[TUTORIAL] Installing Linux Mint on a Modern Macintosh

[Portreve]

This is occasioned by a friend who recently struggled to get the live image of LinuxMint to boot on his 2018 MacBook Pro.

Quick Background Spiel:

In recent years, Apple has added some hardware-based security to their entire range of computing products. If you do an Internet search for Apple and T1 or T2 chip, you will be able to pull up and read articles which give an in-depth explanation on what it does. This tutorial does not and will not cover those aspects. Rather, you're here because you've got a brand new or relatively recently new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, or Mac Pro, and you want to boot a live image of Linux Mint, or Ubuntu, or whatever other Linux distribution, and you've found that you just can't seem to make it work.

Here's Why

Apple has put their own form of Secure Boot on newer systems. This restricts what can be used to boot their hardware, the theory behind which being bad actors could acquire your computer and boot their own OS on it to gain access to your data or to otherwise attempt to compromise your system.


Allowing Your Mac To Boot Linux (or anything else):

1. Safely power down your computer.

2. Turn your Mac on.

3. Immediately press and hold the Command and R keys, and continue to hold them until you see the macOS Recovery utility.

4. It will ask you to authenticate, so enter the password you've set up for your existing macOS installation.

5. When you see the macOS Utilities window, go to the Utilities menu and select Startup Security Utility from the menu bar.

6. You will see a window like this:




7. Under Secure Boot, choose "No Security".

8. Under External Boot, choose "Allow booting from external media"

9. Close the utility out and reboot, holding down the Option key.

10. Pick the appropriate icon for the Linux live image you wish to start from.


Please understand that you may see more than one drive icon appear from a single live image flash drive. Whereas on older models of Mac it was not critical which one you picked, on newer models it appears to make a difference. Whether it's the first, the second (or third...) is something you will have to discover on your own because it could be any of them depending on the distribution and how they chose to create their live image. Nevertheless, it will boot correctly and take you to the desktop when you choose the correct one.

For reference, with LinuxMint 19.3, it will be the second drive icon.


Article Key Words: mac, macintosh, linux, how-to, install, can't boot linux on mac

[MikeNovember]

Hi,

I am afraid this does not work any longer with MacOS Big Sur (11.6) and Monterey (coming soon).

The computer can boot only from a secure encrypted system with ASR. Still one more complicated thing from Apple...

Though I still don't know if it is for MacOS operating systems only, or for all operating systems (with a change in UEFI).

Regards,

MN

PS: and, of course, it does not work on M1 macs.

[donten]

Last night I installed Linux Mint on my son's 2013 Macbook Air. I don't remember the OS version, as I am not an Apple fan Once I figured out how set the machine to boot from the Mint iso, it installed with a minimum of fuss! I almost didn't believe it Apple, er, I won't go there...

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-88-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 wm: muffin 5.0.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Apple product: MacBookAir6,2 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 10 v: Mac-7DF21CB3ED6977E5 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Apple model: Mac-7DF21CB3ED6977E5 v: MacBookAir6,2 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: Apple v: MBA61.88Z.0107.B00.1804111137 date: 04/11/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 46.2 Wh condition: 47.6/54.3 Wh (88%) volts: 8.2/7.6 
  model: DP bq20z451 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Discharging 
  cycles: 289 
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Anywhere MX serial: <filter> 
  charge: 65% rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-4250U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Haswell rev: 1 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 15164 
  Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/2600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 
  3: 798 4: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: Apple driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0a26 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1440x900~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5000 (HSW GT3) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 21.0.3 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio vendor: Apple driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0 chip ID: 8086:0a0c 
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:9c20 
  Device-3: Broadcom and subsidiaries 720p FaceTime HD Camera driver: N/A 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:1570 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-88-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network 
  Adapter 
  vendor: Apple driver: wl v: kernel port: efa0 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 14e4:43a0 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 233.76 GiB used: 10.20 GiB (4.4%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Apple model: SSD SM0256F size: 233.76 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: EA1Q scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 228.60 GiB used: 10.20 GiB (4.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 19.2 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  1: deb http://moblock-deb.sourceforge.net/debian stretch main
  2: deb-src http://moblock-deb.sourceforge.net/debian stretch main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gezakovacs-ppa-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gezakovacs/ppa/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com uma main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
  1: deb http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 206 Uptime: 2m Memory: 7.72 GiB used: 724.1 MiB (9.2%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-88-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.5 wm: muffin 5.0.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Apple product: MacBookAir6,2 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 10 v: Mac-7DF21CB3ED6977E5 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Apple model: Mac-7DF21CB3ED6977E5 v: MacBookAir6,2 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: Apple v: MBA61.88Z.0107.B00.1804111137 date: 04/11/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 46.2 Wh condition: 47.6/54.3 Wh (88%) volts: 8.2/7.6 
  model: DP bq20z451 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Discharging 
  cycles: 289 
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Anywhere MX serial: <filter> 
  charge: 65% rechargeable: yes status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-4250U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Haswell rev: 1 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 15164 
  Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/2600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 
  3: 798 4: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: Apple driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0a26 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: modesetting 
  unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1440x900~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5000 (HSW GT3) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 21.0.3 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio vendor: Apple driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0 chip ID: 8086:0a0c 
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:9c20 
  Device-3: Broadcom and subsidiaries 720p FaceTime HD Camera driver: N/A 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:1570 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-88-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network 
  Adapter 
  vendor: Apple driver: wl v: kernel port: efa0 bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 14e4:43a0 
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 233.76 GiB used: 10.20 GiB (4.4%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Apple model: SSD SM0256F size: 233.76 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: EA1Q scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 228.60 GiB used: 10.20 GiB (4.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 19.2 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  1: deb http://moblock-deb.sourceforge.net/debian stretch main
  2: deb-src http://moblock-deb.sourceforge.net/debian stretch main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gezakovacs-ppa-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gezakovacs/ppa/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com uma main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vivaldi.list 
  1: deb http://repo.vivaldi.com/stable/deb/ stable main
Info:
  Processes: 206 Uptime: 2m Memory: 7.72 GiB used: 724.1 MiB (9.2%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

Right before grub there is a few lines of garbled info that I believe comes from some part of the hardware, but other than that, its a Mint machine now!

[donten]

I went into |"recovery" again to what, if any, differences showed up, then it started the "internet recovery." Not trusting Apple to do the right thing, I shut the machine down, until there is no wifi to connect to

[igoru-san]

I managed to dual-boot Mint 20 (Uma) on an Intel Mac Mini late-2018 (mini8,1), but not with some seemingly new headaches - grub fails in the final steps and the installer crashes horribly.

However, after (a lot of) googling, I found rEFInd, which was very easy to install from MacOS and was able to find the almost-installed Mint - which seems to have booted properly. Not sure yet of the drawbacks of the installation procedure breaking from grub on, but.... working so far (few hours lol)

Created another post to investigate the outcomes: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=364766&p=2118198