Just wondering what the “go to” configuration/ingredients are for installing Linux on a Mac. I’m interested in using the rEFIt or rEFInd bootloader/boot menu as well.
The following is from my experience with various Distros on a MacBook Pro late 2011:
Debian or Ubuntu are the easiest to get Broadcom WiFi working. Fedora and CentOS have bad support for bcm 4331 and openSuse had weird issues during installation, making it impossible to install from USB. I would recommend against CSM/BootCamp installation if your Mac is old enough to support it. The system volume chooser does detect Grub2 if you copy the grubx86.efi file to /boot/efi/EFI/bootx86/bootx86.efi. rEFInd is able to deal with EFI executables if you prefer it over Apples Volume chooser. (You can set your default boot volume with ctrl+return, no need to boot macOS)
Other then that Apple support has come really far on Linux. Modern Desktops support the F-keys without messing with mactel, keyboard backlight as well.
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Right so heres steps for you:
Get ISO
Get www.etcher.io
Make usb with etcher
Download rEFIt and burn to disc (or USB, really your choice but I like to have it on a CD so that I can hold C and hit enter to get back to OSX [windows fucked my boot] and I have 2 CD drives in my mac pro so fuggit)
Skip bootcamp because its a pile of shit
Open disk manager and shrink any partition on a disk where you want linux installed. (diskman>drive>partition>shrink with the circle)
Reboot and boot in to the linux USB (with either refit or the apple efi. Either will work pre-install)
Install to your black space
Reboot to your rEFIt disk
Boot whatever OS
Or at least thats been my experience.
Dont forget the kbdlight package for linux
It installs a daemon for the backlight keyboard
After getting it type kbdlight up into terminal to activate
Repeat the process for more light awesomeness also kbdlight down should also work if you run low light to save power
According to their wiki, installing Arch on some Macs works as well.
So, the general “go to” place for installing Linux on a Mac, would probably be the repsective forum/wiki of the chosen distro.
I can confirm. Arch linux works but antergoes is a good option for macs because it will setup the EFI partition for you and it works with apples boot menu.
I put slackware on my macbook pro(2009); rEFI works great. Everything worked except the keyboard light control. I also put win7 on it once… the macbook pro disc came with the drivers, which i thought was strange.
Yeah, I can’t get rEFIt or rEFInd to show up. I’ve installed them, and nothing happens upon restarting. It’s really starting to piss me off. I’ve been at this for a while now too. Additionally, when I try to add Ubuntu to the mix, Windows won’t boot.
No. Does it have to stay disable for triple booting, or can it be turned back on?
The weird part about this is, is that I did a successful triple boot with Fedora, but when I use Ubuntu, it just fucks everything up.
Pretty sure it has to stay off, but not 100%. I generally keep it off if I’m doing anything other than running macOS or Windows in Bootcamp.
I would turn it off until you get everything where you want it and then see if re-enabling it breaks anything.
Thanks, I’ll add it to my troubleshooting notes. I have one last idea that might just work, but I feel like it will break the Ubuntu install.
What hardware are you installing on?
Macbook Air 2017
Try this after installing rEFI… open a terminal
cd /efi/refit
./enable.sh
Yeah I already tried that one too
I asked Wendell, but I don’t know if he’ll join in.
I can’t get Ubuntu to show up in Start Manager. I’ve tried installing the bootloader to the EFI and the Ubuntu partition, it succeeds, but the boot option for Ubuntu just doesn’t show up. No idea what to do.
edit-I noticed that once Ubuntu is done installing from the USB, that it’s able to boot to the Ubuntu partition on its own.
I vaguely remember having to reboot twice to get rEFI to show up on the mac, after installing…
Tried that as well.