Apple Mac

ubermix 2.x is now fully compatible with Apple Mac hardware with Intel processors. There are two options for installing.

Erase and install only ubermix

ubermix can now install directly on Apple hardware by following these instructions:

1. Download and create an ubermix install USB key, according to the instructions at http://ubermix.org/download.html
2. Shut down your Mac and insert the ubermix 2.x install key
3. Hold down the "option" key and press the power button to power up your machine
4. Continue to hold the "option" key until you see the ubermix key appear as an available boot disk
5. Select the ubermix key using the arrows on your keyboard and press the "return" key

The ubermix installer should boot up normally and allow you to install. Please note that this method assumes that you want to erase everything on your Mac and replace it with just ubermix. If you want to dual-boot, proceed to the instructions below.

Dual-boot ubermix and Mac OS X

These instructions describe how to set up a Mac to dual-boot ubermix and MacOS. Be warned: while the process is relatively safe, any misstep could result in the loss of data and the need to reinstall MacOS on your device. While I have personally successfully completed this process on many devices, I haven’t tested it on every possible situation. Proceed at your own risk.

Assumptions: These instructions assume that you have a current version of MacOS (ie Lion or newer) on your device and that the device has nothing but Mac OS on it.

If you are ready to proceed, follow these steps:

1. Download and create an ubermix install USB key, according to the instructions at http://ubermix.org/download.html
2. Download the “binary zip file” for the Refind boot manager from here: http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/getting.html and install according to the “Quick install.sh instructions” here: http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/installing.html#installsh

OK, now that we have all of the pieces in place, less partition our hard disk for ubermix:

1. Open up Disk Utility from Applications:Utilities
2. Click on your hard drive in the panel on the left (not “Macintosh HD”, but the disk above it that says “XXX GB APPLE…”. Note that yours may say something other than “Macintosh HD” if you have changed the name of your hard drive - adjust the remainder of these instructions accordingly if this is the case.)
3. Click on “Partition” at the top of the right panel, then click on the “+” button underneath where you see the single “Macintosh HD” box (translate as necessary based on your disk name).
4. Once the box has split in two, click on the “Macintosh HD 2” box, and click the “+” button again to add a third partition.
5. Your disk will now appear to be in three pieces. Click on “Macintosh HD 2 2” and click the “+” button again to create another partition.
6. Now that we have 3 new partitions, we need to adjust the names and sizes of each. Click on the “Macintosh HD 2 1” box, enter “8” in the “Size” box to the right and press the return key on your keyboard. You should see the size of the box shrink.
7. Click on the “Macintosh HD 2 2 1” box, enter “4” in the “Size” box to the right and press the return key on your keyboard. You should see the size of the box shrink.
8. The remaining partition "Macintosh HD 2 2 2" will use the remaining space, and be used for your home folder in ubermix.

Your box should look something like the picture below.

Now we need to rename these three partitions so that ubermix knows where to find them.

1. Click on "Macintosh HD 2 1" (translate as necessary based on your hard disk name) and type "SYSTEM" (no quotes - all caps) in the name box on the right and press return.
2. Click on "Macintosh HD 2 2 1" and type "USER" (no quotes - all caps) in the name box on the right and press return.
3. Click on "Macintosh HD 2 2 2" and type "HOME" (no quotes - all caps) in the name box on the right and press return.

Your box should now look similar to the box below:

If all looks OK, click the "Apply" button.

OK, now we’re ready to actually do the install:

1. Shut down your Mac
2. Insert your ubermix USB key in your device
3. Hold down the “option” key, and press the power button.
4. Continue to hold the “option” key until you see a list of drives. Click on the USB icon (will say “Windows” under it, feel free to ignore) and press the return key on your keyboard.
5. Your Macbook will boot up from the CD, which should take about a minute. Once booted and at the ubermix install menu, press 5 then return (expert options), then 6 and return (shell prompt).
6. At the “#” prompt, enter the following commands in order, each followed by the return key. Be *extremely careful* to get these right, as one wrong number could lead to reinstalling MacOS X and losing all of your data. Note that on the grub-install command you may see a spurious error - this can be safely ignored.

cat /root/mb* | gunzip -c | dd of=/dev/sda4
mount /dev/sda4 /mnt
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi
mount --move /dev /mnt/dev
mount -t proc proc /mnt/proc
chroot /mnt mke2fs -j -t ext4 -L USER /dev/sda5
chroot /mnt mke2fs -j -t ext4 -L HOME /dev/sda6
chroot /mnt grub-mkdevicemap
chroot /mnt grub-install /dev/sda1
mount /mnt/dev/sda6 /mnt-user
cp -a /mnt/home/user /mnt-user
umount /mnt-user
umount /mnt/proc
mount --move /mnt/dev /dev
umount /mnt/boot/efi
umount /mnt
umount /root

OK, we’re ready to reboot. Remove the ubermix key from your USB port, type “reboot” followed by the return key, and immediately hold down the button on the trackpad until the CD ejects after reboot. If you have an external CD drive, just unplug it.

You should now see the refind boot menu with an Ubuntu logo and an Apple logo. The first time you try to boot ubermix, it might fail if the EFI partition map didn’t update quickly enough. You’ll know if you see errors about “unable to find partition”. If this happens, simply hold down the power button until the Macbook turns off, press the power button to turn it back on, and choose the Ubuntu logo again - it should work just fine.

On first boot, if you are prompted for a password, the password is “password”

Enjoy!