cs02rm0 Posted October 30, 2010 Share Posted October 30, 2010 I've bought a new Macbook Air. Very nice bit of hardware it is too, but I just can't live without a Linux partition. I've tried creating Ubuntu startup disks on USB flash, an external USB HDD and on a partition on the MBA (dd'd from the ISO). Also installed rEFIt. When I boot I can get the OSX option and a legacy option and sometimes a Tux appears. The legacy and Tux options either hang or go to the text "missing operating system". Can anyone suggest what I'm missing? Presumably a link between rEFIt and grub isn't there but I have no idea why or how to debug it. I'm getting desperate after a few days of this so I'd appreciate any suggestions! Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
cs02rm0 Posted October 30, 2010 Author Share Posted October 30, 2010 I've been round a different way now, essentially putting rEFIt onto the USB disk too but it ended up just being a different way to reach the "missing operating system" error. Is that actually a grub error? If so, how come I'm not being offered a grub menu before it tries to pick an OS? Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1573229 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cs02rm0 Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 Does anyone have any idea if it's likely that I'm doing something wrong? If I buy an external CD/DVD drive will that make any difference? If it could does it have to be a particular drive? Obviously I don't really want to buy more hardware if I'm going to be stuck in the same situation but if that's what it takes... Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1573421 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CooSee Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Does anyone have any idea if it's likely that I'm doing something wrong? If I buy an external CD/DVD drive will that make any difference? If it could does it have to be a particular drive? Obviously I don't really want to buy more hardware if I'm going to be stuck in the same situation but if that's what it takes... did you read this ? Ubuntu Wiki Intel MacS ! you should ask your Problem on the Ubuntu Forum as well ! CooSee ' Ya Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1573620 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cs02rm0 Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 I have seen that thanks. I've read an awful lot around this in the last few days. Not found any hard and fast answers though. I've asked on the Ubuntu forums too - it seems someone has managed to do this, by partitioning their hard disk and putting the installer on a new partition. Again though, I've struggled to get any answers as to how they've actually gone about it - clearly they must have done something at least slightly different. Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1573711 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CooSee Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 I have seen that thanks. I've read an awful lot around this in the last few days. Not found any hard and fast answers though. I've asked on the Ubuntu forums too - it seems someone has managed to do this, by partitioning their hard disk and putting the installer on a new partition. Again though, I've struggled to get any answers as to how they've actually gone about it - clearly they must have done something at least slightly different. never liked Ubuntu, personally love ' GenToo Linux ', this is the best Distro IMHO i've found some sites: GenToo Forum ! and HowTo for MacBook Pro ! and Ubuntu Forum !!! and Debian Linux HoWto ! Ubuntu based on Debian ! i know there's much to read, but it's worth it good luck CooSee ' Ya Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1573732 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cs02rm0 Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 Gentoo used to be my distro of choice, some years ago now (looks like I had an account on the Gentoo forums in 2004), but these days I really appreciate having my software compiled for me! Regardless, as I can't even get to a grub menu I don't think I'm ready to worry about distro choice yet! I've read most of those articles, but thanks. All the information seems to be relatively out of date or around issues that occur at some point (well) after grub kicks in for the installer. Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1573793 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CooSee Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Gentoo used to be my distro of choice, some years ago now (looks like I had an account on the Gentoo forums in 2004), but these days I really appreciate having my software compiled for me! Regardless, as I can't even get to a grub menu I don't think I'm ready to worry about distro choice yet! I've read most of those articles, but thanks. All the information seems to be relatively out of date or around issues that occur at some point (well) after grub kicks in for the installer. no offence, but why you want install Linux at all ? OSX based on UniX and works uncomplicated ! you know that Ubuntu or any other Linux Distros have a lot of daily Updates ( Kernel and Security Updates, etc. ). what if only one Update screw the whole Installation ? that will be a waste of time did you ever compile a Kernel by yourself or any Package or edit Scripts to fix something with Linux ? if i buy Apple Hardware, this is not because it's good looking ! i buy it because of the intelligent Software they made ! CooSee ' Ya Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1573855 Share on other sites More sharing options...
cs02rm0 Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 no offence, but why you want install Linux at all ? None taken. I've been using Linux for well, certainly over ten years, almost exclusively. I make my living from it and I rely on a lot of software which is either not available on OSX, or more generally possible to get working but a bit of a pain. Even if I was starting over today I'd still prefer Linux because of lots of little things - OSX tends to hide the low level stuff away which I want easy access to and take certain design decisions away from me - I wouldn't like to try and change the window manager on OSX for example. you know that Ubuntu or any other Linux Distros have a lot of daily Updates ( Kernel and Security Updates, etc. ). what if only one Update screw the whole Installation ? that will be a waste of time Oh yes, I'm not new to the game. You can run as bleeding edge or old school as you like. Since going to Ubuntu about 5 years ago I haven't had a single installation screw anything up. if i buy Apple Hardware, this is not because it's good looking ! It is a small part for me if I'm honest. But the Air's an extremely practical design and hopefully the aluminium unibody will make it more durable than the plastic dell it's replacing. Hopefully if the trackpad dies on this or it starts giving me electric shocks like the Dell did then Apple will be more helpful too. Finally - I've found a working combination! Creating a USB flash disk on Ubuntu, then writing it to a partition on the Air using: sudo dd if=/dev/disk1s1 of=/dev/disk0s3 bs=1m Then reboot and use refit to select it and the installer runs! Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1573873 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leandro Dutra Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 you know that Ubuntu or any other Linux Distros have a lot of daily Updates ( Kernel and Security Updates, etc. ). Not really. There are daily updates, but for applications. what if only one Update screw the whole Installation ? In Debian, this never happens. In Ubuntu, happened only once or twice. Quote Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/235766-installing-linux-on-a-macbook-air-without-cd/#findComment-1579102 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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