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jimijazz

macrumors member
Original poster
May 24, 2007
43
0
A friend of mine seems to believe that I might be able to run Linux (Ubuntu) using Boot Camp. I see no mention of this anywhere at all. I'd like to, if it's possible. Anyone know anything?
 

Airforce

macrumors 6502a
Jan 12, 2006
933
0
A friend of mine seems to believe that I might be able to run Linux (Ubuntu) using Boot Camp. I see no mention of this anywhere at all. I'd like to, if it's possible. Anyone know anything?

You don't even need boot camp. Just partition and install.
 

atszyman

macrumors 68020
Sep 16, 2003
2,437
16
The Dallas 'burbs
Boot camp really has 2 purposes

Boot camp contains information necessary to emulate the BIOS in the EFI (or is it EMI) motherboard chipset to boot Windows and I don't see why this couldn't be used to boot Linux or anything else.

The second part is the hardware drivers for Windows. You'd need to find linux drivers for all of the hardware and that could prove to be difficult. Especially since the drivers are also what control the MB fans, IIRC. I remember early on when people were hacking the first Intel Macs to run Windows the fans running at full speed or not at all seemed to be common problems.
 

jimijazz

macrumors member
Original poster
May 24, 2007
43
0
You don't even need boot camp. Just partition and install.

Oh, really? That's pretty cool.

Partition.... first? Where do I do that? (Sorry, I just got this computer yesterday, recent switcher ^_^;)
 

jimijazz

macrumors member
Original poster
May 24, 2007
43
0
All the online guides for Linux on the MBP use Boot Camp...

...guys?
(girls?)
 

killerrobot

macrumors 68020
Jun 7, 2007
2,239
3
127.0.0.1
No prob. Once you're done let me know how it went. I've been interested in doing the same thing, just too lazy to get going on it.
 

jimijazz

macrumors member
Original poster
May 24, 2007
43
0
OK... I am bad at this... it doesn't seem to allow me to specify the size - It grays out that option. Furthermore, there are three options for the "Partition Scheme." Should I choose "Master Boot Record"?
 

jimijazz

macrumors member
Original poster
May 24, 2007
43
0
Oh jeez, it erases the hard disk?... I've been downloading and installing stuff like a madman for two days straight. I'll have to think about this.
 

plinden

macrumors 601
Apr 8, 2004
4,029
142
These links might be useful:
http://www.mactel-linux.org/wiki/HOWTO
http://www.mactel-linux.org/wiki/Dual_Booting

You'll need a second partition:
http://www.ffnn.nl/pages/articles/apple-mac-os-x/nondestructive-partitioning.php

Make a backup of your drive first. I suggest getting an external hard drive and iinstalling Linux on it, or cloning your Mac HDD to it using something like SuperDuper so you can easily fix it when you have problems. I say "when" because it's doesn't seem to be an easy process, and the first time you do something like this, the chances are high that you'll screw something up.

By the way, I haven't done this, and even though I've screwed about with dual booting Linux and Windows, I wouldn't try this. Unlike killerrobot I'm not going to encourage you to do it.
 
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