Ubuntu on Mac Book (intel-based) - Native

I have seen many threads that report the latest version (Dapper Drake?) of Ubuntu can be configured using BootCamp on Macbooks. I have installed older (Hoary Hedgehog?) PPC versions on a G3 Powerbook.

IS BootCamp the best/only solution - I generally like to avoid emulators.

Thx,

David

 

BootCamp isn't an emulator; really it's just a set of tools to partition your hard drive and set up the drivers needed for everything to operate under Windows. Once you boot into Windows, there is no emulation involved, it is just like running Windows on any other laptop.

 

Yup, zadillo is 100% correct. Think of BootCamp as a partitioning tool, custom drivers (for WinXP) and a fancy bootloader like grub or lilo.

 

Got it! Thanks!

 

For what it's worth, as long as you upgrade to 2GB of RAM, Parallels could be worth looking into too. The nice thing is that you can run it alongside OS X rather than requiring a reboot, and even in a fullscreen mode.

 

Or, if you only have a couple of Windows apps you'd like to run under OS X then Crossover for Mac may also be a good option. No Windows install or license required!

 

Seems like he wants to install Ubuntu, not Windows.

 

People keep saying that, but Windows XP still won't boot on an EFI-based system without some extra help. There does need to be something which can emulate the presence of a BIOS, for some definition of the word "emulate".

On a related and more on-topic note, I do see that there is an EFI-enabled version of the LILO bootloader called eLILO. Grub2 may also work.

Here is the webpage of a guy who got Ubuntu running on the Macbook.

Finally, the Mactel-Linux page may be of some use to you.

 

Right, I think the problem is that when most people refer to BootCamp as an "emulator", they are thinking that it is actually running Windows itself in emulation, not just whatever is involved to get it to boot in the first place. The implication of that other understanding is that the actual performance of Windows should be lesser because it is running through emulation (a la through Virtual PC) or as some sort of virtual machine.

 

I can't wait too get a macbook, imagine Apple, Windows & linux OS all under one roof

 

Yeah, that probably is what most people are thinking.

My main concern is that when people say that BootCamp is "just a set of tools to partition your hard drive" on a Linux forum, that might lead folks to think that they can just use their regular Linux install discs (which usually have good partitioning tools) to install Linux on an Intel Mac. Until Linux distros start shipping with EFI-aware boot loaders, that's not enough.

 

FWIW, I am currently running Dapper Drake on a PowerBook G3. I'm impressed but there are a coupla things that bug me enough to not recommend Ubuntu on a MacBook -- yet. I cannot get Xampp to install and there's a BIGGIE with Java and Flash not being able to run.

Thanks to all who provided assistance.

David

 

Hrmm, are you sure those issues would apply to the MacBook as well? I am wondering if Dapper Drake for PowerPC might have some issues that woudln't come up as much when installing on an Intel-based MacBook (which should be a lot closer to installing Ubuntu on any other PC laptop).

 

Point taken. In the case of Xampp, it would probably resolve the issue as my take on the Xampp failure is directly related to the hardware. In the case of Flash and Shockwave, I'm not so sure .....

Lemme do some research.

 

I've run Mandriva Linux on VMware Workstation with the host OS being Windows XP on 512MB RAM, and it ran smoothly. 1GB would be enough. In my opinion 2GB is overkill.

 

Research accomplished. Here are my findings .....

Though I am extremely impressed with the overall Ubuntu experience on ppc, there are a couple of deal-breakers for me. I know it seems small, but you wouldn't believe how prevalent the use of Flash is for many web pages. I cannot get gnash to correctly compile and there are no fancy apt-get workarounds. On a related note, xampp/lamp still won't work and both are probably related to a big-endian issue (whatever that is). Regardless, the machine is 95% of what I need to get my work done - but I need that last 5% .

I DID discover automatix which I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone ... http://getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php?title=Installation#Installing_with_Apt

Jusy my $.02 ... ymmv

 

For what it's worth, I went ahead and tried installed Ubuntu Edgy Eft on Parallels, and it was a snap. Only thing I haven't been able to figure out yet is how to get it to do native resolution. It only presents 1024x768 as the largest screen res.

 

Try getting the 915resolution package.