Help Installing a Dual Boot Debian and Mac OS MacBook Pro 9,1

[Rafael Lauda]

Good Afternoon,

My name is Rafael Lauda and I’ve tried time and time again to install a dual boot Debian on my MacBook Pro 9,1. I have installed rEFInd on my MacBook Pro, and I have installed the iso image for Debian 8.7.1 1 onto a DVD-R. When the computer is turned on the dvd does not show. I had also partitioned space on the hard drive as well. I don’t want to settle for another Distro, I want to install Debian as I feel it is the best Distro currently using the Linux kernel. I’m not the most tech savvy but I have been putting the effort into becoming more computer literate. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for making a wonderful Distro and with any help you may have for me.




Best Regards,





Rafael Lauda

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

Post by Rafael Lauda
I have installed the iso image for Debian 8.7.1 1 onto a DVD-R.

How exactly did you do this ?
(What program did you use, which options therein, any peculiarities ?)

Post by Rafael Lauda
From which URL did you get the ISO ?
I have installed rEFInd [...]
When the computer is turned on the dvd does not show.

I understand from
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/using.html
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/features.html
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/configfile.html
that the DVD will show up if there is a file *.efi underneath the /EFI
directory of a recognized filesystem.

Well, if it is overly smart by looking into the ISO 9660 filesystem and
not smart enough to follow the El Torito boot catalog entry to the
FAT filesystem in /boot/grub/efi.img, then there is no boot loader
detected.

Suspiciously, the wiki page
https://wiki.debian.org/MacBook#Installing_rEFInd
describes installation of rEFInd _after_ installing Debian from ISO.

Post by Rafael Lauda
I’m not the most tech savvy

Then be cautious with my next request. Don't do it if in doubt:

Can you put the ISO plainly onto an USB stick and try to boot from
that one ?
See
https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb
"Please note, that Debian advises not using "unetbootin" for this task."

The danger is that you could use the wrong /dev/sd address and thus
overwrite the wrong disk device.

So get an overview of disks while the USB stick is _not_ connected:

ls /dev/sd?

and then again when the USB stick is plugged in.
There should appear a further /dev/sd-something name. E.g.: /dev/sdc

Make sure by reading 100 MB from it and checking whether the USB stick
blinks:

dev=/dev/sdc

sudo dd if="$dev" bs=1M count=100 of=/dev/null

Only if you are sure to have the right address the ISO to it

sudo dd if=debian-8.7.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso of="$dev" bs=4M ; sync

if= path to input file (harmless)
of= path output file (dangerous)
bs= block size (moderately large for best speed)
count= copy size restriction (only in the test read run)


Have a nice day :)

Thomas

[Gary Roach]

Post by Rafael Lauda
Good Afternoon,
My name is Rafael Lauda and I’ve tried time and time again to install a dual boot Debian on my MacBook Pro 9,1. I have installed rEFInd on my MacBook Pro, and I have installed the iso image for Debian 8.7.1 1 onto a DVD-R. When the computer is turned on the dvd does not show. I had also partitioned space on the hard drive as well. I don’t want to settle for another Distro, I want to install Debian as I feel it is the best Distro currently using the Linux kernel. I’m not the most tech savvy but I have been putting the effort into becoming more computer literate. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for making a wonderful Distro and with any help you may have for me.
Best Regards,
Rafael Lauda

Hi Rafael

I'll tell you the same thing I have told others about dual boot systems.
Don't do it. I had nothing but fits with dual boots. Instead load
Oracles Virtual Box (open source), learn how to set it up and then
install Debian on that. If you don't like it, un-install Virtual Box and
everything goes Poof. In addition, you don't have to worry about a grub
loader and other such esoteric things. There is absolutely no
interaction between the two OS's.

One thing. You will have to set up a file folder that is shared between
the VB OS and your regular OS. It allows file transfer between the two
systems. Try that with a regular dual boot setup!

Good luck

Gary R.

[r***@gmail.com]

Post by Gary Roach
One thing. You will have to set up a file folder that is shared between
the VB OS and your regular OS. It allows file transfer between the two
systems. Try that with a regular dual boot setup!

That's about as easy as pie! Just create a partition for that purpose, put a
filesystem on it, and set up both systems to mount / access it when they are
up. If the other system is Windows, you probably want to make it something
like a FAT-32 filesystem.

[solitone]

Post by Rafael Lauda
I have installed rEFInd on my MacBook Pro

rEFInd is unnecessary, you can have a dual boot system without it. I have
installed Debian on a MacBook Pro 12,1 without rEFInd.

Post by Rafael Lauda
and I have installed the iso image for Debian 8.7.1 1 onto a DVD-R.
When the computer is turned on the dvd does not show.

Have you tried to press the "Command ⌘" key while turning on the MacBook with
the power button? A screen offering different boot options (e.g. MacOS on
disk, debian installer on DVD) should be displayed.

[solitone]

Post by solitone
Have you tried to press the "Command ⌘" key while turning on the MacBook
with the power button? A screen offering different boot options (e.g. MacOS
on disk, debian installer on DVD) should be displayed.

Sorry, the right key you should press to get that Startup Manager is "Option
⌥"--not "Command ⌘" as I previously wrote.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255

[Michael Fothergill]

Post by Rafael Lauda
Good Afternoon,
My name is Rafael Lauda and I’ve tried time and time again to install a
dual boot Debian on my MacBook Pro 9,1. I have installed rEFInd on my
MacBook Pro, and I have installed the iso image for Debian 8.7.1 1 onto a
DVD-R. When the computer is turned on the dvd does not show. I had also
partitioned space on the hard drive as well. I don’t want to settle for
another Distro, I want to install Debian as I feel it is the best Distro
currently using the Linux kernel. I’m not the most tech savvy but I have
been putting the effort into becoming more computer literate. Any and all
help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for making a
wonderful Distro and with any help you may have for me.

