Mac mini early 2009

[Chase183]

Linux Mint 19.1 cinnamon does not work at all with this Mac Mini seems like no Linux works with this Mac Mini I really was hoping to use Linux Mint I guess I will have to keep using MacOS it simply won’t boot and goes to a black screen. I used nomodeset last time it did boot but went into software rendering mode so it appears there is a driver issue with Mint.

[catweazel]

Linux Mint 19.1 cinnamon does not work at all with this Mac Mini

It's the age of the machine that's the cause. You can't expect a modern OS to run on very old kit. Take a look at MX Linux or Antix.

[absque fenestris]

Processor and memory
2.0GHz or 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
1066MHz frontside bus
1GB (one 1GB SO-DIMM) or 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB

This is more or less the same machine as my MacBook (mid 2009).
I chose the lazy way: Mint Mate 17.3 Rosa burned as ISO on a DVD, started from DVD (press key C...) played around and installed. Everything, but really everything was recognized, looks good and I write this article with it.
Mint Mate 18.3 should also work without any problems, but somehow I like Rosa so much...

My MacBook: 2 weeks ago updated with 2 x 4 GB RAM and a WD SSD 240 GB... old Harddisk with El Capitan died the silent way.

Code: Select all

ms@Book ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: Book Kernel: 4.4.0-142-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.4)
           Desktop: MATE 1.12.0 (Gtk 3.10.8~8+qiana)
           Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   System: Apple product: MacBookPro5 4 v: 1.0
           Mobo: Apple model: Mac-F22587A1 v: MacBookPro5 4
           Bios: Apple v: MBP53.88Z.00AC.B03.0906151647 date: 06/15/09
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 Duo P8700 (-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10083
           clock speeds: max: 2527 MHz 1: 1596 MHz 2: 1862 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA C79 [GeForce 9400M] bus-ID: 03:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 drivers: nouveau (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1440x900@59.9hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on NVAC
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.5.9 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card NVIDIA MCP79 High Definition Audio
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:08.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-142-generic
Network:   Card-1: NVIDIA MCP79 Ethernet
           driver: forcedeth port: 21e0 bus-ID: 00:0a.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Broadcom BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller
           driver: wl bus-ID: 04:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 255.7GB (9.2% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WDS240G2G0A size: 240.1GB
           ID-2: USB /dev/sdc model: DataTraveler_2.0 size: 15.6GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 213G used: 7.1G (4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.29GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 52.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 199 Uptime: 11:20 Memory: 1130.4/7706.9MB
           Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28