Ok, I reread your first post, and you say that gparted isn`t available, how so? Anyway, here are some alternatives, I do not know which is the "best", guess it is a matter of taste.

http://alternativeto.net/software/gparted/?platform=linux

You're right - it is available. (DOH!)

Running it, I see that I have a legacy BIOS (i.e. non-UEFI) system, after all.
Anway, it turns out that on this PC - when I put in the Wattos R10 CD and press PF12 to show Boot Options -
it shows 2 entries for the CD: one has the suffix L and the other EFI. Selecting "L" gives me a legacy (BIOS) install,
no errors. 
What I normally do is chuck in the CD and let the PC run run through the boot order list, so EFI must have been
the default that I ended up with, and which gave me the original error.
Problem solved (after a fashion..)

Hi, folks

I was trying to install R10 on an Acer X3990 desktop PC ("use entire disk"),and kept getting this message.
I spent several hours reading about UEFI and trying to switch to legacy BIOS - but no such options exist on this machine.
Out of desperation (Lubuntu 14.10 had been on it) I tried installing a small distro that was conveniently
handy(ANTIX 15) then tried a dual-boot install and this time it worked!???

Can someone explain this to me (I'm clueless).
I can only assume that Antix loaded grub, so Ubuntu didn't have to?

Also can someone tell me what software I can download to look at the partitioning, as gparted isn't available?.

I'm happy with the bodge for now - I just want to know what is going on (apart from M$ trying to make life difficult if you don't buy their products)

The machine I am writing this on is a single-core Pentium 4 2ghz running WATTOS R6 LTS.
I also have a dual core machine plugged into the TV for watching downloaded films etc.

As time goes by I'm noticing how even the dual core machine seems sluggish on some web pages.
The single core machine is of course worse, often struggling when scrolling in EBAY, for example, and
when copying files around. I no longer bother to keep it up-to-date because updates take so long and are so heavy on the CPU.

I have a couple of old P3 machines which are still useable for office/playing audio/forum-ing (at a pinch) but I've not had them plugged in for ages. They really can't cope any longer - I think it's as
much to do with the graphics chip as the CPU. Then again, my technical knowledge is very limited.
For that reason, while I like to use Linux to resurrect old machines that can't handle Winbloat
I need the security of an LTS if I am to give the machine to someone else with even less
technical knowledge than myself. Plus there is sometimes an advantage in having current software: e.g. I found, during the Adobe flashplayer virus fiasco, that the version of GNASH
in 14.04 actually worked (after a fashion) whereas the version in 12.04  did not work at all.

A year or two ago, looking on EBAY, most of the bargain basement machines were single core - now
there is little demand for them because there are so many secondhand dual-core machines for sale.
 
From my point-of-view single core P4's are only borderline usable (the CPU &/or graphics chip may be too slow for the proposed usage)

P3's are antiques - but there are plenty of antiques lovers out there, so each to his own


 

Hello all,

I have set up Synaptic to accept only Security patches - i.e. I have unticked the "recommended updates" option.
(The reason for this is that when VLC got an update I had to re-apply I fix I'd already made and this
is a P.I.A to keep doing. Also I plan to give this ancient Dell Machine away to someone who little-or-no
PC skills)

My question is - is this likely to create any problems further down the line?