Solus (64-bit only) on Mac Pro 1,1 32-bit EFI?

[-MB-]

Hi!

I can’t install Solus on my Mac Pro 1,1. I did install El Capitan following this boot.efi trick

Install El Capitan on Mac Pro 1,1 & 2,1

now MachineProfile reports my Mac Pro with EFI 64bit

but nothing happens trying to boot Solus from USB or optical. The Mac hangs, remains there, not even Option key works to choose the boot drive.

Is there any way to cheat the 64bit requirement? I found this on other topic.. does this work at all?

Windows 10 install Mac 32bit EFI, working FIX "select cdrom boot type"

hi, ive written a working guide to fix that select cdrom type error, originally u can find it here. show under "Create a Win10 install DVD:" Create a Win10 install DVD: 1. Download Windows 10 x64 2. Open drive "C:" and create the following folders: C:\winexe C:\winiso C:\windvd 3. Download...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Argyboy]

This might help: https://mattgadient.com/linux-dvd-images-and-how-to-for-32-bit-efi-macs-late-2006-models/

This guy has created a script to make some 64-bit Linux images bootable on the Mac Pro 1,1/2,1. I havent tested Solus out as I don't have much access to my 2,1 anymore, but could be worth a try!

 

[-MB-]

Downloading and testing next!! Thanks a lot!

 

[-MB-]

Hi!

Sorry so late! Downloaded Solus and its working nicely on my Mac Pro 1,1 !

 

[Argyboy]

Hi!

Sorry so late! Downloaded Solus and its working nicely on my Mac Pro 1,1 !

Nice! Good to know that it works on the Mac Pro 1,1. Mine is struggling along on El Capitan - my family uses it for photo storage, but it'd be good to make it more current with more recent software. May give Solus a whirl!

How is the boot time? Does it take a long while to boot from the boot chime?

 

[-MB-]

I know Solus boots superfast but boot time on the Mac Pro is strange. I mean this 2006 Mac Pro storage seems much faster in comparison to the 2009 (with 2010 GPU) iMac 27” I had before. But then the iMac booted Solus really fast while on the Mac Pro, after choosing Solus on its GRUB, there is a gap of about 20 to 30 seconds where the hard disk does nothing. I blessed the partition just in case but it doesn’t solve anything mostly probably because that was not the problem. On my Mac Pro the GRUB is shown instantly, the delay is afterwards when I choose to boot Solus.

Reducing the 30 second delay when starting 64-bit Ubuntu in BIOS mode on the old 32-bit EFI Macs | mattgadient.com

Just in case 64-bit Linux on a 32-bit EFI mac wasn't complicated enough on it's own...

mattgadient.com

I shall try with only the Bootcamp+Solus hard disk inside the Mac Pro. Or even better with only a Solus hard disk on it.

 

[Argyboy]

I know Solus boots superfast but boot time on the Mac Pro is strange. I mean this 2006 Mac Pro storage seems much faster in comparison to the 2009 (with 2010 GPU) iMac 27” I had before. But then the iMac booted Solus really fast while on the Mac Pro, after choosing Solus on its GRUB, there is a gap of about 20 to 30 seconds where the hard disk does nothing. I blessed the partition just in case but it doesn’t solve anything mostly probably because that was not the problem. On my Mac Pro the GRUB is shown instantly, the delay is afterwards when I choose to boot Solus.

Reducing the 30 second delay when starting 64-bit Ubuntu in BIOS mode on the old 32-bit EFI Macs | mattgadient.com

Just in case 64-bit Linux on a 32-bit EFI mac wasn't complicated enough on it's own...

mattgadient.com

I shall try with only the Bootcamp+Solus hard disk inside the Mac Pro. Or even better with only a Solus hard disk on it.

I remember having the same issue before with other distros on my 1,1. I'm not sure of the technicalities but it's to do with the way Grub interacts with the 32-bit EFI on the Mac Pro. it's not a major issue anyway, as long as it is bootable that's the main thing! Thanks for the feedback, looking forward to giving this a try!

 

[-MB-]

Hi!

Ah! That is then? OK! I can live with it because I have tried other linuxes (this was on the iMac) and almost all feel really awfully slow compared to Solus. Also after successfully installing Solus I tried another two different linuxes on the Mac Pro and they even didn’t boot. :-/

Just a couple of issues regarding these ‘modified’ ISOs on the Mac Pro 1,1

- If I choose to reboot the Mac Pro it goes to an infinity loop of reboot, it shuts down and boots as should but then it doesn’t even try to boot, it shutdowns and boots again. So I always choose shutdown instead of reboot.


- There was an issue on the latest linux kernel that made the CPUs heavily used, I have seen over 1000% (!) Recent updates seems to solve that, users claiming Solus flies again. But you can install the LTS kernel on Solus (look for it on the software update section) and choose it on the GRUB menu under (alternative boot entries) In that menu you may see also macOS as boot option but as I blessed the Solus HD is not shown on the Mac Pro actually. Anyway booting with Option key gives you all the options.


Also check the memory use of macOS and Solus after clean boot. Not to worry on my 8-core 32GB Mac Pro but..
[automerge]1585023742[/automerge]

[automerge]1585023763[/automerge]

[automerge]1585024113[/automerge]
Also, I boot Solus from optical drive and not from USB. Nothing boots from USB on the Mac Pro :-/

 

[-MB-]

oh sorry, boot time on the Mac Pro (using its 3 Gbpgs SATA) is about 50 seconds due to that EFI32 issue.

The 2009 iMac (3 Gbps SATA) without EFI32 issues did boot on 10 to 12 seconds on original hard disk. That was faster than Mojave boots on the late 2011 MacBook Pro on SSD (6 Gbps SATA).

I did install an SSD on the late 2009 iMac just to check the Solus boot time. It went to 3 or 4 seconds flat boot time. Crazy.

 

[Argyboy]

Brilliant. I probably wont get to try this now due to the travel restrictions with COVID19 (my 1,1 is at a different house) but I'll post here when I get around to it! Thanks for so much info and stay safe wherever you are!

 

[-MB-]

Hello again. I left inside the Mac Pro only the hard disk that has Solus installed (and win10 on another partition)

Boot time now is under 30 seconds, much faster than before, but still not as fast as it can be.

 

[-MB-]

Just another try, all hard disk inside. This time Solus booted in 20 seconds flat