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Linux is a powerful operating system beloved by coders and capable of breathing life into old Macs. In this feature we look at how to install Linux on a Mac - including how to completely replace.
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There are multiple utilities to create a Linux Live USB in Windows. However, most of them are not available in Mac OS X. Let's see how to create a Linux Live USB in Mac OS X without using any third-party apps, just with the terminal and the dd command.
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Table of Contents
Download the Linux Distribution ISO
The guide will work for most Linux distributions.
For the example, we will use an Ubuntu 14.04.03 ISO, which is the latest LTS (Long Term Support) version of Ubuntu, and will be supported until 2019.
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Open the terminal
After the ISO has downloaded, we need to open the Mac OS Terminal. The fastest way to do so is pressing Command + Space to open the Spotlight Search and type 'terminal'.
Inside the terminal, we need to navigate to the folder we downloaded the ISO. The default directory is our Downloads folder, and we can navigate there with:
For more information about how to navigate the terminal, check out our guide:
Basic Linux Commands for Linux Terminal Beginners
Basic Linux Commands for Linux Terminal Beginners
Since both Linux and Mac OS X are based on Unix, navigating the terminal is similar for both.
Convert the ISO to IMG
To create a Linux Live USB in Mac OS X, we first need to convert the ISO file to an IMG. We will do so with the hdiutil application, substituting <ubuntu> for the full ISO file name.
On a modern Mac with an SSD, this process will take less than a second. In the example, it took 925ms.
Prepare the USB flash drive
For most Linux distributions, a 4GB USB thumb drive will be enough. We connect the thumb drive to our Mac and run the diskutil command to see the device node assigned to our flash drive.
In the example, it is /dev/disk2.
Next thing, we need to unmount the drive. We make sure it doesn't contain any useful files, because they will be deleted, and then run:
Create the Linux Live USB in Mac OS X
Finally, we are ready to set the procedure in motion. We type:
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We might have converted the ISO to IMG, but Mac OS X added a .DMG extension, so we have to include this too.
Also, using /dev/rdisk instead of /dev/disk may be faster, but both will work.
After the sudo command, we need to enter our user account password. Nothing will show on the terminal as we are typing; we just enter the password and press Enter.
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If we use a fast USB 3.0 drive on a USB 3.0 capable Mac, the procedure will be lightning fast. The 1006MB ISO was transferred to the USB in less than 5,2 seconds, averaging 194MB/sec.
Finally, we eject the USB thumb drive with:
That was it. We now have a Linux Live USB, to install Linux on a Windows PC, or on our Mac.
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Did you have any trouble creating a Linux Live USB in Mac OS X?
If anything on the guide didn't work as described, and you weren't able to create a Linux Live USB in Mac OS X, leave us a comment.
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[ Ports ][ Debian for PowerPC ][ Development ][ Documentation ][ Installation ]Here are some highlights of the PowerMac installation of Debian. Fordetailed instructions, please studythe fine InstallationManual. TheDebian Installer team have spent many long hours attempting to answeryour questions in advance and give you excellent written guidance asyou install Debian.
It is certainly possible, and there are actually quite elegantsolutions for the NewWorld Macs, to dual boot your Debian PowerMacsystem with Mac OS and/or Mac OS X. Malwarebytes for mac 10.9. If you are planning on doing a newinstallation of Mac OS X, though, do it before installing Debian. TheMac OS X installer is very unkind to existing systems when itinstalls. Shortly, you may also have the option of running Debianwithin a Darwin system.
The Debian installation uses a 2.6 series kernel. This kernel shouldsupport most PowerMac hardware. A 2.4 series powerpc flavour kernel isavailable for users with externally supplied modules that have notbeen ported to 2.6 kernels. However, the use of this kernel isstrongly discouraged.
You will need to partition your disk; Linux must be installed on itsown partition(s). If you have a single-disk system, that will entailbacking up everything on your system and restoring it afterpartitioning is complete. Some third-party partitioning tools may beable to 'shrink' a partition so you have room for more partitions onyour disk without destroying what's already there, but they willundoubtedly advise a backup also. Drive Setup does not offer thatoption, it erases the entire drive.
1 GB is probably enough space for an experimental Linux system. You canget by with less, perhaps as little as 400 MB for a really basic system,but you'll more than likely want more than just the basics.
After partitioning your disk, you will need to obtain an installationCD or download the installer system. Once you finally sit down to dothe installation (preferably with installation manual in hand), youwill probably burn up 2 or 3 hours making it happen. An experiencedinstaller can get a basic install done in under half an hour.
If you're really uncomfortable with command lines, then install the Xdesktop after you've finished the basic system install. But give it asecond thought, too: there's a world of power in the Linux commandline. Some things that are very difficult to do in a graphicalinterface are very fast and efficient on the command line. Also, sincethe Linux system is command-line based, there are some functions whichare only accessible from the command line. The default system sets up6 command line consoles, and one graphical one. You can get a lot ofwork done in those other consoles while you're browsing the web.. andthat way you can have the best of both worlds.
The PowerPC platform runs really well with Linux. It's highlyrespected in much of the Linux world. Enjoy, and remember to givesomething back!
For help with Quik on OldWorld Macs, seehttp://penguinppc.org/bootloaders/quik/
![Macbook Macbook](/uploads/1/2/5/0/125039861/950101082.png)
For detailed information on the various Mac models and in particularinfo on working with OpenFirmware with any given model, check out theNetBSDPowerPC Model list. Since their installation requires one to getOpenFirmware up first, they're the experts on that angle.