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I've seen this issue come up on other threads, but I am new here and unable to comment. So here goes my new thread. Thank you for your patience.

I have a late 2006 MacBook 2.0ghz duo core w/ 3gb ram. It's running OS x Tiger (don't laugh!) and thus pretty much obsolete. It seems to meet the minimum requirements for Ubuntu, based on what I've read here. The thing is, I can't download directly to the Macbook because the browser doesn't support...well, anything new. But I have access to newer machines with windows, sierra, and chrome os. Can I use any of these to create a thumb drive boot that will install on the old macbook?

Thumb drive option seems like the way to go, but I've been reading threads and some people have been having image issues. They also haven't posted whether it's been resolved and most threads are pretty old.

Also, I'd rather not dual boot the old Macbook and instead just run Ubuntu, xfce if possible. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

So, to recap, my questions are:

  1. What's the latest version of Ubuntu I could run on the 2006 Macbook and what alternative install should I try first?
  2. Is it possible to only boot Ubuntu (do away with Mac OS X altogether)?
  3. I'd like to work with xfce, but is there another distribution that may be better suited to my situation?

To be clear, I know I'm experimenting and if something goes wrong it is on me. Just a noob looking for guidance. Thanks!

Sumeet Deshmukh
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2 Answers2

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For your FIRST question: You can probably run 18.04. I'm doing so right now on an early 2008 (model A1181) MacBook with OS X Lion 10.7 installed, a 2.4 GHz Core 2, and just 2 Gig RAM. After one simple but crucial workaround ( the SVIDEO tweak described in Boot very slow because of drm_kms_helper errors ) the machine has run beautifully, and fast, too!

Per instructions at https://blog.macsales.com/40603-linux-on-a-recycled-mac-trying-to-make-it-work just burn an Ubuntu ISO image file to a DVD, put it in the Mac's SuperDrive, and boot from the DVD into a "live" session. ( The live session will be very slow opening, and very sluggish running, because of the drm-kms-helper problem. ) Once it's up just click on the "install" icon.

For your SECOND question: You can delete the OS X partition, but it's much simpler to just use the OS X Lion "Disk Utility" to reduce its size dramatically; see https://gist.github.com/roadrunner2/1289542a748d9a104e7baec6a92f9cd7 and the caveat it contains, viz:

Warning: If you're not going to keep MacOS, either back up the EFI System Partition (and restore its contents to the new ESP after installation) or leave it intact (i.e. don't do a full disk install, but just use the space > after the ESP). This partition (it's the first one) contains drivers/firmware/etc needed by Apple's EFI loader during boot...

If you do keep the OS X partition, just reduce its size with Lion's "Disk Utility" before your Ubuntu install and leave the rest of the drive as free space: You don't need to create a swap partition, or any other partition, as the automated install process will do all that's needed with that free space.

Ohiostandard
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yes when you install ubuntu it deletes all the data on your HDD and installs ubuntu

BTW The Best USB Flashing Tool is Etcher

Ubuntu User
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