Successful install on 2009 MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo

[Greg Brannon]

It's early days, but I wanted to document my successful install of MX-23.6_x64 on a 2009 15" MacBook Pro, Intel Core 2 Duo. I obtained the laptop from my son who'd judged it a throwaway (or old folks hand-me-down) since it was maxed out at OS 10 (I think) with apps that could no longer be updated and were failing to work. For example, I tried to install Balena Etcher, and it requires OS 12 or later. It's still a beautiful and capable machine, and I would hate to see it sent to the electronics recycle pile.

I had used Macs in the late 80s to early 90s but not significantly since, so it took some time to remember how to do simple things on the Mac. The needed Mac info was found easily online, but I didn't find many success stories from users who'd successfully and satisfactorily installed Linux on a Mac this old. I searched to discover simple Mac OS things, like how to change the boot device (hold down the option key during a reboot), burn the MXLinux iso to a DVD using the Mac (Mac's Finder worked fine for that, but it took some menu searching).

Using the Mac to prepare the Linux install medium is the surest way to create DVDs that the Mac can read and images that are formatted properly. I had to transfer the downloaded iso from my PC to the Mac, because Safari (the Mac's browser) wouldn't load the SourceForge page - some security issue. I tried first to create a USB on my PC from which to install, but I couldn't get the Mac to recognize it as a bootable device on restart, even after ensuring the USB device was FAT. I found a few threads that said creating a bootable USB for Mac was 'impossible,' but I didn't want to waste time proving otherwise. Switching the install medium to a Mac-created DVD seemed the easier path, and the Mac readily recognized the resulting DVD as bootable.

The Mac uses NVIDIA graphics outputs. This Mac has 2, and MX' install process wanted to know which to use. I first chose what I thought was the latest, choosing the biggest model number, but the display blanked on install, and I couldn't get it back. I then restarted the install and chose the other graphics output, and that completed successfully, The screen has blanked since per the default power saving settings, and it wakes up okay.

Since the install, I've done a full system update (400 and some updates plus a significant kernel update) and successful reboot.There are continuing complications. The first I'm learning to deal with is how to show context menus without a right click, which Macs (this old?) typically didn't have. However, a typical PC 2- or 3-button USB mouse can be added, and that works fine. I expect to discover more, and I'll provide updates and solutions as I do. Frankly, I'm happy to report that 'it just works'.

Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts, possibly your own experiences doing a similar install.

Greg.

[Mtrying]

good info. TY

[mscav]

I also just installed MX Linux on a 2008-era Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro 5,1. I made the install media using Balena Etcher on a Windows 10 PC, and it had no trouble booting on the MacBook. Everything seems to be running well, with the exception of I cannot get the Thunderbolt 2 port to be recognized. I'm going to start my own thread for this issue.

But other than that one thing, the install was surprisingly painless. This old thing only has 4GB of RAM, but the desktop seems lightweight enough that it is fine for everyday tasks. I'm running Xfce.