MP 1,1-5,1 Manually Configured OpenCore on the Mac Pro

[Bmju]

Hey folks, would @cdf consider adding a Linux section to the Opencore guide? I'm sure the configuration isn't too complex but I'd be afraid of messing something up by trying it myself first 😅

Full disclosure: I'm thinking of running something like Fedora or Bazzite on my Mac Pro primarily (as a gaming machine) and using OpenCore to boot into it. I did successfully get AtlasOS (Windows) running on it before which was neat, but I'd like to try Linux for a number of reasons.

Kind regards!

If you're comfortable installing Linux in general, you just need to add OpenLinuxBoot.efi as a driver in the Drivers section of your config.plist, it will show and offer to boot almost all standard Linux distros as soon as they are installed.

You need to either make space for Linux on your existing drive (in which case, be careful to manually set the partitions correctly during the Linux installation procedure, so as not to destroy your existing OS); or set aside a new drive for it (once again, be careful that the correct drive is selected in the Linux installer).

You install Linux more or less as if OpenCore wasn't present, though you can start the installer from the OpenCore boot menu if you want.

Once you've installed Linux, your machine will likely be booting directly into Linux by default, so you need a way to get back to booting OpenCore (this should be covered in this thread's p.1 guide; if you already have EnableGop installed in your firmware, you can just hold ALT while booting to bring up Apple's native picker, then select OpenCore).

Once Linux is installed and OpenLinuxBoot.efi is loaded as a driver in OpenCore, it should just work. Look into OpenCore themes aka 'flavours' if you want a nice icon for the new OS.

Btw, avoid the very latest Fedora 41 for now, as there is a problem booting that (because a new component in Fedora - TuneD - does strange things with grub variables, which OpenLinuxBoot can't quite understand yet), this should be fixed in the next release of OpenCore.

 

[flaubert]

Hey folks, would @cdf consider adding a Linux section to the Opencore guide? I'm sure the configuration isn't too complex but I'd be afraid of messing something up by trying it myself first 😅

Full disclosure: I'm thinking of running something like Fedora or Bazzite on my Mac Pro primarily (as a gaming machine) and using OpenCore to boot into it. I did successfully get AtlasOS (Windows) running on it before which was neat, but I'd like to try Linux for a number of reasons.

Kind regards!

I could be wrong, but is your intention to be able to boot into an OpenCore-supported OS like Monterey sometimes, and at other times boot into Linux? I think that you'll probably be fine if you just go ahead and install Linux on a disk or hard partition: it should show up in the OpenCore picker screen as a boot destination. If you want to be really bulletproof you could install the EnableGOP firmware, and then standard option boot (holding down option key while booting) will enable you choose either booting Linux directly, or booting OpenCore through to Monterey.

It might be best to not go through OpenCore while installing Linux - part of what OpenCore does is spoof some information about the underlying hardware, which Linux won't require - I would think Linux would be best installed knowing the true state of the hardware.

Edit: it looks like I got it mostly right, but @Bmju is a much more authoritative source on this.