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#1 2013-06-25 02:15:19

dmj
Member
Registered: 2013-06-25
Posts: 8

Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

I've spent many hours trying to install Arch on my macbook pro to no avail (over 14 times I've tried), I've learned a lot through this process, but apparently not enough. I get the system installed and blessed (in OSX), but when I try to boot into it I get stuck on "loading initial ram disk." (Previous errors were a read-only file system, but this one is latest) My hunch tells me it has something to do with the mkinitcpio.conf (I was told to add "ahci" to MODULES and "keyboard" after "autodetect" in "HOOKS") and I know the mkinitcpio -p linux command creates the initial ram disk environment (thanks to the docs).

Here are my steps, the bash scripts I created to do all this. Does anything look out of the ordinary to anyone?

cgdisk /dev/sda #(setup partitions as below, sda1-3 not shown)
#partitions: (sda4 == 128MB Hfs+, sda5 == 256MB Linux (boot), sda6 == 30GB Linux (root), sda7 == 70GB #Linux Home)
#first script

mkfs.ext2 /dev/sda5
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda6
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda7
mount /dev/sda6 /mnt
mkdir /mnt/boot && mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/boot
mkdir /mnt/home && mount /dev/sda7 /mnt/home
pacstrap /mnt base base-devel
genfstab -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash

#second script
#install wifi (dmesg | grep firmware still says no firmware tho...)
pacman -S wget b43-fwcutter
wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/b4/b … are.tar.gz
tar -zxf b43-firmware.tar.gz
cd b43-firmware
makepkg -si --asroot #kosher?
rmmod b43 && modprobe b43
echo arch > /etc/hostname
ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Central /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc --utc
useradd -m -g users -G wheel -s /bin/bash dmj && passwd dmj
sudo pacman -S sudo
nano /etc/sudoers #comment out wheel portion
sudo nano /etc/locale.gen #pick locale
locale-gen
echo LANG=en_US.UTF-8 > /etc/locale.conf
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
mkinitcpio -p linux #someone said i need "ahci" in modules?
#make boot loader, copy to usb
pacman -S grub-efi-x86_64
grub-mkconfig -o boot/grub/grub.cfg
grub-mkstandalone -o boot.efi -d usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi -O x86_64-efi -C xz boot/grub/grub.cfg
mkdir /mnt/usbdisk && mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usbdisk
cp boot.efi /mnt/usbdisk/
umount /mnt/usbdisk/
sudo pacman -S dialog wpa_supplicant iw

exit
umount /mnt/home
umount /mnt/root
umount /mnt/
sudo reboot

I finally got a descriptive error message and am very excited to show everyone.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10021156/arch.jpg

Moderator Edit:  Converted over sized in-line picture to link - ewaller

Last edited by dmj (2013-06-25 02:59:00)

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#2 2013-06-25 02:31:08

ewaller
Administrator
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-07-13
Posts: 19,739

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

Welcome to Arch Linux.  Please see our policy regarding the posting of pictures.


Nothing is too wonderful to be true, if it be consistent with the laws of nature -- Michael Faraday
Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. -- Alan Turing
---
How to Ask Questions the Smart Way

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#3 2013-06-25 02:47:57

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,447
Website

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

What is the bit about copying boot.efi to a usb?  Is that just a backup and not relevant for the current issue?

I'm not too familiar with grub or efi, but it seems there were no steps here to specify where your boot partition is - this would match the error messages.  It doesn't look like a initrd (mkinitpcio) issue as the kernel isn't even found.

(edit: thanks for the title revision)

Last edited by Trilby (2013-06-25 03:04:38)


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#4 2013-06-25 03:03:12

dmj
Member
Registered: 2013-06-25
Posts: 8

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

Trilby, my apologies. I have edited the topic name to be more constructive. My intent was not to elicit dissatisfaction.

The copying to boot.efi bit is for use on the OSX side. After arch has been built I reboot into osx, format the 128MB HFS+ portion, and construct the following tree inside of it:

|-- System
|   `-- Library
|       `-- CoreServices
|           |-- SystemVersion.plist
|           `-- boot.efi
`-- mach_kernel

This allows OSX to recognize the drive in the "startup disk" application and allows it to be set as bootable. (From my understanding).

The boot.efi is copied from the usb drive (which contains what was copied from arch) onto the 128MB HFS+ volume named "Arch"

My steps for that are as follows:

cd /Volumes/Arch
mkdir System mach_kernel
cd System
mkdir Library
cd Library
mkdir CoreServices
cd CoreServices
cp ~/Desktop/SystemVersion.plist SystemVersion.plist
cp /Volumes/UNTITLED/boot.efi boot.efi
sudo bless --device /dev/disk0s4 --setBoot --verbose

Last edited by dmj (2013-06-25 03:22:45)

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#5 2013-06-25 03:37:03

Laggg
Member
From: California
Registered: 2011-07-18
Posts: 22
Website

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

Best of luck to you! Would be really cool to see someone get this working!