​Greetings. I run a dual boot system with debian, gentoo and windows 10 on
different partitions. I would suggest a couple of things. When you say
that the DVD does not seem to be recognised when you boot up the computer,
I am assuming that you mean that the bios is not attempting to read the DVD
and boot from it.

If that this the case then you need to play with the bios on your Mac box
to get it to boot from the debian DVD. If you google around and seek out
some bios booting instructions for your Mac machine and experiment with it
you will be able to ​
​persuade it to go for the DVD first - before the hard drive (s) etc and
boot from it.

Once you get this to work I would suggest you try booting from a Debian
Live CD.

Then post up how you got on here on the site and suggestions on installing
the OS can be made from the vantage point of running a few diagnostic
commands concerning your disk partitions etc that would likely be suggested
by people on this list.

Regards

MIchael Fothergill

Post by Rafael Lauda
Best Regards,
Rafael Lauda

[solitone]

you need to play with the bios on your Mac box to get it to boot from the
debian DVD.

The point is that, in contrast to all other PCs I had, on Macs you cannot
enter the BIOS setup and configure the boot order. You have to press the
"Option ⌥" key while powering on the Mac. That will allow you to enter the
Startup Manager, where you'll see a list of all bootable devices available,
and choose the one you need (e.g. a bootable DVD-ROM).

[Michael Fothergill]

Post by solitone

you need to play with the bios on your Mac box to get it to boot from the
debian DVD.

The point is that, in contrast to all other PCs I had, on Macs you cannot
enter the BIOS setup and configure the boot order. You have to press the
"Option ⌥" key while powering on the Mac. That will allow you to enter the
Startup Manager, where you'll see a list of all bootable devices available,
and choose the one you need (e.g. a bootable DVD-ROM).

​I think the discussion here seems illuminating:​


​https://linuxnewbieguide.org/how-to-install-linux-on-a-macintosh-computer/​


​You want to use a installation with efi support so apparently the Debian
Live option is not recommended because it doesn't support efi booting.

The standard installation iso files do. If the efi installer fires up it
will apparently identify itself as such when it does so.

If you boot the Mac and choose option C in the start up mode that is
supposed to try to boot up DVD iso files etc but the article suggests this
could fail if the efi driver isn't loaded - the rEFInd utility solves this
problem it seems.

Apparently you need to convert the iso file into an image format.

It's probably easier to install Debian on an IBM 390.

Cheers MF




​

[solitone]

​You want to use a installation with efi support so apparently the Debian
Live option is not recommended because it doesn't support efi booting.

I don't understand how a live image relates to this topic. The OP wants to
install debian alongside MacOS, so he needs a standard image.

I recently installed debian stretch on my MacBookPro12,1, using a netinst
image that included non-free firmware (needed for my wifi adapter). I flashed
that image on a USB stick, as 12,1 does not have a DVD drive, but it would be
the same on a DVD-ROM. I can say that the installation worked well.

[Pascal Hambourg]

Post by solitone

​You want to use a installation with efi support so apparently the Debian
Live option is not recommended because it doesn't support efi booting.

I don't understand how a live image relates to this topic. The OP wants to
install debian alongside MacOS, so he needs a standard image.

Debian can also be installed from a live image instead of a standard
installation image.

[Felix Miata]

Post by Michael Fothergill
I run a dual boot system with debian, gentoo and windows 10 on
different partitions.

Dual means "two":

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dual

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dual

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dual?s=t
1.of, relating to, or noting two.
2.composed or consisting of two people, items, parts, etc., together; twofold;
double:
dual ownership; dual controls on a plane.
3.having a twofold, or double, character or nature.
4.Grammar. being or pertaining to a member of the category of number, as in Old
English, Old Russian, or Arabic, that denotes two of the things in question.
...

As you have three installed operating systems, you do have a multi-boot system,
as well as a triple boot system. Those with dual boot, quadruple boot, quintuple
boot, etc. systems also have multi-boot systems. Multi-boot means more than one
installed operating system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-booting

[Cathy Gramze]

As an iMac owner who has had a dual boot Mac system before:

Hold down the C key while the computer is starting up, and the computer
will boot to the DVD. (assuming the dvd was burned correctly as a
bootable DVD)

reFind is a very nice app, but unnecessary, and *really* mucks up being
able to completely remove one of the boot options from the computer
should you want to remove it later. I also found that setting up a dual
boot system made my iMac boot much more slowly no matter which system I
selected. This slowness persisted after I returned to a single boot
system. YMMV.

I wish you luck, and hope you like Debian.

Post by Rafael Lauda
Good Afternoon,
My name is Rafael Lauda and I’ve tried time and time again to install a dual boot Debian on my MacBook Pro 9,1. I have installed rEFInd on my MacBook Pro, and I have installed the iso image for Debian 8.7.1 1 onto a DVD-R. When the computer is turned on the dvd does not show. I had also partitioned space on the hard drive as well. I don’t want to settle for another Distro, I want to install Debian as I feel it is the best Distro currently using the Linux kernel. I’m not the most tech savvy but I have been putting the effort into becoming more computer literate. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for making a wonderful Distro and with any help you may have for me.
Best Regards,
Rafael Lauda