(no subject)

[quiara]

I'm a fairly computer-savvy chick -- as long as that computer is running Mac OS or Windows. I know tiny, microscopic amounts of linux-y goodness. I want to change this!

I've got a late 2008 aluminum unibody MacBook and I'd like to dual boot it, 10.5 and Ubuntu 9.04. To ensure no human error on my part, I requested the DVD rather than burned my own (Okay, it's mostly 'cause I had no blank DVDs at the moment, but still.). It arrived and I want to install it -- but I don't really speak linux.

Other than the pages at http://help.ubuntu.com, is there another place for MacBook-specific installs for Linux n00bs? Any help will make you my new BFF. ^_^

Comments

[quivo]

Have you ever installed an OS--any OS before? If so, you should be fine to install Ubuntu. From what little I remember of 6.0, all you need to do is insert the LiveCD/DVD and follow instructions. If you want a detailed walkthrough for installing Ubuntu on a Macbook Pro, you can pretty much google for that and find decent tutorials. I remember there being a ton of resources out there when I installed Ubuntu on my now-defunct PC laptop, so it should be even better now.

I will say this, though: installing Ubuntu isn't any kind of surefire way to learning about Linux, and it strikes me as a pretty roundabout way to do it. The Terminal app on the Mac and a simple tutorial on what stuff like ls, dir and cd mean and what the Linux filesystem structure looks like would probably be more helpful if you just want to learn about Linux.

[quiara]

Yes, I've installed OSes before -- I installed Ubuntu at one point, too. My problem is that while yes, the keyboard worked reasonably well, the trackpad really didn't, the built in iSight not at all, the airport card also not recognized. Essentially, I'm not entirely sure where to locate the drivers to make these things work.

By wanting to install it, I'm wanting to essentially do the same thing that one does with language immersion, to make it my working environment for a bit and see what happens. I realize there are eleven-billion-and-counting Linux distros out there. My problem is not in how to get it to install as such, but more how to make it usable. I thought that much was given; I guess not.

I appreciate your taking the time to comment, though. I was looking for specifically how to modify the generic distro in such a way that it would make for a fully functional MacBook. I did some research before I picked Ubuntu, but if you'd like to recommend another flavor or another resource for Mac-specific issues, that'd be great. Otherwise, I guess I'll keep looking.

[quivo]

Sorry I couldn't help more--my Ubuntu-fu is preeetty old in internet years, and I have no idea how things stand with drivers for the most recently released macs. It may be that you're having more trouble getting stuff to work because the unibody Macbooks are new, and have all sorts of new hardware in them, but eh, you work with what you got.

BTW, my failsafe for finding tricky things like drivers was to hunt down the name of the driver somewhere, then google for it or for the phrase it is described with straight up. If you still can't find anything, I'd come back here and edit your post to include details of what drivers you're looking for, OR post on the Apple subforum at ubuntuforums.com and see if anything turns up. With Ubuntu, you usually aren't the only one experiencing a problem; the key is finding out what has worked to fix that problem, or if (sadly) nothing has worked.

[zenten]

What is the specific model of mac that you're using?

[quiara]

10/08 aluminum unibody, 2.4GHz C2D, 250GB HD, 2 GB RAM, GeForce 9400M, SuperDrive, backlit kbd -- this one.

[zenten]

OK, that's weird, I would have thought that your airport card at least should be working.

Have you tried running an update with it connected via ethernet? Where there any messages about "restricted drivers"? Try also going to "System", "Administration", "Restricted Drivers Manager" and making sure everything is selected. You will also need to have the ethernet cable connected, as this will require an internet connection.

Also, you will likely only be able to get these working by actually installing the OS, not running off the DVD as a live CD. Not sure how you're doing things right now.

Restricted drivers

[baggyeyes]

yeah, I agree with zenten - you can usually get things like the Airport card working through the Restricted Drivers menu item -but - you need to be plugged into a high speed Internet connection via Ethernet.