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In the context of the Ubuntu (not Xubuntu) installation DVDs, it's been stated repeatedly that the developers couldn't create one DVD that would boot on both Intel Mac and non-Mac systems.

On the other hand, it's been claimed that the installation DVDs for Xubuntu will work with both Intel Mac and other systems.

Is one of these claims incorrect?

Will the Xubuntu installation DVD boot on Intel Macs without any problems?

MWB
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1 Answers1

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The amd64+mac images are BIOS only. The regular amd64 images are BIOS+EFI. The BIOS+EFI images are designed to run on both BIOS and EFI systems. Unfortunately some systems can not handle the combined "hybrid" boot image. Some Macs fall into this category (so do some PCs). The name "amd64+mac" is inaccurate, but was used because the problem was first discovered on Macs; it should more correctly be called "amd64-bios-only".

So in answer to your question, yes the regular Xubuntu image will boot on (most) Intel Macs. There are some PC and Mac systems which have BIOS/EFI bugs and can not boot the regular Ubuntu (or Xubuntu, or Debian) amd64 image. Thomas Schmitt, the author of the Xorriso tool that is used to build the install images, has written a small C program which will convert a hybrid BIOS+EFI ("amd64") image into a non-hybrid ("amd64-bios-only") image, so that it will boot on systems that have the bug. If you have such a system, then this is a possible solution.

Community
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bain
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  • Thanks for answering! Do you have any source for "will boot on (most) Macs"? Colin Watson's answer you linked implies that all Macs have this problem, and he appears to be responsible for the decision to split the DVDs. – MWB May 11 '14 at 05:59
  • @MaxB I have booted the regular amd64 iso on a Mac. Debian doesn't release BIOS-only "Mac" images - I'm sure if it were a big problem people would've noticed, and there would be a huge bug thread somewhere discussing the issue. "Debian does not boot on Macs" would be pretty major news. I haven't seen this issue mentioned at all in the Debian Mac wiki. – bain May 11 '14 at 10:19
  • @MaxB Also in bug #1298894 the only non-boot report is from a Macbook 2,1, which is 7 years old now. It seems more recent Macs have fixed firmware. – bain May 11 '14 at 10:23