb-NO
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nb-NO/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nb-NO/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nb-NO/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nl-NL
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nl-NL/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nl-NL/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/nl-NL/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pl-PL
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pl-PL/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pl-PL/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pl-PL/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-BR
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-BR/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-BR/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-BR/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-PT
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-PT/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-PT/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/pt-PT/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/qps-ploc
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/qps-ploc/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/qps-ploc/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/qps-ploc/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ro-RO
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ro-RO/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ro-RO/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ru-RU
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ru-RU/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ru-RU/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/ru-RU/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sk-SK
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sk-SK/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sk-SK/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sl-SI
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sl-SI/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sl-SI/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sr-Latn-CS
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sr-Latn-CS/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sr-Latn-CS/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sv-SE
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sv-SE/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sv-SE/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/sv-SE/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/tr-TR
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/tr-TR/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/tr-TR/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/tr-TR/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/uk-UA
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/uk-UA/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/uk-UA/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-CN
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-CN/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-CN/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-CN/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-HK
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-HK/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-HK/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-TW
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-TW/bootmgfw.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-TW/bootmgr.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/zh-TW/memtest.efi.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/BOOTSTAT.DAT
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/chs_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/cht_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/jpn_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/kor_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/malgunn_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/malgun_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/meiryon_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/meiryo_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/msjhn_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/msjh_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/msyhn_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/msyh_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/segmono_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/segoen_slboot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/segoe_slboot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Fonts/wgl4_boot.ttf
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Resources
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Resources/bootres.dll
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Resources/de-DE
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/Resources/de-DE/bootres.dll.mui
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/BCD
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/BCD.LOG
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/BCD.LOG1
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/BCD.LOG2
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bkpbootmgfw.efi
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootx64.efi.grb
./efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootx64.efi
./efi/EFI/Boot
./efi/EFI/Boot/bkpbootx64.efi
./efi/EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi
./efi/EFI/ubuntu
./efi/EFI/ubuntu/shimx64.efi
./efi/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi
./efi/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg

.

Using Ubuntu on a Windows 8 Laptop: because of UEFI more problems as expected

Today i tried to install Ubuntu on a Windows 8 Laptop. First thing: you have to use 12.04 or greater because Windows 8 uses secure boot with UEFI.

But after the first boot with a USB-stick i got:

(initramfs) Unable to find a medium containing a live file system

?? - If you ask google you get something like: Do not use a usb 3.0 port... Great... There is no usb 2.0 port on my device....
So just trying around with a usb 2.0 hub  - does not work
Looking inside BIOS i found XHCI:

And after that Ubuntu is installed without any problems... (hmm - that is not really true: resizing the Windows 8 partition could not be done via Ubuntu installer - but just do this in Windows 8 - this will work without any problems).
Ok - end of this posting? Unfortunately not, because Windows 8 does not boot anymore.
I think this is ok ;-)
Asking Google gives the following solution: Just use Boot-repair.

sudo bash
add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
apt-get update
apt-get install boot-repair
boot-repair

And after that the grub menu looks like this:

But now rebooting works like expected (with Ubuntu and Windows 8).
[If you still have problems that booting ubuntu does not work on every startup, read here]