From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: <gentoo-user+bounces-149779-garchives=archives.gentoo.org@lists.gentoo.org> Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 61639138200 for <garchives@archives.gentoo.org>; Mon, 19 Aug 2013 22:15:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 23236E0EE5; Mon, 19 Aug 2013 22:15:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mout.gmx.net (mout.gmx.net [212.227.15.19]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8C329E0EB7 for <gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org>; Mon, 19 Aug 2013 22:15:19 +0000 (UTC) Received: from marcec ([178.25.242.3]) by mail.gmx.com (mrgmx102) with ESMTPSA (Nemesis) id 0MIPhr-1VEZCc3v5D-00488H for <gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org>; Tue, 20 Aug 2013 00:15:18 +0200 Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 00:15:08 +0200 From: Marc Joliet <marcec@gmx.de> To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: [gentoo-user] OT: installing Gentoo on a 2007 Macbook Message-ID: <20130820001508.2d6ec87b@marcec> X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.9.0 (GTK+ 2.24.17; x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Precedence: bulk List-Post: <mailto:gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org> List-Help: <mailto:gentoo-user+help@lists.gentoo.org> List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:gentoo-user+unsubscribe@lists.gentoo.org> List-Subscribe: <mailto:gentoo-user+subscribe@lists.gentoo.org> List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail <gentoo-user.gentoo.org> X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=PGP-SHA1; boundary="Sig_/v6s95qbvaY5WBgWwhy=Lz3k"; protocol="application/pgp-signature" X-Provags-ID: V03:K0:orhBNokDpXiMSeiKwZUEBrQHR+qSgXIkqb+sL+r9tZUK58rRUi6 FWIhMtiYuA6m3fjM3tcZNmQjaklkWJR4HRb9o2UdTqhWMvc6XgccwXuXrkLF92j2SNKTt1y RwjasHjiBxRR4nA8qE1JoKEQHws1HcaUpHqe3Y+yTmAOkaxqfspeqPJdtQUsr1TvfeiHvSz uoRLaMkcFALz3O/m1Dnkw== X-Archives-Salt: 022b7e96-2ee3-4cc3-9e18-9daa10977c3d X-Archives-Hash: 30cd08fe93f7f83ec21cc6b80cd9432a --Sig_/v6s95qbvaY5WBgWwhy=Lz3k Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi all, For the duration of my MSc thesis (and for my job) I have lent a laptop fro= m my university. This laptop happens to be a 2007 model Macbook (plus a new SSD, since somebody else has the original drive because his data is still on the= re), and chances are slim that I will be able to lend a different one for this l= ong a time period (6+ months), since the laptops are mainly there for conferences= and such. So I suspect I need to get *this* laptop to work. Now since I am productive with it, I wanted to install Gentoo on it but have thus far failed. So here are my overall goals: - install Gentoo - ideally ditch OS X - boot using EFI instead of in BIOS compatibility mode (e.g., I read that t= his is a requirement for getting suspend to work) So far, I have followed almost all steps of the installation guide (right before restarting the system), supplemented with Macbook-specific steps I f= ound spread around the internet (see below), which boils down to setting up a GPT partitioned disk with an ESP (EFI System Partition) and setting up GRUB2. T= he problem seems to be to get the laptops firmware to find the ESP on the SSD. Note that I did this *without* a prior OS X installation. I tried blessing the bootloader with an Apple USB stick (10.4) I also got f= rom the university, but that doesn't do anything (i.e., the installation doesn't show up in the boot menu). Using efibootmgr also does not seem to work. I also tried formatting the ESP as HFS+ instead of FAT32 (it turns out part= ed can do that). After a lack of results, the Apple "Disk Utility" then reformatted back to FAT32, so I guess that wasn't the problem :) . Now I decided to try installing OS X and see if I can get it to work with rEFInd, the fork of rEFIt (I set up some free space at the end of the SSD a= nd formated it as HFS+ from the OS X installation disk), but the installation = of OS X (10.7) is failing somewhat randomly. Sometimes it doesn't find the SSD, sometimes it hangs during the installation (the progress bar stops and acti= vity from the DVD drive ceases). The farthest I got so far is to the end of the installation, right before it should reboot, but then the ETA starts going negative. *sigh* My search results on Google show that a lot of people just waited it out and that it eventually finished installing (after it got to -20 minutes or -2 hours) , but I just waited at least 10 hours in total. It then hung up after I tried to reboot after it reported -12 hours :( . Before installing Gentoo I also tried installing OS X 10.4 from the aforementioned USB disk, but the installation hung up after the reboot and now every time I boot from it it gives me an "installation failed" message, followed by the ever so helpful hint of "try restarting the installation", = which can't work, because quitting the installer reboots the system. So... that's a lot of semi-coherent narrative to take in, sorry :) . Right now I'm thinking that this really *should* work, I mean, the firmware finds the System Rescue CD, which boots perfectly fine in EFI mode= , so why shouldn't my installation? Also, if anybody has any tips on getting this to work without an intermedia= te layer like rEFInd, please speak up! So now the links I took my steps from: - This series of blog posts: http://juliansimioni.com/blog/2012/03/14/installing-gentoo-on-a-macbook-p= ro/ - http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-6988228.html (referenced above), wit= hout step 2 because SysRescueCD boots in EFI mode - I tried the grub2-install line from https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/GRUB2#UEFI.2FGPT - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook#Arch_Linux_only tells me tha= t I most likely can in fact ditch OS X. - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook#Booting_directly_from_GRUB s= hows that I probably do need to install OS X first and have it set up an EFI System Partition for me in order boot directly to GRUB2, and not just if I want to install rEFInd. - I tried the grub2-install steps from https://plus.google.com/105450642479356031129/posts/F87vrsMtxz4, but they didn't work either - I also tried the steps for setting up the ESP here: http://glandium.org/blog/?p=3D2830 - I tried installing rEFInd in the fassion explained here: https://astrofloyd.wordpress.com/2008/11/01/installing-gentoo-linux-on-an= -apple-macbook/#Installing_a_Bootloader Well, hmm, after going through my sources I found a bit of information on the Arch Linux wiki (see my sources below) that says that I need an EFI sys= tem partition set up by the OS X installer in order to be able to boot into GRU= B2 directly. If that is correct, then what I need to do is get the OS X installation working. I also want to apologise for the... complexity and perhaps lack of coherenc= e of this email but I'm sort of pressed for time (wasting time on the laptop ins= tead of working) and thought maybe somebody might have a reply while I'm sleepin= g ;) (it's past midnight here). Greetings --=20 Marc Joliet -- "People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we don't" - Bjarne Stroustrup --Sig_/v6s95qbvaY5WBgWwhy=Lz3k Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=signature.asc -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.20 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAlISmPUACgkQBsMBz3L8+WOm3wCePOGK8yAunMvas/PQO2YISxDu 2ZsAoIF0z0yhny1D+2epXQ/72Lz29lag =+xfm -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Sig_/v6s95qbvaY5WBgWwhy=Lz3k--