Problem installing ubuntu 12.04 (dual boot) on Mac

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This does not work on the newer iMacs if installing Precise. Please make a backup first.(2011)

First, you will need to install rEFIt. Please download the rEFIt DMG package and install it by mounting and running the installer .mkpg file/directory. Once rEFIt is installed, reboot, and you should see an alternate boot menu.

Boot to Mac OSX.

Open a terminal and run sudo diskutil resizeVolume disk0s2 200G, replacing 200G with the size of the Mac OSX partition you want. Insert the Ubuntu Live CD. If the rEFIt menu doesn't appear, hold the option key while rebooting. Hold C while booting to boot the CD. Press f6 when you see a purple screen with a man and keyboard at the bottom. Use the arrow keys to check nomodeset, press esc and select to Try Ubuntu. Start Gparted and create a 1 GB "swap" partition in the free space, and then an EXT4 partition. Remember the label(which may be something like /dev/sda3 Start the installer.

Choose the "somehing else" option when asked how to partition. Select the partition you made(the EXT4 one) ,and click edity below. Set the mount point to /. On the dropdown, select to install the bootloader to /dev/sda3(The EXT4 partition you made), NOT /dev/sda. Install, and reboot.

If you are unableto boot Ubuntu, select the partition tool on rEFIt, and allow it to "sync" the partitoin table(Press Y). Shutdown, and boot again. (Do not reboot, but shutdown)

Adapted from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MactelSupportTeam/AppleIntelInstallation#Quick_Steps for interface of newer installers

There are also some chat logs from trying to resolve the problem. A raw dump is below. This is not edited, so it contains a few off-topic things also.

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Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

  • Admin
    Admin over 1 year

    I'm actually running ubuntu 12.04 on my Macbook by DVD. But when I try to install only 2 settings appear:

    • Replace Mac OS X with Ubuntu
    • Something else

    while I was expecting for

    • Install Ubuntu alongside Mac OS X

    how can I fix that? Thanks.

    • nanofarad
      nanofarad over 11 years
      Do you have a rEFIt disk or rEFIt installed on Mac OSX? Also, are you using Leopard?
    • Admin
      Admin over 11 years
      @ObsessiveFOSS, I honestly don't know...
    • nanofarad
      nanofarad over 11 years
      It's not on by default. OK, I'll add an answer shortly.
  • Admin
    Admin over 11 years
    I have a Macbook Pro. Doesn't it work anyway?
  • nanofarad
    nanofarad over 11 years
    When was it produced, and what OSX version are you running? Leopard?
  • Admin
    Admin over 11 years
    It is a Macbook Pro 13'' of half 2010 running Mac OS X Lion (the latest version).
  • Admin
    Admin over 11 years
    I didn't create a partition when I was on the Mac OS X side. That might be the problem. Could it be that when I create a partition on the OS X side then re doing the procedure and booting from DVD will give me that option?
  • nanofarad
    nanofarad over 11 years
    @Jeffrey You do not create a partition on the Mac OS side. You make your old partition smaller in Mac OSX, and then create a new partition using Gparted in the live environment. Why don't we come down to chat?
  • Admin
    Admin over 11 years
    New update: At the end of the successfull installation it asked me to restart the computer. I did. It trhew out the installation DVD and got to the rEFIt boot menu. I selected Linux and it booted to a black screen with a pulsing dot at the top left corner. It stayed like that for 5 minutes, then I just stopped the computer. I rebooted few more times, always the same. (The boot to Mac works by the way). Looking for it on Google game me some results about the problem being related to "nomodeset", that if you remember we didn't set.