Installing Ubuntu alongside
OS X (Dual Boot, no rEFIt)
The site from where the idea was taken talked about installing Ubuntu on a
MacBook Air but it made sense and the installation seemed very easy and
straight forward. After trying the suggestion, it worked fine. The installation
was made on a system with OS X Leopard already installed and up to date.
Because of the nature of the installation, I think it could work on all MacBook
models and on all MacBook Pro models with Leopard installed.
So, here are the steps:
1. Boot into OS X Leopard
2. Use BootCamp to partition the drive, the size depends on your
needs but 10GB should be fine, 9 for the ext3 partition and 1
for the swap one. (There is a manual on how to use BootCamp
to install Windows, the steps are very similar except the
Windows install part, so if you need to know how to partition
the drive with BootCamp, this is a good resource: http://
manuals.info.apple.com/en/Boot_Camp_Install-Setup.pdf)
3. Restart the computer with Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop CD inserted
(64-bit or 32-bit version), just when the computer starts keep
pressed the C key (that's for booting from the CD). Stop
pressing the key when the screen goes black. ~-(Strange
behavior I got: Holding the key for too long made the keyboard
and mousepad unresponsive)
4. Boot Into the live CD, Click on 'Install' icon on the desktop.
Select the appropriate language, select 'Keyboard Layout' as
'Macintosh', select 'Manual' partitioning, then 'Forward'.
5. BootCamp will have created '/dev/sda3' which should be
roughly the size of the partition you created. Write down the
exact size of the partition and the size of the free space made
by BootCamp because using this space left for your partitions
"could harm" MacBook's partition table. Select 'dev/sda3' and
delete it by clicking 'Delete Partition'. This should now be 'free
space'. (Note: IF someone can verify that using the free space left by
BootCamp doesn't matter, please edit this part)
6. Select the 'free space' and click 'New Partition'. Set the size of
the partition in wich Ubuntu will be installed leaving the free
space for the swap partition if needed plus the free space that
you wrote down before. Set the formatting to occur at the end.
Format it as an 'ext3' type partition and set the 'Mount Point' to
'/'. Click OK. (Note: After finishing partitioning, the free space left by
BootCamp should be the same)
7. Select the free space and click 'New Partition'. Format it as a
'swap' type partition and select the size needed. Set the
formatting to occur at the end. Click OK. (Note: After finishing
partitioning, the free space left by BootCamp should be the same)
8. Now click 'Forward'.
9. Set your user settings and click 'Forward'. Click 'OK', and
'Install'.
10. When installation is complete, reboot.
Important: When using this method, Ubuntu will not be selected by
default on boot. Nor it will be selectable by default; that means that
if you don't press anything, the computer will boot on OS X Leopard.
To be able to select wich system to use at boot, just after the
system starts, keep pressed the Option (Alt) key, then, two images
will appear, representing both OS' installed; select the one you need
to use. The image called Windows is Ubuntu, a small price for an
easy install.
For more information on installing specific components, take a look
at the menu on top of the page.
Installing Ubuntu alongside OS X (Dual
Boot)
Note: This is for a MacBook Pro with OS X already installed
1. Install the rEFIt Boot Menu from (http://refit.sf.net).
2. Use BootCamp to partition the drive (if using Tiger, don't
bother burning a Windows boot CD; if using Leopard, it won't
ask you).
3. Restart the computer with Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop CD inserted
(64-bit or 32-bit version). rEFIT should recognize the CD and
give you option to "boot Linux from CD". Scroll to this option
using the down arrow or click on it with your mouse.
4. Boot Into the live CD, Click on 'Install' icon on the desktop.
Select the appropriate language, select 'Keyboard Layout' as
'Macintosh', select 'Manual' partitioning, then 'Forward'.
5. BootCamp will have created '/dev/sda3' which should be
roughly the size of the partition you created. Select 'dev/sda3'
and delete it by clicking 'Delete Partition'. This should now be
'free space'.
6. Select the 'free space' and click 'New Partition'. Set the size to
approximately 1 GB less than the total amount of free space.
Format it as an 'ext3' type partition and set the 'Mount Point' to
'/'. Set the formatting to occur at the beginning. Click OK.
7. This should leave approximately 1 GB of free space. Select this
free space and click 'New Partition'. Format it as a 'swap' type
partition. Set the formatting to occur at the beginning. Click
OK.
8. Now click 'Forward'. This will give some scary warnings about
FAT 32 not being partitioned correctly. Click 'Ignore' and
proceed with the install. After being prompted for a user and
computer name, check to make sure that the formatting is
occurring at partitions #3 and #4 and click 'Install'.
9. Set your user settings and click 'Forward'. Before installing,
click on 'Advanced' and change '(hd0)' to '(hd0,3)' . Click 'OK',
and 'Install'.
10. When installation is complete, reboot into Ubuntu Linux OS. Go
to 'System' > 'Administration' > 'Software Sources'. In the
'Third-Party Software' tab, check them. In the 'Updates' tab,
check 'Pre-releases Updates' and 'Unsupported Updates'. Click
'Close' and 'Reload'.
