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Hi all, |
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|
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For the duration of my MSc thesis (and for my job) I have lent a laptop from my |
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university. This laptop happens to be a 2007 model Macbook (plus a new SSD, |
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since somebody else has the original drive because his data is still on there), |
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and chances are slim that I will be able to lend a different one for this long a |
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time period (6+ months), since the laptops are mainly there for conferences and |
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such. So I suspect I need to get *this* laptop to work. |
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|
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Now since I am productive with it, I wanted to install Gentoo on it but have |
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thus far failed. So here are my overall goals: |
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|
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- install Gentoo |
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- ideally ditch OS X |
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- boot using EFI instead of in BIOS compatibility mode (e.g., I read that this |
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is a requirement for getting suspend to work) |
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|
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So far, I have followed almost all steps of the installation guide (right |
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before restarting the system), supplemented with Macbook-specific steps I found |
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spread around the internet (see below), which boils down to setting up a GPT |
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partitioned disk with an ESP (EFI System Partition) and setting up GRUB2. The |
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problem seems to be to get the laptops firmware to find the ESP on the SSD. |
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Note that I did this *without* a prior OS X installation. |
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|
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I tried blessing the bootloader with an Apple USB stick (10.4) I also got from |
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the university, but that doesn't do anything (i.e., the installation doesn't |
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show up in the boot menu). Using efibootmgr also does not seem to work. |
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|
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I also tried formatting the ESP as HFS+ instead of FAT32 (it turns out parted |
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can do that). After a lack of results, the Apple "Disk Utility" then |
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reformatted back to FAT32, so I guess that wasn't the problem :) . |
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|
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Now I decided to try installing OS X and see if I can get it to work with |
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rEFInd, the fork of rEFIt (I set up some free space at the end of the SSD and |
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formated it as HFS+ from the OS X installation disk), but the installation of |
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OS X (10.7) is failing somewhat randomly. Sometimes it doesn't find the SSD, |
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sometimes it hangs during the installation (the progress bar stops and activity |
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from the DVD drive ceases). The farthest I got so far is to the end of the |
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installation, right before it should reboot, but then the ETA starts going |
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negative. |
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|
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*sigh* |
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|
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My search results on Google show that a lot of people just waited it out and |
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that it eventually finished installing (after it got to -20 minutes or -2 |
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hours) , but I just waited at least 10 hours in total. It then hung up after |
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I tried to reboot after it reported -12 hours :( . |
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|
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Before installing Gentoo I also tried installing OS X 10.4 from the |
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aforementioned USB disk, but the installation hung up after the reboot and |
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now every time I boot from it it gives me an "installation failed" message, |
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followed by the ever so helpful hint of "try restarting the installation", which |
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can't work, because quitting the installer reboots the system. |
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|
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So... that's a lot of semi-coherent narrative to take in, sorry :) . |
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|
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Right now I'm thinking that this really *should* work, I mean, the |
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firmware finds the System Rescue CD, which boots perfectly fine in EFI mode, so |
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why shouldn't my installation? |
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|
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Also, if anybody has any tips on getting this to work without an intermediate |
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layer like rEFInd, please speak up! |
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|
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So now the links I took my steps from: |
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|
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- This series of blog posts: |
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http://juliansimioni.com/blog/2012/03/14/installing-gentoo-on-a-macbook-pro/ |
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|
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- http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-6988228.html (referenced above), without |
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step 2 because SysRescueCD boots in EFI mode |
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|
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- I tried the grub2-install line from |
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https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/GRUB2#UEFI.2FGPT |
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|
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- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook#Arch_Linux_only tells me that I |
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most likely can in fact ditch OS X. |
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|
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- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook#Booting_directly_from_GRUB shows |
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that I probably do need to install OS X first and have it set up an EFI |
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System Partition for me in order boot directly to GRUB2, and not just if I |
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want to install rEFInd. |
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|
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- I tried the grub2-install steps from |
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https://plus.google.com/105450642479356031129/posts/F87vrsMtxz4, but they |
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didn't work either |
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|
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- I also tried the steps for setting up the ESP here: |
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http://glandium.org/blog/?p=2830 |
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|
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- I tried installing rEFInd in the fassion explained here: |
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https://astrofloyd.wordpress.com/2008/11/01/installing-gentoo-linux-on-an-apple-macbook/#Installing_a_Bootloader |
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|
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Well, hmm, after going through my sources I found a bit of information on |
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the Arch Linux wiki (see my sources below) that says that I need an EFI system |
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partition set up by the OS X installer in order to be able to boot into GRUB2 |
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directly. If that is correct, then what I need to do is get the OS X |
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installation working. |
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|
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I also want to apologise for the... complexity and perhaps lack of coherence of |
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this email but I'm sort of pressed for time (wasting time on the laptop instead |
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of working) and thought maybe somebody might have a reply while I'm sleeping ;) |
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(it's past midnight here). |
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|
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Greetings |
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-- |
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Marc Joliet |
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-- |
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"People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we |
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don't" - Bjarne Stroustrup |