Installing Linux on a MacBook 2.1 without CDROM and a blank hardrive

[bfremon]

Hi,

 

My problem is that I'd like to install Linux (or eventually Mac OS X, but that's my second choice) on a MacBook 2.1 with no CDROM (currently broken) and a new hardrive (the old one is dead). My questions are in bold.

 

From my research on Google and a few trys, on this particular hardware, I:

- cannot boot from a USB key (already tried it with a Snow Leopard Hackintosh image found on the Pirate Bay, and with a Debian Linux image)

- cannot install from a USB external CDROM or from a USB or Firewire external hard drive with a GPT partition table and with a Debian install copied on it

 

Other options are :

 

- boot Linux or Mac OS X from a Firewire CDROM. Those drives are really expensive, half the price of my laptop. I also don't want to change the Superdrive for the same reason - it's even more expensive.

- I don't have another mac handy to do an install in the target mode,

- virtualize Mac OS X server to netboot a Mac OS X image, or do a regular install. I have not tried this one yet, as I cannot find a working torrent of OS X, and I don't think it's possible to generate Linux images to be served by netboot.

 

So, I would like first to know if it its possible to install a small HFS+ partition with refit on an external Firewire hardrive, and from there to boot a Linux install in another partition to install it on the internal drive of my Mac ?

 

Other possibilités that I have considered :

 

- Transfer my laptop internal hardrive in my desktop, install Linux on it, put it back on my laptop after gptsync' it. Will it boot ? I don't think so...

- Do the same with a hackintosh install. Will it work ?

- Virtualize a vanilla Snow Leopard, and install OS X in target mode to my laptop.

- Install a hackintosh system in a real partition on my desktop, and try to create the aforementionned HFS+ partiton plus refit install + another partition on an external Firewire hardrive, with a Linux install, or the target method mentionned before.

 

Which option has the highest success rate, according to you fellow readers ?

 

Thanks in advance for your answers.