Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Ubuntu in Macbook Pro retina (without dual boot)

dollystereo

dollystereo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2004
907
114
France
Hello,
Has anyone installed Ubuntu in a macbook pro?
Has anyone installed Ubuntu as the ONLY operating system in the machine?
Can this be done? (get rid completely of OSX)
Thanks in advance!
 
S

Samuelsan2001

macrumors 604
Oct 24, 2013
7,729
2,153
answers in order

No
No
Yes

Can't see why you would want to but see no reason why you can't, the best thing about macs is osx....
 
P

posguy99

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2004
2,282
1,531
The question, as always, would be why do you need to replace a real Unix (OS X) with a pseudo-Unix (Linux)?

What does the one do that the other one does not? Especially Ubuntu?

You won't gain anything by running Ubuntu on the bare iron that virtualization won't give you.
 
S

snaky69

macrumors 603
Mar 14, 2008
5,908
488
dollystereo said:
Hello,
Has anyone installed Ubuntu in a macbook pro?
Has anyone installed Ubuntu as the ONLY operating system in the machine?
Can this be done? (get rid completely of OSX)
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
You can do it just fine. I'd keep an OS X partition though, else you'll never be able to install EFI and firmware updates.
 
T

TheAnvil

macrumors regular
Nov 25, 2013
185
38
dollystereo said:
Hello,
Has anyone installed Ubuntu in a macbook pro?
Has anyone installed Ubuntu as the ONLY operating system in the machine?
Can this be done? (get rid completely of OSX)
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Yes, you can do this quite easily. You will need to install rEFInd as the boot manager.

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/

posguy99 said:
The question, as always, would be why do you need to replace a real Unix (OS X) with a pseudo-Unix (Linux)?

What does the one do that the other one does not? Especially Ubuntu?

You won't gain anything by running Ubuntu on the bare iron that virtualization won't give you.
Click to expand...

If someone wants something, that's really their business. Why the constant need to question other's motives?
 
  • Like
Reactions: atmenterprises
poiihy

poiihy

macrumors 68020
Aug 22, 2014
2,301
62
TheAnvil said:
Yes, you can do this quite easily. You will need to install rEFInd as the boot manager.

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/
Click to expand...

Ubuntu linux installs its own boot loader (grub i think it is called) so if you want to use Ubuntu only then you don't need rEFInd. The boot loader can recognize Mac OS X and will show it in the list if it exists, but it seems to not be able to launch it.
 
0

0x100

macrumors regular
Nov 11, 2014
222
73
Japan
posguy99 said:
The question, as always, would be why do you need to replace a real Unix (OS X) with a pseudo-Unix (Linux)?

What does the one do that the other one does not? Especially Ubuntu?

You won't gain anything by running Ubuntu on the bare iron that virtualization won't give you.
Click to expand...

One thing about Ubuntu is that it isn't as heavy as operating systems like Windows or Mac Os. It's really snappy when you got all the drivers and things like that installed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: atmenterprises
dollystereo

dollystereo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2004
907
114
France
Where I work we use only Linux (open source) software, for a matter of security, and trust. Closed operating systems are not welcome.
For my personal use I use OSX, but for work we need machines with ubuntu (or debian, fedora).
I really like ubuntu for hpc and developing. Actually we buy dell PCs, but we like apple hardware (quality, components, beautiful laptops), so we are looking how to get apple instead of dell, just that.
My colleagues would never, ever trust an apple operating system.

----------
poiihy said:
Ubuntu linux installs its own boot loader (grub i think it is called) so if you want to use Ubuntu only then you don't need rEFInd. The boot loader can recognize Mac OS X and will show it in the list if it exists, but it seems to not be able to launch it.
Click to expand...

Are you sure?
 
S

snaky69

macrumors 603
Mar 14, 2008
5,908
488
dollystereo said:
My colleagues would never, ever trust an apple operating system.
Click to expand...

Why? Blind distrust in closed software or an actual, valid reason? I'd be curious.

Regardless, I'd still recommend keeping an OS X partition for firmware/EFI/BootROM updates. Those can only be done through OS X. The partition can be super small.
 
2

2984839

Cancelled
Apr 19, 2014
2,114
2,239
SlCKB0Y said:
How is that at all meaningful in any practical sense?
Click to expand...

It isn't; neither one is "real" Unix (whatever that is), not that it matters.

OP: I'm running 14.04 as the only OS on my 2011 MBP and it works perfectly out of the box. Just install it as normal if you don't need or want OS X. Dual booting may be trickier; I have never tried it. You may wish to install TLP for better power management. I can get about 8.5 hours of battery life with the screen at minimum brightness and the keyboard backlight off or very low. Stock Ubuntu power management is not as good.

Otherwise, the wifi is supported, the Intel HD3000 graphics work fine (NVIDIA drivers are available), keyboard brightness and volume keys work, and Trim is supported out of the box if you have an SSD. The much maligned Amazon search thing in the Dash is still present, but can be removed or disabled without trouble.

14.04 seems like it will be the last LTS release without systemd, so that could be benefit or a drawback depending on where you stand on that issue.


Overall, it's a good OS that supports this particular hardware very well. I'm not much of a Linux fan, but I am pleased with it.
 
dollystereo

dollystereo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2004
907
114
France
556fmjoe said:
It isn't; neither one is "real" Unix (whatever that is), not that it matters.

