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Has anyone succeeded in making a bootable media for a 2006 Mac Powerbook (a "MacBook Pro 1,1" version, in Apple's jargon)?
The processor is a Core Duo which, AFAIK, is 32 bits. I downloaded the image and tried to created a USB bootable drive (I actually tried both with a simple dd command of the downloaded .iso file and with first converting the iso file to UDRW format with hdiutil). Nothing worked.
I also tried burning the iso image to a CD, but that did not work either.
That is, at boot (=restart with Alt key down) , the Mac bootloader does not recognize the newly created media and only shows the internal drive as a boot option.
I also tried booting from a an older Arch install CD I had lying around (2017-04-01, i.e. pre-discontinuation of 32 bit support). The CD was indeed recognized at boot (as a "Windows" option), but selecting it did not help, as I got into the problem described here, namely:
The “problem” with the 32-bit EFI macs (as I understand it) is that they fall apart when they try to load a “multi-catalog” disk image. Most linux distros use multi-catalog images so that they support both BIOS and EFI. When the Mac tries to load the disk image, you get the cryptic “select CD-ROM boot type” text. Since the mac hasn’t loaded any keyboard stuff yet, you can’t actually choose any of the options.
Curiously, that problem should only apply to 64-bits with 32-bits EFI, which mine is not (it would require a Core 2 Duo processor as used in the next Powerbook revision that came out about 8 months later, toward the end of 2006) . I tried the suggested solution (cleaning up the install iso with a small program that removes the EFI part of the dual boot drive), but that did not help either. I am now out of ideas.
Any suggestions?
S.
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Interesting. I don't gave any apple hardware to test with, but I can build a test iso without efi to begin with to see if that works better.
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I was finally able to find a description of the specific problem I am experiencing on the AskUbuntu forums. It confirms that the issue is that a 32 EFI bootloader is required, and gives detailed instructions (in turn referencing a similar and more detailed answer) on how to build a bootable 32 bit EFI Ubuntu DC. I haven't tried it it yet, but I might soon. Even better would be to adapt the instruction for Archlinux32, but I have never dabbled too much with the Arch installer image, and I would not really know how to do it.
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Interesting. I don't gave any apple hardware to test with, but I can build a test iso without efi to begin with to see if that works better.
Perhaps the info in the two Ubuntu answers I mentione din my other message are enough for you to build an image? I am ready to test it!
Cheers,
S.
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So, I unfortunately have to report that what I was trying to do seems to be impossible, at least if a graphic environment is needed.
I managed to boot and install Archlinux on the Powerbook, by tackling and (partially) solving the following issues
1. MacOs bootloader does not see other boot drives
Install alternative bootloader: rEFInd
See rEFInd official page or Archlinux REFInd page
2. ArchLinux 32 does not come with a UEFI 32 bits bootloader
Add EFI32 needed files and GRUB bootloader from existing ArchLinux installation to official ArchLinux32 iso image
See the Archlinux page on UEFI for instructions
3. Mac Powerbook 1,1's graphics cards (ATI Radeon x1600 ) is not properly supported by the Linux driver
This is where the chicken came home to roost, unfortunately,
By using the 'nomodeset' kernel parameter at boot (add it to grub.cfg), the system boots into a perfectly functional text-based Archlinux system,
(even though there are no virtual consoles available).
I proceeded with the standard Archlinux installation procedure and I got a working Linux environment. Networking worked fine, keyboard was fine, etc.
A graphic desktop, however, requires the radeon (ATI) driver provided by the mesa package. The radeon driver, in turn, is incompatible with nomodeset
I cold not get the system to load this driver, and the older, proprietary driver (catalyst) is no longer supported/not functional for the latest kernels/Xorg releases (see here).
At least I could not get it to work.
Last edited by stefano (2018-01-17 22:32:12)
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sigh, yes. That's exactly my experience with AMD Geode LX (alix.1e) and Mach64 (travelmate 514TEV) Xorg drivers.
You hardly get them to load at all. I'm resorting to VESA everywhere at the moment..
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