getting imac 2006,5.1 32bit EFI to boot from 64bit linux iso

[dougal]

with limited resources on this 2006 imac os 10.7.5 (2.16 core 2 duo, maybe 4gb ram usable) i was hoping to live boot/or temporary install distros to try them (mint 19 mate, lite 4,etc) instead of virtualization for best performance thru resource availability, but have had no luck so far...i've tried creating a bootable usb drive usuing the terminal and got an error message that i can't resolve and using third party apps like Etcher isn't supported by this OS. last method was to burn a dvd-rw with the iso but the machine couldn't erase the disc..i'm reluctant to buy more plastic to see if it was just my disc. any ideas?

[Jason]

Can you make the Linux USB drive on another computer? I'd suggest doing that. It shouldn't matter what you make it on. Other than that I'm pretty lost when it comes to putting Linux distros on a Mac.

[dougal]

i tried the one that we used last week with lm19cinnamon on it but that doesn't get recognized by OSX...there seems to be a hangup in that most systems will recognize bios based bootables while OSX doesn't, it wants to see EFI
here's the instructables i used:
Other procedure
(Moved from Installation/FromUSBStick)

We would encourage Mac users to download Ubuntu Desktop Edition by burning a CD for the time being. But if you would prefer to use a USB, please follow the instructions below. Note: this procedure requires an .img file that you will be required to create from the .iso file you download. TIP: Drag and Drop a file from Finder to Terminal to 'paste' the full path without typing and risking type errors.

Download the desired file
Open the Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities/ or query Terminal in Spotlight)

Convert the .iso file to .img using the convert option of hdiutil (e.g., hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o ~/path/to/target.img ~/path/to/ubuntu.iso)

Note: OS X tends to put the .dmg ending on the output file automatically.

Run diskutil list to get the current list of devices

Insert your flash media
Run diskutil list again and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g., /dev/disk2)

Run diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN (replace N with the disk number from the last command; in the previous example, N would be 2)

Execute sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.img of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m (replace /path/to/downloaded.img with the path where the image file is located; for example, ./ubuntu.img or ./ubuntu.dmg).

Using /dev/rdisk instead of /dev/disk may be faster.

If you see the error dd: Invalid number '1m', you are using GNU dd. Use the same command but replace bs=1m with bs=1M.

If you see the error dd: /dev/diskN: Resource busy, make sure the disk is not in use. Start the 'Disk Utility.app' and unmount (don't eject) the drive.

Run diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your flash media when the command completes

Restart your Mac and press Alt while the Mac is restarting to choose the USB-Stick

the error message i got was that there was no /dev/disk1 directory found.

[BusterE]

After reading through all of this I had a flash of insight - 'I'll bet this computer would run really well with Mac software!' Probably easier too.  Brilliant, no?

[dougal]

  but then how would I spend all this time? also the sad thing as usual is this machine is no longer supported by apple...thus the desire to keep it alive via linux....i like it's small footprint and decent screen size which allows me to try out different distos just a bit of a learning curve to get there....not sure if i'll actually install any distros until after i've played with a few ...i'm guessing that they will perform slightly differently as live sessions but should give me a decent indication of look and feel..some of the challenge with these experiments is the seemingly conflicting 'advice' offered in help forums...in this situation i'm hoping Mike's experiences will be supportive as i believe he's the only one playing on macs.

[buster]

" also the sad thing as usual is this machine is no longer supported by apple"

Ah! That (drum roll) changes everything. Does it have a dvd slot? That's how we used to test Linux distros. Requires burning a disk on a different computer, but it works quite well. Ah.. (drum roll)... that's why you want a dvd disc at the gathering tonight. I probably have lots if you ever get to the north end. If fact we could burn them here, if the writer still works.

[dougal]

thanks Buster...couple of the guys brought some discs so hopefully i'll be able to utilize that option... and brian has posted something that i'm hoping will allow me to utilize the full capacity of the processor and ram by loading 64bit distros...stay tuned.

[cod3poet]

I am downright excited to see the process, and the results.

[dougal]

found this bit on the posting you linked to...wondering how easy it is to use on any distro iso I might like to try...

Converting the ISO

This is done via a very simple C program. Credit goes to the poster here. A lot of extra info if you expand that thread’s bug discussion. Here’s the code (slightly modded to let you provide the file name instead of hard-coding it):

isomacprog.c.txt

Saved it as “isomacprog.c” (remove the “.txt”), and compile it with:

cc -g -Wall isomacprog.c -o isomacprog
After that, make a COPY of the original ISO for your linux distro and run it against the copy. Something like:

cp original.iso macversion.iso
./isomacprog macversion.iso
Matt Gadient February 21, 2017
Hey Poerwo,

If the error you’re getting is “bash: cc: command not found”, you may not have the c compiler installed. Try “sudo apt-get install build-essential” to get it (and some other basic tools for programming) installed. Note that instead of “cc” you can use “gcc” (example “gcc -g -Wall…..”)

If you’re getting “cc: error: isomacprog.c: No such file or directory”, note that you’ll actually want to rename the isomacprog.c.txt file to isomacprog.c (example “mv isomacprog.c.txt isomacprog.c”) which is the standard naming convention for C files. The “.txt” was appended on the end on the server because both browsers and search engines tend to handle .txt files predictably when trying to view the contents of it on the web, but you do want it to actually end in .c for the compiler to read it. I’ll edit the writeup to make it clear it needs to be renamed.

If you’re getting “macversion.iso: No such file or directory”, make sure you’ve replaced macversion.iso with the file name of the original ISO you’ve downloaded (or have renamed it to macversion.iso).

Hopefully I’ve caught all the possible cases there. Good luck!

[dougal]

so I guess i've actually abandoned the original topic line and migrated to burning the iso onto a dvd, just to be clear....

so i downloaded this file:  linuxmint-19-cinnamon-64bit-mac-mattgadient.com.iso
hoping to see how it would run on this imac's hardware compared to my other machines....
after some messing about i finally got the native osx application to burn the image to disc and restarted the machine holding the option/alt key down...chose the 'windows' hd in the menu and soon i'm looking at the Linux Mint icon...few moments later the screen goes black and the flashing cursor in the top left appears followed by OSX login screen...oops! now what?
this particular iso was not commented on as having been successful or not in the postings, other older versions were...so perhaps using an 18.X version and trying to upgrade from there? this would be fine if I was decided on what DE i wanted but seems like it will be a lot more work to just test out the different flavours on this hardware...
any ideas?

[ssfc72]

All I can advise is, to go with Mint 18.3 and forget about trying to run Mint 19.  I had problems with Mint 19 and went back to using Mint 18.3

[dougal]

thanks Bill...so given that I have no idea how bootloaders should act when trying to execute I thought I should observe and document what shows up on the screen to offer to anyone who was willing to help out, so in goes the disc and VOILA! it booted into LM19Cinnamon desktop and thus the experiment continues...much appreciation to Brian for finding the link and a big shout out to Matt Gadient (mattgadient.com) of Defresne, Manitoba for the modified linux iso(s) on his website...

[Jason]

Sweet! So now you can try the actual install! Let us know how it goes.

[cod3poet]

Excellent I knew that it was that Half cream Half Milk Half Caff B.s. that they pulled with EFI that was getting you stuck.

Screenshots or it didn't happen