[wplug] linux on a Mac Mini without OSX

[Brian Sammon]

As a followup, I now have Linux on this.  I tried a few versions of the latest stable release of Debian--one wouldn't boot, two others (seemingly) installed Linux successfully, but the grub they installed didn't boot.
I tried Ubuntu Trusty amd64 (from a "+mac" installer ISO) and it installed Linux and grub successfully.

Some details:

On Thu, 20 Nov 2014 20:30:07 -0500
Brian Sammon <wplug-list at brisammon.fastmail.fm> wrote:

> Is it easier if I just install linux to a thumbdrive and boot from USB every
> time?

I had absolutely no luck with a thumbdrive.

>   Checking/upgrading my firmware version

The Boot CD for rEFInd (http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/) reported a firmware version number, but it was a very different format from the firmware versions on Apple's site.
For upgrading firmware without MacOSX, the "Firmware Restoration CD" might be the thing: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201518
This was apparently moot for my Mac Mini, as Apple's website doesn't list any available firmware updates for my model.

>   "Blessing" a partition

Recent versions of GRUB come with a "grub_macbless" command, but I haven't tested it.

>   Installing rEFIt or rEFInd

Both of these provide CD ISOs, but it was unclear how to install from the CD.  Currently the Mac Mini boots directly from Apple's firmware to GRUB-- I'm not sure whether I'll use rEFIt/rEFInd

> I'm looking into http://www.puredarwin.org/

I downloaded an ISO, but I haven't burned it yet.  I'm still curious about this, even though I solved my problem without it.