Macbook A1181

9 risposte [Ultimo contenuto]
joshaspinall
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Iscritto: 01/01/2018

Hi all,

First off, I am new to the Trisquel forums, so hello to everyone.

I was hoping to get some assistance with the aforementioned Macbook, which I believe is compatible with Libreboot. I am having trouble finding a bootable OS on the device; so far none I have tried will boot/be detected. My intention once Librebooted is to also run Trisquel.

Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

vita_cell
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Iscritto: 07/19/2015

https://libreboot.org/docs/hardware/#information-about-the-macbook21

if you running Apple's EFI, you can boot from usb a GNU/Linux installation.

https://github.com/bibanon/Coreboot-ThinkPads/wiki/Macbook-2-1

https://libreboot.org/docs/gnulinux/

---------------------------------- Check your Macbook coreboot/libreboot compatibility -------------------------------

Every Macbook1,1 (A1181) or Macbook2,1 (A1181) is compatible. Also mention, it is complete waste of money getting Macbook1,1, as it only supports 32 bits and it needs first via hardware flash for run coreboot/libreboot.

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/index-macbook.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want a Librebootable computer, I highly recommend getting Macbook2,1 or Thinkpad T400. T400 needs hardware flash. If you get Macbook, try to use only original PSU(charger).

Time4Tea
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Iscritto: 07/16/2017

There is a Trisquel wiki page here about the Macbook, which has some useful advice:

https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/macbook

In my experience, Trisquel's ISOs don't boot directly on the Apple firmware. So, you will probably need to install something like Ubuntu/Lubuntu first (using their amd64+mac ISO); then flash Libreboot; then you can install Trisquel.
They're very nice laptops and they work great with Trisquel - I use one myself :-)

GrevenGull
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Iscritto: 12/18/2017

Okay, so I have used Trisquel Mini for a while on my MacBook Pro 9.1 from mid 2012 (I tried with regular Trisquel at first, but it wouldn't work for some wierd reason - don't ask me, I'm also new to this).

Anyway.. I don't think my MacBook is compatible with Libreboot or Coreboot (I'm not sure though), and if yours are I can't understand why free OSs won't work.

joshaspinall
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Iscritto: 01/01/2018

Thanks for the responses.

My device is a Macbook 2,1, and the issue I have is getting the Apple EFI to detect any GNU/Linux USB drive; this includes those with an AMD64+Mac tag. The only one that will work is a Clonezilla Live that I initially used to take a backup of the existing disk (just in case). Unfortunately I was unable to flash Libreboot from there, due to an issue with a Kernel setting (bit above my head on that one!).

What I haven't tried is creating the USB disk from within OS X, as described in the Github Page by Bibanon. I will give this a try with the images I have and report back.

GrevenGull
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Iscritto: 12/18/2017

Also... One thing you could try (although I'm not techie enough to understand why it could work) is to burn the iso file on a DVD instead of using a USB. I have only used DVDs for now.

PS. Now I'm using Trisquel 8 btw :)

Time4Tea
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Iscritto: 07/16/2017

Something else you can try is creating the live USB using dd, rather than one of the live USB creator tools. There are instructions for how to do it on this page:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/372607/how-to-create-a-bootable-ubuntu-usb-flash-drive-from-terminal

(note that it regrettably doesn't use free Javascript)

For some reason that sometimes seems to work where the GUI tools don't. I have no idea why. I remember having to mess about a bit when I did mine. Literally all you need is to get some form of GNU/Linux working on it, so you can flash the annoying Apple firmware.

The DVD option that GrevenGull mentioned is a good idea to try too.

vita_cell
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Iscritto: 07/19/2015

Yeah, dd is the best way to make your bootable stuff.

in terminal write: lsblk

here is an example:

[vita@makinon64 ~]$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 465,8G 0 disk
└─sda1 8:1 0 465,8G 0 part /run/media/vita/Almacenamiento4
sdb 8:16 0 119,2G 0 disk
└─sdb1 8:17 0 119,2G 0 part /run/media/vita/SSD
sdc 8:32 0 111,8G 0 disk
├─sdc1 8:33 0 109,8G 0 part /
└─sdc2 8:34 0 2G 0 part [SWAP]
sdd 8:48 0 149,1G 0 disk
└─sdd1 8:49 0 149,1G 0 part /run/media/vita/Almacenamiento1
sde 8:64 0 149,1G 0 disk
└─sde1 8:65 0 149,1G 0 part /run/media/vita/Almacenamiento2
sdf 8:80 0 149,1G 0 disk
└─sdf1 8:81 0 149,1G 0 part /run/media/vita/Almacenamiento3

by size, you must to search your connected usb flash drive, and now when you see it modify the next command and run it as root or with sudo (without $ or #):

$ sudo dd bs=4M if=Trisquel-iso64.iso of=/dev/sdh && sync

or

# dd bs=4M if=Trisquel-iso64.iso of=/dev/sdh && sync

in the "if" you must to put the path to your iso file en in the "of" you must to put your path to usb flash drive, this is another example:

$ sudo dd bs=4M if=/home/joshaspinall/trisquel7.iso of=/dev/sdg && sync

joshaspinall
Offline
Iscritto: 01/01/2018

After a bit of head scratching and further reading around, I am pleased to report that my MacBook has now been Librebooted.

In terms of getting a USB OS to boot under the stock Apple EFI firmware, my understanding is that a 32-bit EFI compatible distro is required. I believe most 32-bit distros are BIOS only, but please feel free to correct me. The one used in the end was SparkyLinux (based on Debian).

A further change was required to add the following into the Grub configuration once installed (described in the Libreboot Wiki):

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="iomem=relaxed"

Flashing then as per the Libreboot instructions worked perfectly, and is now happily running alongside Trisquel. This is now the second bit of hardware that can be considered 'fully free' alongside my LibreCMC'd Router, so I am quite pleased. :)

Thanks for the responses, and hopefully this could help others in the future.

IrishUSA
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Iscritto: 12/03/2016

Congratulations.

I recommend the following further steps on purely aesthetic grounds:

https://trisquel.info/en/forum/new-devices-ryf-certificate#comment-111959