Following is a record of an Ubuntu installation on a late-2011 Macbook Pro. This is a "dual boot" installation - Ubuntu 20.04 alongside macOS High Sierra.
$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 753.0 GB disk0s2
3: Microsoft Basic Data OTHEROS 1.2 TB disk0s3
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +753.0 GB disk1
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 371.8 GB disk1s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 40.1 MB disk1s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 1.0 GB disk1s3
4: APFS Volume VM 8.6 GB disk1s4
During this effort, we will use @japhwil's recipe for dual-boot installation of Ubuntu on a Mac as a guide. This recipe is documented in these answers: Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Mac mini 2018 w/ Catalina, and In response to my question
rEFInd must be removed prior to the Ubuntu installation according to @japhwil's recipe. Let's first verify where rEFInd is located:
$ sudo diskutil mount disk0s1
$ $ ls -l /Volumes/EFI/EFI
total 4
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 512 Apr 4 21:30 APPLE
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 1024 Mar 18 04:23 refind
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 512 Mar 18 04:23 toolsAs an aside: On this (first) effort, we'll follow @japhwil's recipe strictly, and remove rEFInd, but we note that rEFInd seems to have been bypassed in a boot coup by Apple during a recent update. One wonders then if it is actually necessary to remove rEFInd under this circumstance, but we'll leave that as an open question for now.
Instructions, advice and other information on removal of rEFInd are provided by:
After consulting these sources, we should verify that this is actually the true location of the rEFInd install by confirming that the file refund.conf is located there:
$ ls -l /Volumes/EFI/EFI/refind
total 524
-rwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 140 Mar 18 04:23 BOOT.CSV
drwxrwxrwx@ 1 jmoore staff 12800 Mar 18 04:23 icons
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 2560 Mar 18 04:23 keys
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 jmoore staff 31891 Mar 18 04:23 refind.conf
-rwxrwxrwx@ 1 jmoore staff 219720 Mar 18 04:23 refind_x64.efirefind.conf is present, so it's safe to conclude this is the installation location; i.e. this is where we will (at least temporarily) delete/remove/uninstall rEFInd:
$ cd /Volumes/EFI/EFI
$ $ ls -l
total 4
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 512 Apr 4 21:30 APPLE
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 1024 Mar 18 04:23 refind
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 512 Mar 18 04:23 tools
MacBook-2:EFI jmoore$ sudo rm -R refind
# For some reason, rm ignored -R & demanded confirmation on many files; e.g.:
# override rwxrwxrwx _unknown/_unknown hidden for refind/icons/._os_linuxmint.png? y
# rm: refind/icons/._os_linuxmint.png: No such file or directory
$ $ sudo rm -R tools
override rwxrwxrwx _unknown/_unknown hidden for tools/._gptsync_x64.efi? y
rm: tools/._gptsync_x64.efi: No such file or directory
$ ls -l
total 1
drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 512 Apr 4 21:30 APPLE
Note that the folder tools was part of the rEFInd installation, and therefore also deleted. And so now rEFInd is gone!
4. Second step: Preparations for installation
-
A bootable USB stick prepared previously will be used. It was created from the Ubuntu desktop ISO downloaded from Ubuntu's website, and written to USB using
balenaEtcher. The Macbook has successfully booted into the "Live" Ubuntu system, and it is therefore a "good" copy. -
A partition was also previously created, and should be sufficient. This partition is seen above under
diskutil list, and is labeled:Microsoft Basic Data OTHEROS; i.e. a FAT partition of 1.2 TB in size. Checking the contents of this partition:$ ls -la /Volumes/OTHEROS total 256 drwxrwxrwx@ 1 jmoore staff 32768 Jun 6 19:24 . drwxr-xr-x@ 4 root wheel 128 Jun 6 19:24 .. drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 32768 Jun 6 19:24 .Spotlight-V100 drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 32768 Jun 6 19:24 .Trashes drwxrwxrwx 1 jmoore staff 32768 Jun 6 19:24 .fseventsd -
All hidden files created by macOS. Screenshots of
Disk Utilityand theInfotab are included below. Also note that during the re-formatting ofOTHEROSpartition, the schemeGUID Partition Mapwas not an available option. That option seems to be available only when the device is selected inDisk Utility- and as shown in the screenshot below, it is set raw the recipe.
And so Preparations appear to be complete.
5. Third step: Boot and Install Ubuntu
-
This Macbook predates Apple's "innovative" T2 chip, and so Step 1 is unnecessary.
