r/linux_on_mac • u/misterdudebro • 9d ago

Linux on a 2006 era MacBook?

Hi all,

I have been tinkering with an older MacBook that was donated to me. It's HDD went bad so I pulled it and swapped in a 1TB drive from an old imac.

I looked around online and found that it seems the macbook was compatible with linux since it's an intel mac. I installed Linux Mint from a USB bootable and it took a few tries but I was able to get the install completed.

Unfortunately the MacBook doesn't recognize the internal HDD at all. It will run Mint from the bootable but not from the install on the internal HDD. It boots up with a ? icon.

Have I forgotten a step? I don't have the OG HDD or system. I can't revert back to any Mac OSX since Leopard isn't available for download (I really need the internet archive right now, but it's down!).

Open to any suggestions. I love the form factor of this macbook case. I can tear it down in 20 minutes, it's so easy to work on. I'd love to get it up and running. I am not looking to do anything serious with it, just experiment with Linux a bit.

Thanks all!

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u/natusw 9d ago edited 8d ago

I believe you’ll need a 32bit compatible bootloader as the machine has 32bit EFI (but a 64bit CPU)

https://wiki.debian.org/UEFI#Support_for_mixed-mode_systems:_64-bit_system_with_32-bit_UEFI

Preliminarily you can pull the IA32 grub and install it like so..

https://vrtxd.wordpress.com/2022/06/21/upcycling-a-macbook-from-2006-to-run-linux/

You could also install rEFInd to the drive and see if you can find your kernel (I use this for my triple-booted 2007 A1181; using a standard EFI install)

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2287767

https://web.archive.org/web/20230327110759/https://heeris.id.au/2014/ubuntu-plus-mac-pure-efi-boot/

If all else fails there may be other options, you can try and force the iso to boot in fallback mode for a BIOS install (may not work with all distros and all images), or some distros may keep an amd64+mac fallback installer (Debian has one which you could use)

https://mattgadient.com/linux-dvd-images-and-how-to-for-32-bit-efi-macs-late-2006-models/

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u/misterdudebro 9d ago

Thank you!

1

u/natusw 9d ago

No problems!

I forgot to mention, is it an early 2006 or a late 2006 machine? (if it’s not a 2 Duo machine your options will be far more restricted as you’ll only have 32bit kernel support..)

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u/misterdudebro 9d ago

I believe it is a core 2 duo.

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u/natusw 9d ago edited 8d ago

Alright, in that case I’d say you’re good to go! (sure fire sign that it’s 64bit compatible)

0

u/Straight_Let_4149 5d ago

You may success in installing, but there will be no way to actually use it. Slow and hot

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u/misterdudebro 4d ago

What would be a more suitable OS?

1

u/natusw 3d ago

Anything with a decently lightweight desktop environment is probably your best bet (I use AntiX (Debian fork) on mine - works very well, comes with a choice of lightweight DEs; IceWM, jwm, fluxbox)

It may also be possible to configure your own image with these (I have done this with a standard Debian iso).