You can dd some zeroes into it to prevent Mac OS X from mounting it again. In my case that partition was /dev/disk0s4. Other tools like fdisk and gpart might work but in the end you just need a partition. I don't think you can create empty partitions with diskutil. Be sure to include the correct driver (or all the drivers with the -alldrivers option).Ĭreate a partition using the remaining space. You'll have to live with that on your drive and stuff like firmware updates can make a difference so I recommend installing all the Lion upates. Have Mac OS X Lion on a bare minimum partition. In any case you will need some advanced knowledge about whatever you are trying to install. It might also work on *BSD as long as refind has a driver to read its partition. With and without refind.Īnyway I've managed to install Ubuntu 16 LTS using a weird method that can vary from distro to distro. It also refused to boot a 32 bit linux installer from external DVD drive. The DVD drive is dead which is a problem that I suspect its common on old laptops. I have a 2,1 (mid-2007) macbook that refuses to boot from anything that isn't an Mac OS X installer. So the question becomes, what is the difference that prevents that from being done with Linux/BSD?Ī bit late but I hope this can help someone. That's not what happens when I have BSD or Linux there, but I am able to choose a USB stick with Mac OS X and install from it. Thanks for helping with recycling an old friend and protecting the environment.ĮDIT: both replies, as well as all HOWTOs I could find operate under the assumption that I should be able to hold 'opt' on boot and choose the USB stick. Main question: is there a reliable way to boot and install Linux, BSD, Windows (anything not OS X)?īonus points for running the OS live from the USB - since after 10 years HD may fail some time soon. I've seen something about manually putting a GPT table on the USB drive, or creating a separate EFI partition, but since it's more technical and time consuming I didn't get around to it.

Create live Debian USB with Mac Linux USB Loader (will boot on newer Macs, but not on MacBook2,1).

Create a live Debian USB (with MBR partition) with rEFIt.

I have tried a few things, all without success. I would like to install Debian or BSD on this MacBook, either as a dual boot, or as the single OS - alternatively, any current linux distro or even Windows 10 would do. I have previously installed Debian with a dual boot by using rEFIt and booting from a DVD disk, but the DVD drive doesn't seem to reliably read disks anymore I have an old MacBook white (Model 2,1 mid-late 2007) which won't upgrade beyond Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6).

Debian macbook g4