Linux on Mac

[dingdongbubble]

I am not really experienced with Macs, kinda noobish.

How do you install Linux like Ubuntu on a Mac? Is the gray disk selection screen hard coded into Macs or are they brought forward by Mac OSX?

About formatting:
On a PC, if I bring a raw hard drive or totally wipe one, and the system finds no boot disk, it gives a boot error which is hard coded into the motherboard. Is the gray disk screen also hard coded similarly on a Mac?

If I wipe out an OEM install of Windows, and try to install using the recovery disks, it doesnt install properly because of licensing crap. But if I use a retail copy on a total wipe out disk, it works. So what do Macs do in this case?

Can I get a raw 3rd party drive, plug it into my Mac (Mac Pro???) as a primary drive and expect Mac OSX to install like normal?

 

[janey]

How do you install Linux like Ubuntu on a Mac? Is the gray disk selection screen hard coded into Macs or are they brought forward by Mac OSX?

http://www.google.com/search?q=ubuntu+on+mac+intel perhaps?
The boot drive selection is done in open firmware.

About formatting:
On a PC, if I bring a raw hard drive or totally wipe one, and the system finds no boot disk, it gives a boot error which is hard coded into the motherboard. Is the gray disk screen also hard coded similarly on a Mac?

It'll give you a flashing question mark sign. It's in open firmware.

If I wipe out an OEM install of Windows, and try to install using the recovery disks, it doesnt install properly because of licensing crap. But if I use a retail copy on a total wipe out disk, it works. So what do Macs do in this case?

The disks that come with any particular Mac only have drivers and software specifically for that computer and only that computer, that is all. Otherwise it's practically a full OS install (although, given that it's missing those essential things for other hardware, you cannot use a Mac mini install disk on a MacBook Pro, etc. while you can use a MacBook Pro disk on another MacBook Pro (given they're identical in revision)). It's not crippled in any other way. If you are using a full retail install disk, it should also just work.

Can I get a raw 3rd party drive, plug it into my Mac (Mac Pro???) as a primary drive and expect Mac OSX to install like normal?

Of course. Nothing stopping you. Just don't forget to format the drive before installing OS X.

 

[Nermal]

Just out of interest, why do you want to install Linux? Are you aware that most Linux apps (including the UIs) can run under OS X?

 

[SC68Cal]

Just out of interest, why do you want to install Linux? Are you aware that most Linux apps (including the UIs) can run under OS X?

Curiosity. And to say you did it.

 

[Sbrocket]

Curiosity. And to say you did it.

Wait, there's a reason to use Linux in a non-server environment other than this?

This is my reason too. I'm bored one day, so I go pick a distro and have at it. To be honest its a great learning experience if you want to learn more about the Unix underpinnings of OSX and such.

 

[dingdongbubble]

Beryl

Thank you for your reply. That cleared out my doubts. One last question. What exactly is Open Firmware. And the gray screen is made by Open Firmware right. And the question mark comes in the gray screen area right and not some Command Line Type black and white screen?

The reason I might want to install Linux onto a Mac would be for Beryl or Compiz Fusion. These are GUI enhancments that totally blow every other GUI out there. Vista looks like a sad case infront of Beryl. Check out Beryl on youtube.com and you will know what I am talking about.

I also want to learn some advanced OS stuff so I might want to try new distros and operating systems all the time.

What happens if I try to install Windows like on a PC by booting from a CD?

 

[72930]

The reason I might want to install Linux onto a Mac would be for Beryl or Compiz Fusion. These are GUI enhancments that totally blow every other GUI out there. Vista looks like a sad case infront of Beryl. Check out Beryl on youtube.com and you will know what I am talking about.

Often its too flashy - I uninstalled Beryl in exchange for the less resource-hogging, and nicer Desktop Effects, included with Ubuntu...now its nice and poppy, with wobbly windows, and live previews with alt+tab, but none of the crap.

 

[Nermal]

Open Firmware was on PowerPC systems, Intels have EFI. Yes, the boot selector is in EFI. You can boot a Windows CD on all Intel Macs except the original iMacs and MBPs (although there are firmware updates available that enable it).

 

[janey]

The reason I might want to install Linux onto a Mac would be for Beryl or Compiz Fusion.

Beryl is compiz fusion.

I honestly love..d Beryl and Compiz, but to port it to os x is not possible. However, I think installing Linux just for Compiz is overkill.

Open Firmware was on PowerPC systems...

*&#^ I keep forgetting that. sob.
open firmware is a much nicer name than EFI.

 

[dingdongbubble]

Bios?

So is Open Firmware and EFI the equivalent of a PCs BIOS?

 

[janey]

So is Open Firmware and EFI the equivalent of a PCs BIOS?

that's sort of misleading. open firmware was used on older PPC macs. EFI is an improved replacement of BIOS. A few servers and computers by manufacturers from HP to Intel support EFI, and all the Windows Server OSs and XP 64bit support booting from EFI as well. It's not an Apple thing.

 

[Nermal]

While overall it does a similar thing to a BIOS, I believe it does it in a completely different way. EFI and OF are a lot "heavier" than a BIOS; a lot of functions that are part of the OS on a BIOS-based computer or built right into OF and EFI (such as the bootloader).

OK, that was a nightmare to type in the middle of the night after a full day WoWing, hopefully it made sense!

As a side note, I'm moving this thread to the Windows on Mac forum. While it's not Windows-related, a lot of the concepts are the same.

 

[harixvirex]

Ubuntu on Intel Mac

Hi All,

I have installed On intel iMac using the Native partition and the bootloader from rEFIt. try it out....

Best combination of hardware & software.

note : Ubuntu gets installed on Intel based macs only with ext3 partition...


Reg,
Hari S