[SOLVED]Install LM on old MacBook Not possible

[foersu]

Hello,

I have been trying to install Linux Mint 20.3 64 bit Cinnamon on a Macbook running Mac OS X Version 10.7.5
After formating the USB stick on a iMac running macOS Sierra 10.13.6 I used balenaetcher (also running on the iMac) to create a bootable USB stick.

The USB stick is not recognised at the MacBook at any time, either not at book time when pressing the “alt” key after the gong.
There, the boot drive and a recovery drive are presented, but not the USB drive.

I have the impression, that balenaetcher does not create the right bootable USB drive because it is neither recognised at the iMAC, which normally functions ok.

It would be a pitty not to use the macbook any more but under the old Mac OS X it is practically impossible.

Can somebody help? Are there another ways to create a bootable USB stick containing an LM ISO?

Disclaimer: I now this is a Linux Mint Forum, and I have a problem on a Mac. I normally only deal with Linux and would not like to register at a Mac Forum only to post this single question. Therefore I decided to post this topic here and hope it is ok.

Thanx a lot in advance!

[foersu]

Amendment:

The USB Stick is detected and displayed at boot time at the iMac (where it was created using balenaetcher).
On the other side, balenaetcher does not run on the MacBook because it requires Mac OS X 10.10 or newer.

As I guess, it seems to be an incompatibility of balenaetcher with the OS version on the MacBook.
Therefore I am looking for an alternative way to balenaetcher.

Regards.

[meToo]

Do you have access to any other machine than the IMac?
I know nothing about IMac but I used Linux balenaetcher to make a bootable USB to successfully install Mint to an old macbook pro.

[foersu]

@meToo,

Yes, my notebook runs under LM and I also created a bootable USB stick with balenaetcher there, which did not work. Maybe I should try it once again there, I concentrated my last tries on the Mac side.

How did you formatted the USB stick? (format and schema)?
Thanx for your answer.

[foersu]

… any more comments, hints?

[meToo]

@meToo,

How did you formatted the USB stick? (format and schema)?
Thanx for your answer.

Before making any bootable live usb I always use Gparted to delete all partitions and create one new partition formatted fat32. Thus I'm sure nothing has been left behind from previous use. AFAIK, Etcher will overwrite the partition anyway. I have had problems in the past when the USB stick has had more than one partition and I did not delete them first. Also I only use quality class 10 SDHC in a single usb card reader, rather than USB sticks which are usually slower.
I know that usual advice is that partitioning/formatting is not needed but I have had most success by doing that.

[Reddog1]

I ran into the same problem when I installed Mint on a 2008 core2 duo macbook. Balena Etcher wouldn't run on Snow Leopard because it was too old. The way I eventually solved that problem was to install the latest balena etcher on a 2015 macbook air and then burning the iso to a bootable usb stick. I've since used it to install Mint on a couple of different white macbooks. I also reset the PRAM before plugging in the usb and booting the install, but can't say that makes any difference and can't see why it would. Linux works so well on old macbooks that I upped the ram to the 4GB max and installed an SSD on mine. My memory is fuzzy, but I think the way I 'installed' on the SSD was by making a clone of the old spinner drive using Foxclone, then replacing it with the SSD and using the clone to restore Mint. I may have made the Foxclone bootable usb with the USB tool on one of my Mint computers and not with balena etcher at all--but like I said, I'm not certain. Those old machines take a looooong time to boot from usb btw.

[foersu]

@Reddog1,

What do you mean with: „and then burning the iso to a bootable usb stick“?

As I described, I also created a bootable USB stick on an iMac running macOS Sierra 10.13.6 using the newest version of balenaetcher, however the stick was not detected at boot time of the old MacBook (when pressing the alt key after the gong).

Can you please describe how you succeeded to install Mint on your Mac under Snow Leopard? This is specially important for me because Snow Leopard ist a version older (OS X 10.6) than the one in my MacBook (Lion OS X 10.7).

Regards

[HAWR]

Hello foersu,

you have LM on your notebook. In the menu you find the USB Stick Formatter and USB Image Writer. You should use these. What USB Stick are you using (8GB, 16GB...)?

[Reddog1]

I've install Mint on several white macbooks. I think I used the usb image writer in mint to make the bootable stick, but it has been at least at least 3 years so I can't remember for certain. I've always reset the PRAM before plugging in the usb and installing, but don't know that makes any difference. My own macbook is a 2008 core 2 duo and it runs fine with Mint 19.3. So well that I increased the ram to the max 4GB and replaced the spinner with an ssd. And, I just tested the boot with a Foxclone stick--takes a looooong time to boot to the live system screen, but it boots.
I can attest that 19.3 works, for certain.

