how to install debian on iMac

[lina]

Has anyone tried successfully to install the debian into the iMac with
Fusion drive?

The basic configuration is

• 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
• Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200
• 8GB 1867MHz LPDDR3
• 1TB Fusion Drive

Where I can find a step-by-step guide?

Thanks,

[z060822...@rezozer.net]

Just fellow the Debian install disk/USB instruction:
nothing special here.

https://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/#stable

[Stephen Allen]

Not sure if there is one, however I've taken the liberty of cc'ing a
regular debian-user that has experience with Apple hardware, Rick
Thomas. I'm sure he'll help you, because that's just the sort of lad he
is! Hang tight. ;-D

[Rick Thomas]

Hi Lina,

As noted by another person on the list, there is a fairly complete installation guide at
https://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/#stable

I've never tried installing Debian on an intel-based Mac before, but as it happens, I do have a MacBook-Pro from about 2007 or so that I recently retired and replaced with with a much lighter MacBook Air. Since your biggest problem is probably going to be getting the installer to boot, I'm willing to work through it with you step-by-step using my MacBook-Pro and your iMac.

The first question will be, "Does your iMac have a functioning DVD or CD drive?"
The second question will be, "Do you have access to the Internet? If so, is it wifi or wired ethernet?"

Let's keep the conversation on the debian-user list for the time being. There may be others who have knowledge to contribute.

Enjoy!
Rick

PS: And thanks for the kind words from Stephen Allen!

[Jerome BENOIT]

Hello:

On 20/02/16 23:13, Rick Thomas wrote:
>
> On Feb 19, 2016, at 9:31 PM, lina <lina.l...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Has anyone tried successfully to install the debian into the iMac
>> with Fusion drive?
>>
>> The basic configuration is
>>
>> • 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to
>> 3.3GHz • Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 • 8GB 1867MHz LPDDR3 •
>> 1TB Fusion Drive
>>
>> Where I can find a step-by-step guide?
>>
>> Thanks,
>
> Hi Lina,
>
> As noted by another person on the list, there is a fairly complete
> installation guide at https://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/#stable
>
> I've never tried installing Debian on an intel-based Mac before, but
> as it happens, I do have a MacBook-Pro from about 2007 or so that I
> recently retired and replaced with with a much lighter MacBook Air.
> Since your biggest problem is probably going to be getting the
> installer to boot, I'm willing to work through it with you
> step-by-step using my MacBook-Pro and your iMac.

One of the main issues with Mac computers are related to UEFI:
- it appears that grub 2 now deals rather well with it;
- old machines may not have a proper UEFI firmware: this may be a major
different between your old MacBook-Pro and a recent iMac.

There is a Debian website dedicated to MacBookPro machines.
Ubuntu also provides information.

>
> The first question will be, "Does your iMac have a functioning DVD or
> CD drive?" The second question will be, "Do you have access to the
> Internet? If so, is it wifi or wired ethernet?"

DVD/CD drives are disappearing monsters.
Anyway, netinstall may hold on a lot of USB stick and is now able to
manage efi boot (Jessie 8.3)

>
> Let's keep the conversation on the debian-user list for the time
> being. There may be others who have knowledge to contribute.
>
> Enjoy! Rick
>
> PS: And thanks for the kind words from Stephen Allen!
>

hth,
Jerome

[Rick Thomas]

On Feb 20, 2016, at 2:31 PM, Jerome BENOIT <spherica...@rezozer.net> wrote:

> There is a Debian website dedicated to MacBookPro machines.
> Ubuntu also provides information.

Thanks! This may be helpful. Can you provide some links?

Enjoy!
Rick

[Rick Thomas]

A couple more questions...

Does your iMac currently have a functioning version of MacOs-X installed?

Do you want to keep the option to boot into MacOS-X after installing Linux?
This is possible (it's called "dual boot") but it takes a couple of extra steps -- don't be afraid. It's not complicated!

Enjoy!
Rick

[Jerome BENOIT]

Google is our friend here:

https://wiki.debian.org/MacBookPro
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro

>
> Enjoy!
> Rick
>

[lina]

Yes, the current iMac comes with OS X EI Captian version 10.11.3

I do wish to keep the Mac OS, and may give 400GB for it. and 600GB for
debian. My big concern is the fusion driver.

Thanks,

[lina]

Hi all,

For the two questions:

There is none functioning DVD or CD drive coming with iMac.

I can access to internet, both wifi and ethernet.

Thanks,

[lina]

I want to keep current Mac OS and besides I am not sure how to install it.

Any suggestion about how to partition the hard disk?

I prefer using the dis1s2.

Thanks'


CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 9F5EC450-D81F-4DDB-ADB7-A53BCB88C16B
=========================================================
Name: Macintosh HD
Status: Online
Size: 1022898851840 B (1.0 TB)
Free Space: 45056 B (45.1 KB)
|
+-< Physical Volume 153AC3A4-AA6A-4F13-9AAF-6ACC07030BDA
| ----------------------------------------------------
| Index: 0
| Disk: disk0s2
| Status: Online
| Size: 23553724416 B (23.6 GB)
|
+-< Physical Volume 43C36128-ECCC-418A-A31C-59B6B67EC602
| ----------------------------------------------------
| Index: 1
| Disk: disk1s2
| Status: Online
| Size: 999345127424 B (999.3 GB)
|
+-> Logical Volume Family 30A1C0ED-ED52-4A6D-B3DE-B6745F51E798
----------------------------------------------------------
Encryption Type: None
|
+-> Logical Volume 34E4803C-9D5C-49A1-9688-A281E8F39E6B
---------------------------------------------------
Disk: disk2
Status: Online
Size (Total): 1021994074112 B (1.0 TB)
Revertible: No
LV Name: Macintosh HD
Volume Name: Macintosh HD
Content Hint: Apple_HFS
LVG Type: Fusion, Sparse

[lina]

In the partition device provided disk utility, it only has

OS x Extended

MS-DOS FAT
exFAT

these format.

Thanks,

[Rick Thomas]

I confess to never having heard of a Fusion drive before today, so I
googled it and found this explanation:
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/computing-components/storage/fusion-drive-what-it-is-and-how-it-speeds-up-your-mac-1154051

Which says that, in contrast to a "hybrid" drive which uses on-board
firmware to provide a flash cache -- with no OS software involvement at
all; the "Fusion Drive" is implemented as two separate drives -- one SSD
and one HD, with the OS software supervising the caching.

This means Linux (and the boot loader firmware) will see it as two
separate drives, but MacOS-X will continue to see it as one logical
drive. The mis-match between the two storage models means the debian
installer's disk partitioner will (almost certainly) wind up destroying
the MacOS-X image on the drive, which is probably not what you were
hoping for.

The techradar web page hints at some partitioning tools that maybe
could be used to split the hard drive into two partitions and attach
the SSD to the first partition forming a Fusion drive that is somewhat
smaller than it started out, leaving the second partition free to hold
Linux. But... Needless to say, my MacBook-Pro doesn't have a Fusion
drive, so I can't use it to test any procedures we might come up with.

So here's my suggestion:

Get yourself a USB3 or thunderbolt external drive and install Debian to
it stand alone, leaving the Fusion drive untouched for MacOS-X.
I'm thinking that you're probably going to want an external drive to use
for TimeMachine backup anyway, so you can easily carve out a 600GB
partition on it to use for Linux.

You sound like you are fairly familiar with Linux already, so you may
not need my help with the installation process, once you're got the
disk partitioning figured out. But if you do need help, my offer still
stands to work it through together with you, each on our separate
machines.

Enjoy!
Rick