LMDE on Apple Mac?

[finjs]

Hello,

I'd like to install LMDE in a partition on my Apple Mac while keeping the other Mac OS partitions so that I can choose what OS to boot at startup, Mac OS or Linux Mint.

Has anyone tried or done that operation?

Thanks.

[cwsnyder]

I haven't done that operation, but I can see some pitfalls. First, I would use the Mac OS X disk utilities to resize your HFS partitions, as Linux doesn't handle them well. You probably will want to leave at least space for at least an 8G /, 2G swap, and 10G /home, or 2G Swap and 10G / with /home in the / partition for a minimal install with little room for /home folder. Anything smaller and you are looking at a Live install with little or no persistance.

As I stated in the previous paragraph, Linux at present doesn't handle journaling in HFS/HFS+, mounting the volumes read-only, as well as possibly breaking file permissions. For a common file swap area between the two installations, the present recommendation is to use an NTFS partition which one or the other installation will have to check periodically to make sure nothing goes strange in file allocations, since this check is not done to NTFS partitions automatically in either Linux or OS X.

[finjs]

A lot of information there, Thanks a lot. I've googled on the topic. Apple uses EFI instead of BIOS and it makes matters a bit different. I found out the following article that seems to have addressed the question. It explains how to do the operation with Ubuntu. Yet if LMDE doesn't properly handle HFS/HFS+, it may be impossible to duplicate it with LMDE.
http://lifehacker.com/5934942/how-to-du ... e-hardware

[zerozero]

you have an howto here >> viewtopic.php?f=197&t=67730&p=527383 (not very up-to-date but might give you some ideas)

[cwsnyder]

Actually, if you read the LifeHacker article, it does not mention sharing data between the two operating systems at all.

The drivers are the same between LMDE and Ubuntu for HFS.

[finjs]

Here is an update:

- Downloaded linuxmint-201204-xfce-dvd-64bit.iso
- Created linuxmint-201204-xfce-dvd-64bit.img with "hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o ~x.img ~x.iso"
- Made a USB installer with "dd if=/path/to/x.img of=/dev/rdisk bs=1m"
- Installed rEFIt to get choice of volumes to boot at startup. Can see the USB.
- Booted the USB, got the Linux Mint splash screen, the 10 s count down and a kernel panic at boot that I can't interrupt with any key.

I'm supposed to be able to interrupt booting with Alt or Ctrl keys to check the noapic option but no key works.

Any ideas?

[finjs]

I took rEFIt off and simply booted the Mac holding the Alt key down with the USB installer in. Mac OS Mountain Lion detects the USB as a bootable device and names it Windows (along with the Mac OS volumes). Then when I boot the USB installer, I get exactly the same result as when rEFIt was on, that is the LM splash screen, the 10 s count down and a kernel panic without any way to interrupt the booting process to check the noapic option. Incidently, is there a reason for the nopaic option not being a default option in the installer?

It doesn't look like rEFIt is needed any longer. Opinions?

I wish I knew how to interrupt the booting process...

[xircon]

Don't know anything about mac, but are you getting a grub screen with that countdown? If so press 'e' to edit the grub command line and add noapic there.

Steve

[finjs]

Thanks Steve. I was following step by step the tutorial I mentioned above and this one
http://maketecheasier.com/install-dual- ... 2012/08/27
that reads "On the rEFit screen, press the right arrow to select the USB installer, and press and hold the “Ctrl” button while the USB installer is booting up. (Note: Failure to do this step will result in kernel panic)"
The Ctrl key doesn't work. After my last message I tried the F6 key and it worked. The 'e' key identically works too. After adding the noapic option, LMDE booted and ran. But LMDE can't find my internet connection even though I'm connected with an Ethernet cable.

Keeping on.

A first outcome is rEFIt might not be needed any longer on the new Macs running Mountain Lion since the Apple EFI seems to allow to boot other OS than Mac OS now.

[finjs]

OK I eventually booted LMDE. I couldn't before because rEFIt was still on. I deleted it completely (there are two folders to clean). As long as LM is installed on the internal drive, rEFIt is no longer needed. Booting the Mac with the Alt key down shows a "Windows" volume to boot which is LM. At startup, the noapic option is needed again. Next problem: I don't have an internet connection, as it was the case with the USB installer.

A second outcome is "Guides and tutorials found on the internet are valid for little time." They do help but they can make you waste time too.