11. Go to 'System' > 'Administration' > 'Update Manager' hit
'Check', 'Install Updates' and restart.
12. Read the following Video section for choosing which video
driver to use.
To adjust Fans speed in OS X install: http://homepage.mac.com/
holtmann/eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/index.html
To access Linux partition in OS X see: http://fuz2y.blogspot.com/
2008/04/how-to-mount-ext3-partition-on-os-x.html
How to Install Ubuntu OS X & Windows Vista (Triple Boot)
Note: This is for a MacBook Pro with OS X & Windows Vista allready
installed
OS X (Dual Boot, no rEFIt)
The site from where the idea was taken talked about installing Ubuntu on a
MacBook Air but it made sense and the installation seemed very easy and
straight forward. After trying the suggestion, it worked fine. The installation
was made on a system with OS X Leopard already installed and up to date.
Because of the nature of the installation, I think it could work on all MacBook
models and on all MacBook Pro models with Leopard installed.
So, here are the steps:
1. Boot into OS X Leopard
2. Use BootCamp to partition the drive, the size depends on your
needs but 10GB should be fine, 9 for the ext3 partition and 1
for the swap one. (There is a manual on how to use BootCamp
to install Windows, the steps are very similar except the
Windows install part, so if you need to know how to partition
the drive with BootCamp, this is a good resource: http://
manuals.info.apple.com/en/Boot_Camp_Install-Setup.pdf)
3. Restart the computer with Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop CD inserted
(64-bit or 32-bit version), just when the computer starts keep
pressed the C key (that's for booting from the CD). Stop
pressing the key when the screen goes black. ~-(Strange
behavior I got: Holding the key for too long made the keyboard
and mousepad unresponsive)
4. Boot Into the live CD, Click on 'Install' icon on the desktop.
Select the appropriate language, select 'Keyboard Layout' as
'Macintosh', select 'Manual' partitioning, then 'Forward'.
5. BootCamp will have created '/dev/sda3' which should be
roughly the size of the partition you created. Write down the
exact size of the partition and the size of the free space made
by BootCamp because using this space left for your partitions
"could harm" MacBook's partition table. Select 'dev/sda3' and
delete it by clicking 'Delete Partition'. This should now be 'free
space'. (Note: IF someone can verify that using the free space left by
BootCamp doesn't matter, please edit this part)
6. Select the 'free space' and click 'New Partition'. Set the size of
the partition in wich Ubuntu will be installed leaving the free
space for the swap partition if needed plus the free space that
you wrote down before. Set the formatting to occur at the end.
Format it as an 'ext3' type partition and set the 'Mount Point' to
'/'. Click OK. (Note: After finishing partitioning, the free space left by
BootCamp should be the same)
7. Select the free space and click 'New Partition'. Format it as a
'swap' type partition and select the size needed. Set the
formatting to occur at the end. Click OK. (Note: After finishing
partitioning, the free space left by BootCamp should be the same)
8. Now click 'Forward'.
9. Set your user settings and click 'Forward'. Click 'OK', and
'Install'.
10. When installation is complete, reboot.
Important: When using this method, Ubuntu will not be selected by
default on boot. Nor it will be selectable by default; that means that
if you don't press anything, the computer will boot on OS X Leopard.
To be able to select wich system to use at boot, just after the
system starts, keep pressed the Option (Alt) key, then, two images
will appear, representing both OS' installed; select the one you need
to use. The image called Windows is Ubuntu, a small price for an
easy install.
For more information on installing specific components, take a look
at the menu on top of the page.
Installing Ubuntu alongside OS X (Dual
Boot)
Note: This is for a MacBook Pro with OS X already installed
1. Install the rEFIt Boot Menu from (http://refit.sf.net).
2. Use BootCamp to partition the drive (if using Tiger, don't
bother burning a Windows boot CD; if using Leopard, it won't
ask you).
3. Restart the computer with Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop CD inserted
(64-bit or 32-bit version). rEFIT should recognize the CD and
give you option to "boot Linux from CD". Scroll to this option
using the down arrow or click on it with your mouse.
4. Boot Into the live CD, Click on 'Install' icon on the desktop.
Select the appropriate language, select 'Keyboard Layout' as
'Macintosh', select 'Manual' partitioning, then 'Forward'.
5. BootCamp will have created '/dev/sda3' which should be
roughly the size of the partition you created. Select 'dev/sda3'
and delete it by clicking 'Delete Partition'. This should now be
'free space'.
6. Select the 'free space' and click 'New Partition'. Set the size to
approximately 1 GB less than the total amount of free space.
Format it as an 'ext3' type partition and set the 'Mount Point' to
'/'. Set the formatting to occur at the beginning. Click OK.
7. This should leave approximately 1 GB of free space. Select this
free space and click 'New Partition'. Format it as a 'swap' type
partition. Set the formatting to occur at the beginning. Click
OK.
8. Now click 'Forward'. This will give some scary warnings about
FAT 32 not being partitioned correctly. Click 'Ignore' and
proceed with the install. After being prompted for a user and
computer name, check to make sure that the formatting is
occurring at partitions #3 and #4 and click 'Install'.