[foersu]

Hi Reddog1,

How do you reset the PRAM? It is the first time I hear about it.
Regards.

[foersu]

@HAWR,
I also tried it with the LM USB Image Writer, but either no success.
My USB sticks: SanDisk 64 GB.
Regards

[foersu]

@Reddog1,

You do not need to answer, I found the answer in the web. I should had looked there before asking you, sorry

[HAWR]

Hello foersu,

My USB sticks: SanDisk 64 GB.

Then please try it with a smaller one, because there often problems with the recognition of bootable USB stick with high capacities on older hardware. If at hand use one with 4 or 8 GB.

[meToo]

I used 32GB class 10 successfully.
The macbook pro was circa 2008-2009, (might be pro 9) are we talking about the same machine, sounds likely though.

[Reddog1]

I'm at a loss. I booted my old 2008 macbook with both 19.3 and 20.0, and then 20.2 and all booted successfully. I'm certain that both bootable usb's were made with the Linux USB Image Writer. I suspect something amiss with your thumb drive.

O.K. I'm updating this because I've been playing around with this all day. I discovered, by burning different distributions to usb, that some of them would not boot. I kept messing about trying to figure out why and then hit on EndeavourOS, which had the 'quiet boot' off by default, and I saw that it was hanging with a usb error -110. This is an indication that the usb stick requires more power than the usb port can provide. At that point, I went to a stick that I had already booted, and burned EndeavourOS to it and -- it booted live with no problem. A couple of the thumb drives I was using required more power than my old macbook was capable of providing.

If you have an older macbook that won't boot from a thumb drive, try a different one. All thumb drives are not created equal.

And, a FYI--EndeavourOS uses the 5.16-arch kernel, and it was the only one that supported the Broadcom wifi card without adding proprietary drivers.

[foersu]

@Reddog1,

thanx for your very valuable informatiion.

My macbook (Lion Mac OS X 10.7.5) was bought 2006, it belongs to my wife. Now she has a new macbook and I can use the old one.

Regarding the power consumption of the USB sticks: I tried it with a powered USB hub but at boot time the stick wasn't recognized.
Btw: I have used three different USB sticks for my tries.

Which desktop environment did you use in Mint?
Does the wifi in the mac work with the Mint versions you tried (19.3. 20.0, 20.2)?

I had never heard about EndeavourOS before, but if I do not succeed with Mint, I will give it a try.
Which one do you prefer for the every day use: Mint or EndeavourOS?

I have been using Mint (xfce) for decades and am happy with it, but if necessary for the mac, I would change to other distribution.


Regards.

[foersu]

@Reddog1,

do you use the 32 or 64 bit versions of the distributions?

I have been using the 64 bit versions. Can this be the problem?

Amendment: it is not the problem: I tested it, same behaviour, no success.

[Reddog1]

2008 Macbook core 2 duo is a 64 bit processor. I used the 64 bit versions of Linux. When dual boot with OSX on this old machine, installed Grub detects both 32 bit and 64 bit OSX. Only 32 bit OSX will boot (the OSX efi for this old machine is actually 32 bit booting to a 64 bit operating system and it seems Grub detects that weirdly). My installed system is Mint 19.3. I booted 3 live Mint versions from usb--19.3, 20.0 and 20.2, all with the thumb drive made with USB Image Writer on a Mint system. All booted to the live system, but the only one installed is my original 19.3. Endeavor OS booted to the live system, and I may install it when 19.3 goes EOL and I will then wipe the old OSX totally. Endeavor originally failed, as did two flavors of Ubuntu Linux--all with the same usb stick. But, Endeavour was nice enough to show boot messages so that I could determine that usb -110 error and use a different stick. Trying to install a Debian-based system is an invitation to a headache on these old Apples, so just don't. I have no idea about Macs prior to 2007, but if it is one of the 64 bit core2 duos there shouldn't be a lot of difference between the 1,1 and 2,1. Endeavour is a lightweight distribution but very well done and full-featured. You need to get used to the terminal-based package system. It's based on Arch, so that will give a clue as to why it is what it is. My everyday driver and Linux host systems are Mint because Mint comes with pretty much everything in the install. My guest vm's are usually lightweight Linux distributions, except on my powerful macs--then I use Mint.

[HAWR]

Hello foersu,

maybe I found a solution for you. Today I read a thread in another forum, where the user had also problems to start from the USB stick. After installing rEFInd on the mac it works:

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/install-l ... cbook-pro/