loading linux on ancient mac systems

[justinbaileynes1987]

hey i just wanted to know if it was possible to try to install ubuntu or other forms of linux on macs dating back to 2006 i think it would be a good way to breath life into the systems and even make a few bucks of of stuff in the tech recycle bin

[Biggerboot]

4 minutes ago, justinbaileynes1987 said:

hey i just wanted to know if it was possible to try to install ubuntu or other forms of linux on macs dating back to 2006 i think it would be a good way to breath life into the systems and even make a few bucks of of stuff in the tech recycle bin

It's very do-able via bootcamp or other boot managers ontop of an existing mac installation.  I don't know about standalone linux for Macs.  If somebody knows of a way I'll be interested.  I've got a mac mini from around that era.

[MoonlightSylv]

You need a distribution designed for PowerPC processors if your Mac has one.

[Biggerboot]

1 minute ago, ShadowTechXTS said:

You need a distribution designed for PowerPC processors if your Mac has one.

I thought PPC cpus were gone by that time but maybe I'm wrong.

[justinbaileynes1987]

my first subject for this experiment is a white macbook with an intel core duo from  late 2006 i recently took apart to fix the disk drive. it wont recognize the live usb disk

[justinbaileynes1987]

well i might have to take this to the troubleshooting board none of these guides are working the disk is still not showing up as bootable in any way

[dexbot]

If it is Intel / x86 then you should be able to load them up with a 32-bit copy of Ubuntu. 

You may find that http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/ is a good bootloader for you

[justinbaileynes1987]

i am using both a 32 bit ubuntu and refind.

 

i feel the solution is going to be quite complex

[dexbot]

I'd like to see how this turns out! 

[justinbaileynes1987]

im going to look for more guides

 

should i post another thread on the troubleshooting part of the forum?

[Dabombinable]

41 minutes ago, justinbaileynes1987 said:

hey i just wanted to know if it was possible to try to install ubuntu or other forms of linux on macs dating back to 2006 i think it would be a good way to breath life into the systems and even make a few bucks of of stuff in the tech recycle bin

You should be able to, but I'm not sure how the BIOS will react. That being said, I thought you were talking about older mac (one of the PPC based systems).
Also, if you have a desktop available plug in the HDD for the macbook, install Linux onto it that way then put the HDD into the macbook. Unlike Windows Linux does not care at all about which computer you first installed it on (kind of like Windows 9x).

[justinbaileynes1987]

that seems like a good idea installing on another computer but im not sure how well it would boot if at all as mac systems actually *fun fact* DO NOT HAVE A BIOS, its apple's way of saying only use osx i guess

[Drak3]

45 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

Unlike Windows Linux does not care at all about which computer you first installed it on (kind of like Windows 9x).

It cares to an extent. Many distros discard any configuration files for AMD processors when installed on Intel machines, and vice versa. Not enough to cause anything more than a few hours or days of soft crashes.

[justinbaileynes1987]

well if the mac is intel and the other pc i use to install ubuntu on is also intel that should be fine right?

[Dabombinable]

3 hours ago, Drak3 said:

It cares to an extent. Many distros discard any configuration files for AMD processors when installed on Intel machines, and vice versa. Not enough to cause anything more than a few hours or days of soft crashes.

I've never had that problem going from my Phenom II N970+MR HD5650 and A8 4555m based laptops to any of my Intel based desktops (Dual Pentium III 1000+VIA Apollo Pro 133a, Xeon X5450+P45, i5 4440+H87, i7 4790K+Z97) and vice versa. That was with Lubuntu 10.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 BTW.

[Drak3]

11 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

That was with Lubuntu 10.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 BTW.

Constant soft locks with Ubuntu 12.04 to 16.04, Mint 12 and up, Slacko Puppy, BackTrack 5, Kali, for the first few hours. Issues always solved after running updates and getting those config files installed again.

[Dabombinable]

1 hour ago, Drak3 said:

Constant soft locks with Ubuntu 12.04 to 16.04, Mint 12 and up, Slacko Puppy, BackTrack 5, Kali, for the first few hours. Issues always solved after running updates and getting those config files installed again.

I must have gotten lucky then. But the hardware was very different each time, especially with the A8 4555M.

[justinbaileynes1987]

hey a bit of an update i tried a bunch of other stuff and eventually installed ubuntu on the drive using a usb to sata cable on another computer. now the mac cant seem to find ubuntu on the hard drive and dual boot mac os

[luigi90210]

install osx on the computer and bootcamp linux, thats the only way to do it afaik

[justinbaileynes1987]

bootcamp is only for windows tho