Installing ubuntu over mac os x

[rohan12111]

I've recently come by an old Macbook Pro which i want to change to run Ubuntu. First of, I'll start by saying the CD-drive does not work so I have been trying to boot it off of a USB. It has not worked though. I followed the guide on this page: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/...ick-on-mac-osx. This mac runs version 10.4.11 of Mac OS X an is 3,1 model type. I download version 10.10 of Ubuntu and mounted it onto the USB "properly" (to the extent of my knowledge) but it won't come up in the boot options when i startup the comp. and hold alt/option. It also does not show up in the startup disk menu.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for you time.

[rohan12111]

Hi all. Recently I've been having troubles installing ubuntu on my macbook pro version 3,1 as the CD-drive doesn't work and the computer can't boot up off of a USB drive.

So, is there another way to possibly do this? Should i go to the trouble of buying an external CD drive and try booting off that or will it register as a USB device?

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

[mörgæs]

Threads merged and moved to the Apple forum.

[rohan12111]

The problem isn't the operating system, it's how to get it onto the computer in the first place as the laptop can't boot from a USB and The CD-drive is broken.

[iMac71]

Should i go to the trouble of buying an external CD drive and try booting off that?

IMHO the best way for installing Ubuntu on your Mac is this one.

[ultimatetechie]

The problem isn't the operating system, it's how to get it onto the computer in the first place as the laptop can't boot from a USB and The CD-drive is broken.

You could use VirtualBox or other Virtual machine software. Or install SATA disk drive. Hope it helped.

[valroadie]

The computer can't boot up off of a USB drive.

So, is there another way to possibly do this? Should i go to the trouble of buying an external CD drive and try booting off that or will it register as a USB device?

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

This is the main thing, most macs that are older (all that I know of) will not register a USB drive/stick on boot up. The newer ones, yes but older macs no. If you REALLY want to use it and install linux then you will have to use an external drive, unfortunately. I only point this out because I have time and time again tried to do everything I could to USB install on my macbook 2,1 and it is impossible. Sorry for the bad news but I wish you the best of luck!

[Wandering_Turtle]

When I installed Ubuntu (Xubuntu 12.04 to be specific) on my MacBook last year I had the same problem. The optical drive was iffy at best, but couldn't get it to boot to an external drive either. The internal ended up working after a couple of tries, but no matter what I couldn't get the computer to recognize either the USB or external drive.

It might be reasonable to buy a new internal optical drive and replace the old one. If you've got another computer with the ability to swap out hard drives, though, you could take the MBP's drive out, format it in the other computer, and put it back in with Ubuntu all set up. That's my best suggestion.

[imacg3ppc]

BEST TIP YET:

buy a cheap internal cd-rw or even internal dvd r/rw and get an external firewire housing from between $20-$50 (pricewatch.com) and make the ide drive a ieee1394(firewire).

people have had much better luck booting off of firewire HDD and CD drives. You'll need the cd drive anyway so just spend the $. (apple internal drives are sometimes hard to find and difficult to install.

internal ide drives are way cheaper than out the box firewire or usb drives and the housings can be found cheap. I'm using this method to use an older dvd/rw lightscribe drive to work with ppc 12.04 firewire.... we'll see how that light scribe feature works lol