Re: Installing Linux on a Mac Mini without OSX
Brian wrote:
>I was recently given a Mac Mini (Intel Mid 2007) that had been wiped.
>
>I tried to install Debian (Wheezy) on it, and the installer reported success, but
>when it came time to eject and reboot, Debian didn't boot from the hard drive.
>
>Googling finds me various pages about installing Linux where one of
>the steps is something like "Boot into OSX"
>
>Is there a way to install Debian/Linux on this machine that doesn't
>involve buying or borrowing (or "borrowing") a copy of OSX? Is it
>easier to install linux on a USB disk and run it off of that?
>
>Two particular subtasks that I may need to do that seem to require OSX:
>1) "Blessing" a partition
>2) Checking what version of firmware it has (some versions have BIOS
> compatibility)
>
>Any pointers/suggestions?
Hi Brian,
You might be in luck - I'm looking into installer stuff right now and
I've literally just got an Intel Mac Mini like yours last night to
play with. To the best of my knowledge, the Mac Mini you've got *is*
EFI capable, but doesn't work in quite the way we'd normally expect.
To confirm that, could you try the wheezy installer CD again for me please?
If it has booted in BIOS mode, it should look like
http://www.einval.com/~steve/images/installer-bios.png
If it has booted in UEFI mode, it should look like
http://www.einval.com/~steve/images/installer-efi.png
(note the different font, the word "UEFI" and the GRUB command line
mentioned at the bottom).
Which of these does it look like, please?
--
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK. steve@einval.com
"...In the UNIX world, people tend to interpret `non-technical user'
as meaning someone who's only ever written one device driver." -- Daniel Pead
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