Install rEFIt in OS-X
Download rEFIt from here: http://refit.sourceforge.net/
Install rEFIt and make sure it is working (you should get a boot chooser on startup)
Use Bootcamp or Disk Utility to create a partition at the end of the disc. Don’t worry about what format, just make it the size you want for LMDE and your swap partition.
Install LMDE from the Live DVD
Boot the LMDE Live DVD. Use gparted to delete the partition you just made in OS X. It should be the last partition on the disc and follows after the HFS+ partition (OS X). Deleting it will leave an area called unallocated. This is free space, and exactly what you want. Use gparted to manually partition the space on your drive for Ubuntu. First create a SWAP area of about 1GB. Then the rest of the unallocated area format as EXT4. Apply changes and take note the label of the EXT4 partition such as /dev/sda3.
Start the LMDE Installer from the desktop icon. When prompted, choose to manually partition. Select the EXT4 partition and click change. Select to use the space as EXT4 and root (/) as the mount point. You will also want to check the box to format the partition.
At the end of the installation process, the installer will ask you where you want to install GRUB. The standard location is the MBR (SDA) do not install GRUB in the MBR. Install it on my main LMDE partition (SDA3).
Reboot when done with the install, and in the rEFIt menu, choose the partition tool. It will attempt to sync the partition tables on your disk. Then SHUTDOWN the computer (not reboot), and start it again. You should be able to boot to LMDE now. If it seems to freeze on the tux logo, completely shutdown again and try one more time.
Configuration Tips
Wireless cards can vary between MacBook models. The MacBook 4.1 uses a broadcom BCM4321 wireless card. It did not work out of the box. The following guide provides a procedure for installing / configuring the broadcom wireless driver: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=57056
The MacBook runs hot. This can be easily fixed by installing and configuring macfanctrld from the Ubuntu Mactel Support PPA: https://launchpad.net/~mactel-support/+archive/ppa
The iSight camera will also not work out of the box. You need to run "isight-firmware-tools", but if you are using Snow Leopard, the version of isight-firmware-tools in the repositories (1.4.2) will not work. You need to get 1.5.92 from the Ubuntu Mactel Support PPA. Before you install this package you need to mount the OS-X drive in LMDE
Code: Select all
sudo mkdir /MacOSX
sudo mount -t hfsplus /dev/sda2 /MacOSX
These are some pretty barebones instructions. My sources for this information are as follows:
http://refit.sourceforge.net/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Macte ... stallation
https://launchpad.net/~mactel-support/+ ... /+packages
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Macte ... ppleiSight
http://wiki.debian.org/MacBook
Hope this helps.