9. Set your user settings and click 'Forward'. Before installing,
click on 'Advanced' and change '(hd0)' to '(hd0,3)' . Click 'OK',
and 'Install'.
10. When installation is complete, reboot into Ubuntu Linux OS. Go
to 'System' > 'Administration' > 'Software Sources'. In the
'Third-Party Software' tab, check them. In the 'Updates' tab,
check 'Pre-releases Updates' and 'Unsupported Updates'. Click
'Close' and 'Reload'.
11. Go to 'System' > 'Administration' > 'Update Manager' hit
'Check', 'Install Updates' and restart.
12. Read the following Video section for choosing which video
driver to use.
To adjust Fans speed in OS X install: http://homepage.mac.com/
holtmann/eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/index.html
To access Linux partition in OS X see: http://fuz2y.blogspot.com/
2008/04/how-to-mount-ext3-partition-on-os-x.html
How to Install Ubuntu OS X & Windows Vista (Triple Boot)
Note: This is for a MacBook Pro with OS X & Windows Vista allready
installed
1. Install the rEFIt Boot Menu from (http://refit.sf.net).
Also to access Linux partition in Vista install 'Ext2 IFS': http://
www.fs-driver.org/download.html
And to access OS X partition in Vista install 'Mac Drive': http://
www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/
To ajust Fans speed in Vista install "inputremapper" before the
leopard dvd drivers: http://www.olofsson.info/index.html?
inputremapper.html
To ajust Fans speed in OS X install: http://homepage.mac.com/
holtmann/eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/index.html
To access Linux partition in OS X see: http://fuz2y.blogspot.com/
2008/04/how-to-mount-ext3-partition-on-os-x.html
Ubuntu Installation (Triple Boot - Vista)
1. Startup your laptop with Ubuntu Desktop CD inserted into the
drive.
2. In rEFIt menu, choose to boot the Ubuntu CD.
3. Select English as the language to be used.
3. Select the 2nd option, the one that says : "Install Ubuntu"
4. After the loading, on the install screen, select the O.S. Language
(English) and hit "Forward" button, then select your country location.
5. On the Keyboard layout, choose your keyboard language, and on
the other window select the variant Macintosh (mine is Portugal -
Macintosh), and test the typing if you want.
6. On the "Prepare Disk Space" menu, select the 1st option: "Guided
- Resize SCSI3 (0,1,0), Partition #3 (sda) and use Free Space", and
with your mouse select the desired partition size (I set mine to 80%
Windows Vista & 20% Ubuntu), and hit "Forward" button.
8. On "Migrate Documents and Settings" menu, just hit "Forward".
9. On "Ready to Install" menu, select "Advanced..." and select to
install Grub boot loader to the last partition "/dev/sda4" and hit
"OK" button, and then hit "Install" button to begin the installation
process.
10. After the installation as finished, hit "Restart Now" button, it will
exit the installer and eject your CDROM, then press "Enter" key to
restart. After the reboot, select the Linux icon on rEFIt to boot into
Ubuntu.
11. Don't forget not to install the ATI accelerated graphics drivers,
that is auto-detected by Hardware Drivers application, we'll cover
the installation of the latest and official ATI drivers on the next
section.
6. Go to 'System' > 'Administration' > 'Software Sources' and check
all boxes on the "Third party software", and also on the "Updates"
tab. Then hit "Close" button to reload the sources.
7. Go to 'System' > 'Administration' > 'Update Manager' and check
and install the new updates.
Preparing to Install Ubuntu alongside OS
X & Windows XP (Triple Boot)
1 - Make sure you use Leopard and have it updated (10.5.2).
2 - Start BootCamp and create a partition for Windows XP (15G is
enough).
3 - Don't install it through Bootcamp.
4 - Insert Windows CD and reboot holding C when you hear the
beeping sound.
5 - Windows installation should start, follow the usual installation
process of Windows.
6 - If it reboots during installation, you press ALT during reboot so
that you can pick Windows installation.
7 - After Windows is installed, insert your Leopard DVD and it
should install all your Apple drivers and stuff.
8 - Update your Apple Software (there will be an option on the start
menu to do so).
9 - Update Windows XP.
Ubuntu Installation (Triple Boot - XP)
1 - Now that Windows is installed, get back to MacOS, we are going
to install Linux now.
2 - Start Disk Utility and create a new partition on Machintosh HD,
name it Linux
3 - Insert Linux CD and reboot holding C
4 - On Linux installation, delete the partition you created (Linux)
because its HFS, and set it as ext3 and mount /. Don't need to
create swap (I know its going to warn you, but ignore it).
5 - At the last step of setup, click advanced because you need to
change where GRUB is going to be installed, choose sdaX (which X is
your Linux partition).
6 - Let it install Ubuntu.
7 - Get back to MacOS, install rEFIt, reboot and run the partition
manager of rEFIt, which should take care of every detail of booting
for each OS.
8 - Reboot and that's it.
