- #Can i install linux on old macbook how to#
- #Can i install linux on old macbook for mac#
- #Can i install linux on old macbook mac os#
- #Can i install linux on old macbook update#
I thought to myself, “I got lucky on the first try!” But that’s about the time things started to fall apart for my experience. The MacBook Air trackpad gestures were all supported and customizable in settings. All of the soft buttons on the functions keys worked as expected: the screen brightness keys, keyboard brightness key, and sound keys worked flawlessly. I was initially delighted at the hardware support. Elementary OSįirst, I tried Elementary OS. I tried installing many of my previous favorite distributions on my old MacBook Air, only to find disappointment.
#Can i install linux on old macbook for mac#
One would think 10 years would be long enough for Mac hardware support to be baked right into every distribution on the market, but one would be sadly mistaken. I have been trying to find a friendly, easy-to-use distribution of Linux that supported my older MacBook Air hardware fresh out of the install process. I can officially say, “by the way, I use Arch.” But, the one place I never had a thought to use any flavor of Linux was on my old MacBook Air. I have used Ubuntu, Elementary OS, Manjaro, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, Parrot OS, Kali Linux, and even Arch on occasion in virtual machine environments.
#Can i install linux on old macbook how to#
I have even produced some Linux-based content for the Back From the Future Show podcast we ran in 2020, teaching our listeners how to better use the command line interface. I have been a casual user of Linux for a number of years now. So, this is where I decided to turn to the Linux community. I could technically use it with the last supported macOS edition, which I believe is High Sierra, but that would eventually contain vulnerabilities that would never be patched. As one might imagine, it has not been able to receive updates from Apple for quite some time now and I have been thinking of how to keep using it securely. I have an older MacBook Air from 2011, which is the second MacBook I ever purchased, sitting on my desk. It is usually well-made, elegant, and holds up when other laptops do not. If you run into any issues during the installation, leave a comment and I will try to help.I have admired Apple hardware for quite some time now.
#Can i install linux on old macbook update#
With the 20.04.2 update of Ubuntu, everything works out of the box with the Mid 2012 version of the Mac Book. Next, I ran sudo apt update & sudo apt upgrade -y to make sure I had all the updates to my laptop. This will clear the black screen and error when booting. I found out that Mac’s EFI wants a signed OS. After installation, I noticed a weird error about MOK and EFI.
I managed to install Ubuntu, and everything went smoothly. I burned Ubuntu 20.04.2 on a DVD (From ) and booted up the mac by inserting the DVD in the drive and holding down the “Option” key while booting up and I select the first EFI Partition to boot from by pressing the Up arrow after selecting it. So, the installation was pretty straight forward. (I’m actually writing this blog from the laptop running Ubuntu.) This proved to be harder than I expected, but if you keep reading, I’ll tell you how I finally did it.
#Can i install linux on old macbook mac os#
I was going to update it to Mac OS 11, but found out that it didn’t support it, so I figured I would try to revive life to it by installing Ubuntu on it. I got my girlfriend a new Macbook Pro M1 for Hanukkah and she gave me her old one (It’s a Macbook Pro Mid 2012, or 14,1). Been a while and I have a new blog entry so that I don’t forget how to do this if I ever have to do it again.