Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

Skrummel · 2012-03-27 23:14:36

Hi there,

I have been running Arch in a virtual machine for some time now and are now ready to take the leap and once and for all get rid of Lion.
I would prefer an Arch only install, but if it is easier to keep OSX around then so be it.

However there seems to be some discrepancies between the guides I have read, regarding whether an EFI-boot or BIOS compatibility is the way to go.
Furthermore I can't seem to figure out if the process is made simpler by using Archboot?

Is it possible someone can elaborate a little on what the best way to go about this is?

Kind regads,
Skrummel

Meskarune · 2012-03-28 15:37:27

I would suggest keeping Lion on your computer, just so you can update your computer's firmware. Also so you'll have a backup OS in case something goes wrong. I believe you can chroot into arch linux from a mac OS and update/configure your arch install that way.

See here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ma … Arch_Linux

That wiki article is out of date, but should still be a relevant. You might read the beginners guide as well, and stay on the IRC support channel as you are installing for quick help.

In my own experience, I used efi without problems. but you do have to use grub 2 to do that.

litemotiv · 2012-03-28 15:57:31

Meskarune wrote:

In my own experience, I used efi without problems. but you do have to use grub 2 to do that.

Do you have an Air 3,2? Afaik EFI can be problematic with the Nvidia videocard.

I only have experience with dual-boot on the 3,2, that was a matter of installing rEFIt (or rEFInd) on OSX, then installing Arch (i used Archboot) and placing grub or syslinux on the linux /boot partition. It should be picked up automatically by re<string> after that.

Skrummel · 2012-03-30 13:37:45

Thanks for the input, I still do not have a working Arch install, but these have been my steps so far:

1. Shrink OSX Partition
2. Install rEFIt
3. Boot Archboot from CD (external drive)
4. Make /boot and / partitions for Arch. The partition table looks something like this (written from memory):

partition  mountpoint  size       type  label
/dev/sda1  /boot/efi   200MiB     vfat  EFI
/dev/sda2  -           ?          hfs+  Mac OS X
/dev/sda3  -           ?          hfs+  Recovery
/dev/sda4  /boot       200MiB     ext2  Boot 
/dev/sda5  /            50GiB     ext4 Arch

5. Reboot and update rEFIt MBR partition table
6. Reboot Archboot. Follow installation guide.
6a. At the "Prepare Harddrive" stage, set hard drive mount points to the ones created with parted.
6b. At "Install Bootloader" stage install GRUB (legacy) onto /boot.
6c. Modify config file to include "reboot=pci" as per Macbook install Wiki.
7. Restart
8. "Boot Linux from Hard drive" shows up as an option in rEFIt.
9. Grub loads and displays Arch and Arch Fallback as options

Booting commences but fails with the error "No Root Device". Same thing happens if I try to boot Fallback.

Any ideas?

stryder · 2012-03-30 15:22:27

Check the menu.lst.

augustob · 2012-03-30 16:02:27

I've just reinstalled my MB Air, and I ran into an issue when I synchronized the MBR and the GPT partition tables. When out of sync, I could boot arch installation media just fine. When in sync, I got a "no operating system found" type error. Just install with the tables out of sync, right? Well, the kink is that when out of sync, grub doesn't install to the partition you have your /boot in (/dev/sda4 in my case).

What I ended up doing was:

1) booting the installation media when out of sync (just after resizing the OSX partition, but without running refit's table synchronizing tool)
2) going through with the installation up until bootloader installation
3) installing gptsync from the AUR (while still in the installation environment, mind you. This involves wgetting the PKGBUILD from AUR, or using a binary package you built somewhere else)
4) syncing partitions tables with gptsync
5) installing grub normally

Roundabout but it worked for me.

Edit: I should add that I first tried the "legitimate" EFI way and had video problems as suggested before in the thread.

Last edited by augustob (2012-03-30 16:08:22)

Skrummel · 2012-03-30 16:20:18

Thanks augustob,

Any tips on getting the Broadcom wireless to work during the install? As that might help a bit

litemotiv · 2012-03-31 15:34:10

Perhaps it is sufficient to boot from the usb installer, chroot into your installed Arch, and then manually install grub to the right (/boot) partition?

Arch Linux

#1 2012-03-27 23:14:36

Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

#2 2012-03-28 15:37:27

Re: Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

#3 2012-03-28 15:57:31

Re: Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

#4 2012-03-30 13:37:45

Re: Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

#5 2012-03-30 15:22:27

Re: Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

#6 2012-03-30 16:02:27

Re: Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

#7 2012-03-30 16:20:18

Re: Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

#8 2012-03-31 15:34:10

Re: Installing Archlinux on Macbook Air (3.2, late 2010 model)

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