Macbook

Preparation

• Resize your main OS X partition using the disk utility to free up space.
• Install the refind boot manager from OS X using the bless utility.

Notes

Generation 2,1 macbooks have a 32-bit EFI. You'll need to install a 32-bit refind, 32-bit grub, 32-bit kernel, and 32-bit userspace.

Installation

Pop in a live CD or other installation media. From there, install grub2-efi to the EFI partition at EFI/grub. It will be the VFAT/FAT32 partition with a relatively low partition number. Be careful not to install grub to the MBR. Also install your kernel and userspace as usual, using the free space you made with the OS X partition manager.

Example grub.cfg

menuentry "linux latest" {
  root=(hd0,gpt3)
  fakebios
  linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 i915.modeset=1 video=efifb
  initrd /initrd.img
}

Example fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# file system    mount point   type    options                  dump pass
/dev/sda3        /             ext4    defaults                 0    1
/dev/sda1        /boot/efi     vfat    ro,nosuid,nodev          0    2

/dev/sda4        none          swap    sw                       0    0
proc             /proc         proc    defaults                 0    0

/dev/cdrom       /media/cdrom  iso9660 noauto,ro,user,exec      0    0

Post-Installation

• For right-click, run synclient TapButton2=3.
• For headphone output, sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer and unmute the second speaker (Ubuntu bug).

See Also

• ArchWiki Macbook article