OP: I'm running 14.04 as the only OS on my 2011 MBP and it works perfectly out of the box. Just install it as normal if you don't need or want OS X. Dual booting may be trickier; I have never tried it. You may wish to install TLP for better power management. I can get about 8.5 hours of battery life with the screen at minimum brightness and the keyboard backlight off or very low. Stock Ubuntu power management is not as good.

Otherwise, the wifi is supported, the Intel HD3000 graphics work fine (NVIDIA drivers are available), keyboard brightness and volume keys work, and Trim is supported out of the box if you have an SSD. The much maligned Amazon search thing in the Dash is still present, but can be removed or disabled without trouble.

14.04 seems like it will be the last LTS release without systemd, so that could be benefit or a drawback depending on where you stand on that issue.


Overall, it's a good OS that supports this particular hardware very well. I'm not much of a Linux fan, but I am pleased with it.
Click to expand...

Exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, any thoughts about a retina MBP?

----------
snaky69 said:
Why? Blind distrust in closed software or an actual, valid reason? I'd be curious.

Regardless, I'd still recommend keeping an OS X partition for firmware/EFI/BootROM updates. Those can only be done through OS X. The partition can be super small.
Click to expand...

I don't really care that much, but my colleagues here don't use google, dropbox or any non-snowden approved service. (They work in crypto, that could be an answer)

Anyway, you can't trust any company to make the "crypto" for you. I use apple, but I don't trust them, I don't like how they have been forcing you more and more with social network integration and iCloud services.
 
sjinsjca

sjinsjca

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2008
2,238
555
You can wipe your Mac's disk and install Ubuntu.

Or you can keep OS X and run Ubuntu in a virtual machine.

Either way, you may find there are system elements that aren't fully supported, including the Retina display.
 
2

2984839

Cancelled
Apr 19, 2014
2,114
2,239
dollystereo said:
Exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, any thoughts about a retina MBP?
Click to expand...


Intel graphics should be supported with no configuration. If it has an NVIDIA GPU, you'll likely have to install their proprietary drivers to get full acceleration. This is pretty simple to do, and just involves adding the NVIDIA PPA and then installing the driver.

I'm not sure what chipset the internal wifi card uses in the newer Retina MBPs. Broadcom devices are iffy on Linux and BSD, but the one in my MBP (a BCM4331) works fine with Ubuntu. On Arch Linux and Fedora, I had to manually extract the firmware from their prorietary driver, but this is a lot easier than it sounds. That would be the worst case scenario. It will probably work fine without having to do this though.

Bluetooth, the multi touch trackpad, internal mic and camera, and everything else I can think of work out of the box on mine. I don't see why they wouldn't work on a Retina. The hardware shouldn't be that different.
 
sjinsjca

sjinsjca

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2008
2,238
555
dollystereo said:
Anyway, you can't trust any company to make the "crypto" for you. I use apple, but I don't trust them, I don't like how they have been forcing you more and more with social network integration and iCloud services.
Click to expand...

Some companies are more trustworthy than others. Those that have a financial motivation to snoop on their users would rank towards the top of the creepiness index.

Accordingly, many folks in the open source community no longer trust Ubuntu and find its revenue-generating integration of search to be creepy. See https://readditing.com/r/linux/comments/1rok64 for example, or https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/privacy-ubuntu-1210-amazon-ads-and-data-leaks for more information.

So unlike you, I'd rank Apple as more trustworthy than Canonical (or certainly Google) at this instant. That can change, though. Vigilance is required.

Meanwhile, Apple doesn't force you to do anything social. Integration is there if you want it, and many users do.
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
To the OP, yes, you can install Ubuntu as the only OS on the machine. But what if there's EFI updates and other whatnot? You'd still need an OS X partition.

Your best bet is to use a bootable external SSD with OS X installed on it, and leave Ubuntu entirely on the internal drive.

Personally, I use Elementary Freya myself.
 
brdeveloper

brdeveloper

macrumors 68030
Apr 21, 2010
2,629
313
Brasil
cjmillsnun said:
OS X is real UNIX.

http://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/brand3607.htm
Click to expand...

Well... OSX has a lot of built-in free, open-source software like Apache, Python, PHP, OpenSSH, etc. Currently, the only reason why we need Unix/POSIX compliance is to be able to compile and install open-source applications. So I don't know why most Linux distributions (like Debian) would need some kind of Unix certification since they can run practically everything developed by the GPL/Apache/BSD community.
 
jamesjingyi

jamesjingyi

macrumors 6502a
Dec 20, 2011
841
144
UK
dollystereo said:
Thanks!
Probably we will order a retina mbp and see how does it work.
Click to expand...

Just have Ubuntu as the startup volume with OS X as a secondary partition. OP wants to use Ubuntu and Ubuntu only without OS X which is perfectly fine and will work, I have done it before. I kept OS X though for EFI updates and for emergency ****...

I think that Ubuntu will be a bit weird with the Retina display and you may have to use a downscaler or something otherwise you're eyes will bleed because text is so small...

I wouldn't use a virtual machine because this is not what you wanted and this is still in essence running OS X.

To install, create a bootable USB. At boot hold option then select the USB to boot from. Partition (or wipe if you really want to) the drive, creating two partitions, one for OS X and one for Ubuntu. Ubuntu can go on the larger side whereas OS X could live on like 20GB (I would say that as a minimum so that you have enough space for updates). Then install Ubuntu on the larger partition and there ya go!

:D Enjoy :D

P.S. What does your company do? Just wondering :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom