rnd0 wrote:
I may be confused but I always thought that the uefi insulates you from the hardware in a way that bios doesn't. If I'm right, then you would want to learn how to use bios hardware for the sake of experience?
EFI does not "insulate" from the hardware in any meaningfully different way from BIOS.
Both BIOS and EFI offer abstractions over reading from unspecified block storage devices, abstractions for reading keyboard input, abstractions over text output to a display, and abstractions over setting video modes. The way these abstractions are provided is very different, yes, but they offer the same fundamental functionality.
BIOS loads your payload in real mode, EFI loads your payload in protected mode or long mode (depending on the system) and a minimally-specified flat memory layout. Both install interrupt handlers and initialize devices themselves, and both will happily sit on the sidelines as you trash memory, install your own interrupt tables, switch execution modes, and so on, only guaranteeing their abstractions work so long as you stick to their interfaces.