[Fixed; try, try again!] Can't install any boot loaders on iMac 5,1

[KeithZG]

So, I ended up with an older iMac (5,1 model, the ones with Radeon 1600m's in them) and because Kubuntu is about 400% better than OSX I've been trying to install Kubuntu (amd64, to be precise) on it. This has not been going so well.

Firstly the Live CD won't work because at the language prompt, err, the keyboard won't work (I've tried non-Apple keyboards too). This makes it impossible to continue the install, obviously. So I burned an alternate install disc, and that seemed to work fine, up until the point at which I tried to install grub to the Kubuntu partition and it spit out the error that it can't install. I tried instead installing grub legacy (ie. grub 1) and that failed too. Hell, I even tried LILO, also just spits out a very uninformative error (basically just "failed, error code 1", which doesn't seem helpful) and fails.

So, as it stands now I can seemingly install Kubuntu just fine other than the "tiny" problem that I can't install a boot loader and actually boot it! (For the record I have rEFIt installed for the sake of booting it all). Does anyone have any ideas?

[dibl]

Re: Can't install any boot loaders on iMac 5,1

You might need to "dd" the hard drive and make a new partition table on it. Just a guess, but it sounds like it's not reading the MBR correctly.

[KeithZG]

Re: Can't install any boot loaders on iMac 5,1

Uhhh there *isn't* an MBR, not in the traditional sense. That's one of the difficulties with an EFI-based system like this (since I'm not wiping OSX), and it's why I had to install GRUB (or whatever boot loader I'd be using) to the system partition rather than the MBR.

After a few more tries though (each time deleting the partitions I had created and creating new ones; I'm creating in the free space a root partition for Kubuntu, a home partition, some empty space and a swap partition, with the empty space intended for trying out KXStudio) I got GRUB2 to install to the root partition (which happens to be sda3 as mapped). From that point onwards rEFIt noticed it and every time I power on this iMac (had to download a third party program for OSX to turn off the damn boot chime, though!) it gives me a fancy graphical menu letting me choose between OSX and good ol' Tux. Tux all the way!

There are still a few issues, but none of them are showstoppers. For example, while in KDE I can't fullscreen any hi-def videos with any media players since the 2D acceleration is so slow, which also affects even just scrolling in webpages; Openbox works fine, though. Also I have the classic "external monitor" bug where upon boot it insists on setting both the built-in display and the external monitor to the built-in's size and have them clones of eachother, so every time I have to open up SystemSettings and set it back to a 1920x1080 external to the left of the 1440x900 internal. I got used to this bug with my semi-broken netbook that I previously had set up in this precise setup in my house, though, so I can't bring myself to be too upset