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Introduction

This guide will help you to install OpenGEU and every other Ubuntu based linux distribution on your Macbook (either "normal" or pro). Even Ubuntu will work with this how-to.
The tutorial is aimed on how to succesfully partition the hard disk and to correctly boot the distribution. For a better post-install configuration I suggest you to follow the Ubuntu Wiki.

This tutorial is also posted on the OpenGEU Wiki

1) Resize your Mac Os X partition

This can be done via BootCamp easily. If you are planning to re-install Mac Os X and then OpenGEU, use Disk Utility to create a partition for Mac Os X and leave some blank space for OpenGEU.

2) Install Refit and Update Partition Table

The best way to install Refit is to obtain its Mac Os X package under Mac Os X and install it. Reboot the system and use the "Partitioning Tool" to update the partition table

3) Boot OpenGEU live cd and Install the System succesfully

Insert the OpenGEU cd and reboot again. Choose to boot Linux from cd, select your language/keyboard options and wait for the beautiful desktop to appear.
Open a terminal and type

sudo apt-get install refit

Install OpenGEU and select a partition layout (I suggest a single ext3 partition for / and a 1GB swap partition). So your hard disk should have 4 partitions, sda3 is the / partition and sda4 is the swap partition.
Now take a look at the installation status! When the filesystems are created and the installer begins to copy the files to the hard disk, open a terminal and type:

sudo gptsync /dev/sda && sudo sfdisk --force -c /dev/sda 3 83

Wait to the end of the installation and reboot the system. Reboot it again if you are not able to boot OpenGEU.

4) The B Plan. What if OpenGEU does not boot?/

If you are still having problems, don't panic! You may also install Grub manually.
Insert OpenGEU cd and boot the live distribution.
Open a terminal and type:

sudo mount /dev/sda3 /mnt/
sudo mount -t proc none /mnt/proc
sudo mount -o bind /dev /mnt/dev
sudo chroot /mnt /bin/bash

(pay attention to sda3, it must be your root partition / )

You are now chrooted to your installed system
create the file /etc/grub.conf with this content:

setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd0,2) (hd0,2)
quit

(pay attention to (hd0,2) it is /dev/sda3 for Grub.)

Run the following command to install Grub:

grub --batch < /etc/grub.conf

The output will look like this one:

Probing devices to guess BIOS drives. This may take a long time.

[ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For
the first word, TAB lists possible command
completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
completions of a device/filename. ]
grub> setup --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 (hd0,2) (hd0,2)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,2)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0,2)"... failed (this is not fatal)
Running "install --stage2=/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0,2) /boot/grub/stage2 p /boot/grub/menu.lst "... succeeded
Done.
grub> quit

Exit from the terminal and reboot the system. OpenGEU will boot.

5) What is next?

A good idea is to configure the system, and the best point to start is:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook_Santa_Rosa
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro

Tags: configuration, distribution, grub, how-to, installation, language, layout, linux, linux distribution, list, Mac Os, mac os x, macbook, OpenGEU, php, set, ubuntu

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 16:49 pm and is filed under Activism?, Free*. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.