MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 2012 NVME as boot drive for Ubuntu Server

[poliver]

Hiya. I have repurposed an old 2012 Mac Pro as a dedicated test environment webserver by having a clean ubuntu server running on it and nothing else. Whole drive was wiped, no mac os is present.
I was thinking of upgrading the current rusty sata HDD to a 256GB NVME drive i have just taken out of my main computer, I've been reading the guides about installing it and they all suggest that i NEED Mojave 10.14.2+ for a bootable NVME.
Is there anyway to have a clean ubuntu server running without Mojave installed? Is it even possible to install only Ubuntu Server on an NVME and have it boot?

Thank you

 

[cloudphrenia]

I'll start by apologizing because I haven't use Ubuntu Server in at least 5 years, but is there any specific service that you are running that can't be run on Mojave?

 

[tsialex]

You don't need Mojave itself, but you need the Mojave 10.14.5+ firmware update. Once you have 144.0.0.0.0 BootROM, you can wipe the disk and clean install whatever you want.

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[poliver]

You don't need Mojave itself, but you need the Mojave 10.14.5+ firmware update. Once you have 144.0.0.0.0 BootROM, you can wipe the disk and clean install whatever you want.

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

thank you!

would holding the powerbutton while having mojave installer plugged into usb work to upgrade firmware?
the mojave installer doesn't get to the firmware update cause my my gpu doesn't support metal. it would feel like such a waste to buy a new gpu for a headless os that i'll only ever ssh into.
last os i had before ubuntu on it was high sierra.

 

[poliver]

I'll start by apologizing because I haven't use Ubuntu Server in at least 5 years, but is there any specific service that you are running that can't be run on Mojave?

i'm just running a web server with standard apache, php and opensearch. don't need any graphical user interface as i'll only ever ssh into it. also can't have mojave cause my gpu doesn't support metal, hence can't get the mojave installer to go to the bit where it's supposed to install the firmware update that supports bootable nvme.

 

[tsialex]

thank you!

would holding the powerbutton while having mojave installer plugged into usb work to upgrade firmware?
the mojave installer doesn't get to the firmware update cause my my gpu doesn't support metal. it would feel like such a waste to buy a new gpu for a headless os that i'll only ever ssh into.
last os i had before ubuntu on it was high sierra.

It's a requirement for the firmware update. You can borrow one and do the firmware upgrade.