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#6 2013-06-25 04:09:19

dmj
Member
Registered: 2013-06-25
Posts: 8

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

Laggg wrote:

Best of luck to you! Would be really cool to see someone get this working!

I believe two people already have:
http://vec.io/posts/use-arch-linux-and- … na-display
http://codylittlewood.com/arch-linux-on … tallation/

I believe I am very close. Just need a little more direction/information.

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#7 2013-06-25 04:51:16

dmj
Member
Registered: 2013-06-25
Posts: 8

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

I have an updated error message. It was hard to make this out because it goes away in 0.2 seconds, but it says, "error: file '/boot/grub/fonts/unicode.pf2' not found\n error: No suitable video mode'

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100 … 9%20PM.png

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#8 2013-06-26 03:04:48

dmj
Member
Registered: 2013-06-25
Posts: 8

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

Ok, so I managed to boot into arch. The issue was my fstab. The custom settings I was using were incorrect. Going with the defaults helped. Also, the version of grub I was using was broken. See this link for the fix: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=164101

So after I tar -xvJf xxx.tar.xz the fixed version I was able to generate a boot.efi, copy it onto the 128MB HFS+ on OSX and then bless and boot.

A whole new slew of errors occurred.

First, the video mode error occurs "No suitable video mode" (and something about a font).
I found a fix for it here: (but it didn't work) https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … d.22_error
I added

cp /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ${GRUB_PREFIX_DIR}

Then add:

UEFI systems:
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
After that add the following code (common to both BIOS and UEFI):
insmod font
if loadfont ${prefix}/fonts/unicode.pf2
then
    insmod gfxterm
    set gfxmode=auto
    set gfxpayload=keep
    terminal_output gfxterm
fi

Gist: Add these few lines to your grub.cfg, result: no luck still this error

What I'm not sure is if if this is affecting my ability to start the xorg-server.

Then after that the network became unreachable (which is strange because the ethernet worked ootb on install)
systemctl enable dhcpcd@enp0s10
systemctl start dhcpcd@enp0s10
allows me to ping -c 3 google.com

Lastly, I cannot start the xorg server. Says the nvidia module is bad. I installed bumblebee, and ran startx (not from root) and I get a black screen. This is after installing: xorg-server xorg-xinit xorg-server-utils xf86-input-synaptics nvidia acpid
Then running: systemctl enable acpid nvidia-xconfig

My graphics card is a Geforce 650M and I've read I should be using the nvidia module, not the open source noveau module.

startx just boots into a blank screen now and I'm unsure why.

Any speculations, ideas, or thoughts would be gladly welcome.

Thanks ahead of time!

Last edited by dmj (2013-06-26 03:05:26)

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#9 2013-06-26 06:08:40

dmj
Member
Registered: 2013-06-25
Posts: 8

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

Here is my /var/log/Xorg.0.log

http://bpaste.net/show/109888/

I have installed vesa for testing (per the guide) still get a black screen. Also installed nvidia, xorg-server, xorg-xinit, and awesome.

One troubling thing is seeing both "nvidia" and "nouveau" mentioned as modules when I run

lspci -vk | grep nou

I get

Kernel modules : nouveau, nvidia

. but

pacman -Q  | grep nou

shows nothing. This might be because I installed nouveau early on. (After looking at the logs and seeing "no module for nouvea loaded" I thought it'd be the answer.. I realized this was normal behavior later on. How can I remove the "nouvea" portion out of the modules section on my listed VGA?

Also vesa won't even load. Blank screen and I have to reboot.

Another set of eyes would be greatly appreciated!

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#10 2013-06-26 07:19:51

Shark
Member
From: /dev/zero
Registered: 2011-02-28
Posts: 684

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

This is not an answer to your specific questions but guys on Arch Forums have already made Arch work on Retina. Check this out:

Forum:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=144255

Archwiki:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBookPro_Retina


If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau

Registered Linux User: #559057

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#11 2013-06-26 14:21:32

Arctus
Member
Registered: 2012-07-14
Posts: 99

Re: Installing Arch on a MacBook Pro Retina

dmj wrote:

One troubling thing is seeing both "nvidia" and "nouveau" mentioned as modules when I run

lspci -vk | grep nou

I get

Kernel modules : nouveau, nvidia

. but

pacman -Q  | grep nou

shows nothing. This might be because I installed nouveau early on. (After looking at the logs and seeing "no module for nouvea loaded" I thought it'd be the answer.. I realized this was normal behavior later on. How can I remove the "nouvea" portion out of the modules section on my listed VGA?

I get the same result, and have no issues, so I doubt it's what causes your problem.
I don't really know much about x configuring, but have you used the Nvidia tool for it? You could also post your config file, it might help some people to figure out the issue.

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