New to Ubuntu and want to know about running Ubuntu 12.10 on a MacBook Pro

[Mike108]

Greetings to the Ubuntu Community,

My name is Mike ):P and I am currently trying to see how Ubuntu works for me. Yesterday, I went and tried to install Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro and ran it via VirtualBox in OS X. Unfortunately, performance was less than stellar on the VM so I decided that it might be best for my to try Ubuntu on my Mac hardware with the help of triple booting. I tried to follow your Mac installation guide on Ubuntu's website and I came up with a few questions.


Is rEFIt safe to use on my Mac?

Does rEFIt substitute the Apple EFI on my MacBook?

Is rEFIt easily removable? Do I have to reflash my MacBook Pro's EFI?

I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (6,2) with the nvidia 330m GT processor, do you recommend using the Nvidia Linux drivers located on their webpage or use an open source alternative?

The only relevant guide that shows how Ubuntu works on my MacBook Pro model (6,2) (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro6-2/Precise) shows a list of what is working in Ubuntu 12.04, however, I cannot find a similar guide for Ubuntu 12.10. Where can I find the appropriate information to install Ubuntu 12.10 on my MacBook Pro?

I have 4GB of RAM installed on my MacBook Pro, should I just bite the bullet and get the 64-bit version of the OS?

I'd prefer installing Ubuntu from a USB drive if possible. Does my MacBook Pro support installation from USB drive (I can boot a USB flash drive where I have the installer of Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 successfully)? And if so, what would be the appropriate procedure to conduct a USB install?

For those Mac users that are using Ubuntu 12.10 (32 or 64-bit). How does Ubuntu perform? is it fast and snappy or there is some degree of sluggishness as I saw on my Virtual Machine installation with VirtualBox?


Well, that concludes my round of questions. I thank you for your time and information on this matter!

Best Regards,
Mike

[lael]

Hi Mike

I've got a MacBookPro 6,1 that I run Ubuntu on (the 17" version of the 6,2)

1) Is rEFIt safe to use on my Mac?
- Been working great for me on 3 different Macs for me over the years.

2) Does rEFIt substitute the Apple EFI on my MacBook?
- Not exaclty, the Firmware loads rEFIt once its installed/blessed

3) Is rEFIt easily removable? Do I have to reflash my MacBook Pro's EFI?
- http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/c1s3_remove.html
I don't believe you have to reflash anything - you should be able to do this from within OSX. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxq8nLX-Uzw

4) I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (6,2) with the nvidia 330m GT processor, do you recommend using the Nvidia Linux drivers located on their webpage or use an open source alternative?
- I've got the same card in mine. I used the nvidia-current for a while and have been using the nvidia-experimental from http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/ubuntu-x-swat You'll be able to use the package management to install drivers for the graphics card.


5) The only relevant guide that shows how Ubuntu works on my MacBook Pro model (6,2) shows a list of what is working in Ubuntu 12.04, however, I cannot find a similar guide for Ubuntu 12.10. Where can I find the appropriate information to install Ubuntu 12.10 on my MacBook Pro?
- I'm still running 12.04. In the past I've found that most of the wiki items should be similar.

6) I have 4GB of RAM installed on my MacBook Pro, should I just bite the bullet and get the 64-bit version of the OS?
- Yes 64bit.

7) I'd prefer installing Ubuntu from a USB drive if possible. Does my MacBook Pro support installation from USB drive (I can boot a USB flash drive where I have the installer of Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 successfully)? And if so, what would be the appropriate procedure to conduct a USB install?
- The Apple firmware apparently doesn't handle USB Booting very well for most Linux Distros. I've resorted to CD/DVDs & a USB Key (Ubuntu will recognize and use both after its booted)


Good luck!

[Mike108]

Hi Mike

I've got a MacBookPro 6,1 that I run Ubuntu on (the 17" version of the 6,2)

1) Is rEFIt safe to use on my Mac?
- Been working great for me on 3 different Macs for me over the years.

2) Does rEFIt substitute the Apple EFI on my MacBook?
- Not exaclty, the Firmware loads rEFIt once its installed/blessed

3) Is rEFIt easily removable? Do I have to reflash my MacBook Pro's EFI?
- http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/c1s3_remove.html
I don't believe you have to reflash anything - you should be able to do this from within OSX. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxq8nLX-Uzw

4) I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (6,2) with the nvidia 330m GT processor, do you recommend using the Nvidia Linux drivers located on their webpage or use an open source alternative?
- I've got the same card in mine. I used the nvidia-current for a while and have been using the nvidia-experimental from http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/ubuntu-x-swat You'll be able to use the package management to install drivers for the graphics card.


5) The only relevant guide that shows how Ubuntu works on my MacBook Pro model (6,2) shows a list of what is working in Ubuntu 12.04, however, I cannot find a similar guide for Ubuntu 12.10. Where can I find the appropriate information to install Ubuntu 12.10 on my MacBook Pro?
- I'm still running 12.04. In the past I've found that most of the wiki items should be similar.

6) I have 4GB of RAM installed on my MacBook Pro, should I just bite the bullet and get the 64-bit version of the OS?
- Yes 64bit.

7) I'd prefer installing Ubuntu from a USB drive if possible. Does my MacBook Pro support installation from USB drive (I can boot a USB flash drive where I have the installer of Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 successfully)? And if so, what would be the appropriate procedure to conduct a USB install?
- The Apple firmware apparently doesn't handle USB Booting very well for most Linux Distros. I've resorted to CD/DVDs & a USB Key (Ubuntu will recognize and use both after its booted)


Good luck!

Thanks for all that information. I'll take a look at it shortly...