-
Shutdown...Macbook, insert USB w/ Ubuntu ISO, press Power button, immediately press & hold the option key. -
Interestingly, two (2) USB icons labeled
EFI bootare displayed. Select the first & proceed. -
GNU GRUBmenu appears on screen w/ several choices. The recipe says select theUbuntuoption, then "launch the Ubuntu installer via terminal", but there are options at the bottom of the screen for command line (c) and edit commands (e). Since thecandeoptions aren't mentioned, we'll simply press enter.- This launches a process... 'Checking disks', then a GUI with an
Install Ubuntuoption. Followed this for a while, but no command line options were offered. Finally quit the installer & went to the "Live" system. Started terminal in Live system,man ubiquityshowed no-boption.
- This launches a process... 'Checking disks', then a GUI with an
-
Let's start over with a re-boot: This second effort went exactly as the first, suggesting that no "opportunities" were missed in the first attempt. Once again, a terminal was started in the Live system - this time the command
ubiquity -bwas entered. The output from this command appeared to be an error. I left the terminal window open with the apparently "hung" command in the terminal, and clicked theInstallbutton in the GUI window. -
The install process proceeded to a surprising, but successful completion! The only challenge came during the disk partitioning process, but this was aided by the graphical tool in the installer. I formatted the majority of the 1.25TB FAT32 partition as
ext4; creating a smallswappartition, and also created a small FAT32 partition as a "shared" area to be accessible from Ubuntu and macOS. -
Shortly thereafter, the installer announced it was finished, and instructed to power down, remove the USB stick and reboot.
I expected (hoped actually) that when I started the Macbook, and held down the option key, I would be greeted by the native macOS bootloader, offering two choices: macOS and Linux Ubuntu. I further expected that since the ubiquity -b command had not produced the hoped-for results, it may be necessary to remove GRUB from the EFI partition, and install rEFInd (Confession: I am not a big fan of GRUB). These were my expectations.
Instead, when the macOS bootloader screen appeared, there was only one option: Macintosh HD. My initial disappointment turned to pleasant surprise when, after inspection, I realized that the EFI partition was unchanged (no GRUB)... apparently ubiquity -b had somehow worked!
Installation of rEFInd was completed effortlessly, and I verified success by seeing the rEFInd folders in the EFI partition. After another reboot, the rEFInd screen appeared as expected. I chose the Linux system, and the new Ubuntu installation booted quickly.
$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 753.0 GB disk0s2
3: Microsoft Basic Data 1.1 TB disk0s3
4: Linux Swap 10.5 GB disk0s4
5: Microsoft Basic Data SHARED 68.5 GB disk0s5
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +753.0 GB disk1
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 372.0 GB disk1s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 40.1 MB disk1s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 1.0 GB disk1s3
4: APFS Volume VM 8.6 GB disk1s4
It's now 4Q 2023, over 2 years since I upgraded the macOS in my 12-year-old MacbookPro to Ubuntu Linux. It's still running great.
Note in the diskutil list output above that the partition containing the Linux installation (disk0s3) still has a TYPE of Microsoft Basic Data - the same value/type it had before the installation. This is due, I think, to the fact that this partition was originally formatted as FAT32. That label sticks, even though it is now formatted as ext4!
According to @DavidAnderson on StackExchange, this can be left as-is, or it can be changed as follows:
Partition 3 is a microsoft type and should be a linux type.
From Ubuntu, open a Terminal window. Press the key combination option-control-T. Ener the command: sudo gdisk /dev/sda
Enter the following commands:
t
3
8300
w
y
Reboot the computer.
There are several adjustments that can be made to rEFInd to personalize it, and make it resistant to boot coups. These are mostly covered on the rEFInd website, and will be covered here once they've been tried.
Note: I'm adding this nonsensically-named section here because I can't think of anywhere else to put it now.
I have a fairly extensive collection of Apple computers (MBP & iMac), and I would like to install Linux on all of them. However, it appears there are some major obstacles in the way - all in the form of Apple proprietary software. Two examples are Apple's SSD technology (NVMe), and the "T2 chip". Specifically:
- There is no driver available for the proprietary SSD hardware used in most Macs since about 2015.
- The T2 chip was designed by Apple to take control of your computer away from you, and put that control in Apple's hands. Shocking? Well yes, of course it is. But true nevertheless: T2 will not allow you to install another OS on your Mac.
I read here recently of a project to develop an open-source driver for Apple's proprietary SSD. Turns out it's a bit more ambitious than that. I'm keeping my eye on this GitHub project, and hoping for great things from Dunedan. And if you're following Dunedan, you should also follow roadrunner2's gist "Linux on MacBook Pro Late 2016 and Mid 2017 (with Touchbar)". Lots of comments & both seem to be making good progress!
And I should be honest... I'm coming out of the closet now : I've concluded that Apple now sucks.