Comments on: MacBook and Linux: Beauty and the Beast http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/ All About GNU/Linux and BSD - reviews, comparisons, articles Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:53:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: curtis07 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-115973 curtis07 Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:18:15 +0000 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-115973 Oh yeah, and make sure you clone Mac OSX back to the hfs+ partition right before installing rEFIt by booting to the external disk. I forgot about that. Oh yeah, and make sure you clone Mac OSX back to the hfs+ partition right before installing rEFIt by booting to the external disk. I forgot about that.

]]> By: curtis07 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-115215 curtis07 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:22:52 +0000 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-115215 You don't need an "EFI boot partition". EFI will boot from any common filesystem, like hfs+ (I do it every day). It's just some arcane requirement Intel came up with. I guess it's for future use. Apple doesn't even use it. Right about GPT having 128 possible partitions, but with Windows added, you also have an MBR record, and thus only four will work with that kind of dual-boot. (see my post down farther) You don’t need an “EFI boot partition”. EFI will boot from any common filesystem, like hfs+ (I do it every day). It’s just some arcane requirement Intel came up with. I guess it’s for future use. Apple doesn’t even use it.

Right about GPT having 128 possible partitions, but with Windows added, you also have an MBR record, and thus only four will work with that kind of dual-boot. (see my post down farther)

]]> By: curtis07 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-115214 curtis07 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:17:41 +0000 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-115214 I have Mac OSX, SimplyMEPIS 6.5, and Windows XP all booting wonderfully on a MacBook. I did not get similar results in my MEPIS testing. My graphics and sound worked wonderfully. However, the keyboard works only about a third of the time in Grub (not an issue for me: I use rEFIt to boot to one of the three OSs in EFI, so I only need Grub to get to MEPIS). Wireless can be worked out with MadWifi, so it's not too big of an issue. Oh, and don't use BootCamp. rEFIt is so much better. David, there is not any way you can have more than 4 partitions and still run Windows. Microsoft OSs cannot handle more than that (which is why it sucks). You can triple boot with Linux this way: Clone your Mac partition to an external hdd (Mac OS will not install, but will run on a Microsoft partition scheme [MBR]). Wipe the MacBook's hdd. Boot to the Apple recovery/install CD. Use the Disk Manager to parition as such: 1-dos (for Windows), 2-dos (for Linux), 3-dos (only a couple of GB for swap), 4-Mac journaled (hfs+). Instal Mac OSX on the 4th partition. Install rEFIt on the Mac partition so EFI will boot into the rEFIt graphic OS selector from now on. Reboot to the Linux CD and run GParted or some similar partition editing software. Make the first partition NTFS, the second ext3, the third one swap, and leave the hfs+ partition alone!!! Very imperative!!! Now install linux on the ext3 partition and enable the swap partition. Reboot and install Windows on the first partition (imperative because the MBR partition scheme requires NTFS or FAT32 as the first partition to install the record on). You should now be set with triple-boot. rEFIt should automatically detect all three OSs. If you want to share files, there are drivers for Mac and Windows to read and write ext3 files, and most Linux distros can now read and write to NTFS and read hfs+. Have fun! and back up your stuff first. I have Mac OSX, SimplyMEPIS 6.5, and Windows XP all booting wonderfully on a MacBook. I did not get similar results in my MEPIS testing. My graphics and sound worked wonderfully. However, the keyboard works only about a third of the time in Grub (not an issue for me: I use rEFIt to boot to one of the three OSs in EFI, so I only need Grub to get to MEPIS). Wireless can be worked out with MadWifi, so it’s not too big of an issue.

Oh, and don’t use BootCamp. rEFIt is so much better.

David, there is not any way you can have more than 4 partitions and still run Windows. Microsoft OSs cannot handle more than that (which is why it sucks). You can triple boot with Linux this way:

Clone your Mac partition to an external hdd (Mac OS will not install, but will run on a Microsoft partition scheme [MBR]). Wipe the MacBook’s hdd. Boot to the Apple recovery/install CD. Use the Disk Manager to parition as such: 1-dos (for Windows), 2-dos (for Linux), 3-dos (only a couple of GB for swap), 4-Mac journaled (hfs+). Instal Mac OSX on the 4th partition. Install rEFIt on the Mac partition so EFI will boot into the rEFIt graphic OS selector from now on. Reboot to the Linux CD and run GParted or some similar partition editing software. Make the first partition NTFS, the second ext3, the third one swap, and leave the hfs+ partition alone!!! Very imperative!!! Now install linux on the ext3 partition and enable the swap partition. Reboot and install Windows on the first partition (imperative because the MBR partition scheme requires NTFS or FAT32 as the first partition to install the record on). You should now be set with triple-boot. rEFIt should automatically detect all three OSs.

If you want to share files, there are drivers for Mac and Windows to read and write ext3 files, and most Linux distros can now read and write to NTFS and read hfs+.

Have fun! and back up your stuff first.

]]> By: david http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-70365 david Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:08:26 +0000 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-70365 Hey, is there a linux snob that can help me figure out how to get more than 4 partitions on a macbook pro, triple booting PCLinuxOS, OSX, and windows xp? Hey, is there a linux snob that can help me figure out how to get more than 4 partitions on a macbook pro, triple booting PCLinuxOS, OSX, and windows xp?

]]> By: Thanatermesis http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-60991 Thanatermesis Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:12:14 +0000 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-60991 What about the special version of Elive for MacBooks computers ? is not on the list http://elivecd.org/gb/Download/MacBook/ What about the special version of Elive for MacBooks computers ? is not on the list

http://elivecd.org/gb/Download/MacBook/

]]> By: riklaunim http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-41887 riklaunim Sat, 07 Jul 2007 16:07:25 +0000 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-41887 I tested "old" with ATI. When they get new MacBooks and have some time they'll told me that they let me know and I'll do some more tests, but probably not a install, just LiveCD... I tested “old” with ATI. When they get new MacBooks and have some time they’ll told me that they let me know and I’ll do some more tests, but probably not a install, just LiveCD…

]]> By: pepe http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-41842 pepe Sat, 07 Jul 2007 12:17:56 +0000 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-41842 Hi, did you actually test with the NEW macbooks? The santa-rosa/nvidia macbooks? You say sound and acpi works with pclinuxOS. The current semi-official status is, that the most recent alsa does not fully work(VERY quiet by default, speaker+mic with tweaking, see my homepage). The suspend2ram does not fully recover. The display stays black and vbetool doesn't help, maybe a problem with display brightness(for which there is not driver yet). So if you really get this working on the santa-rosa macbooks, tell us how. Hi,

did you actually test with the NEW macbooks? The santa-rosa/nvidia macbooks?

You say sound and acpi works with pclinuxOS. The current semi-official status is, that the most recent alsa does not fully work(VERY quiet by default, speaker+mic with tweaking, see my homepage). The suspend2ram does not fully recover. The display stays black and vbetool doesn’t help, maybe a problem with display brightness(for which there is not driver yet).

So if you really get this working on the santa-rosa macbooks, tell us how.

]]> By: Prateek http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-37224 Prateek Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:19:52 +0000 http://polishlinux.org/reviews/macbook-and-linux-beauty-and-the-beast/#comment-37224 EFI is an open standard. Anyone can implement it. http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/main_specification.htm But I am not aware of any stable/mature opensource implementations... EFI is an open standard. Anyone can implement it.
http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/main_specification.htm

But I am not aware of any stable/mature opensource implementations…

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