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Should I use Bootcamp to create the second partition for Ubuntu or go with Refit (or whatever was the name of that open boot manager) if I want dual boot on a MacBook Pro?

Rod Smith
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Gregory1
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3 Answers3

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rEFIt hasn't been updated since early 2010. My fork of it, rEFInd, is under active development and includes features to help with booting Linux, so it's a better choice than rEFIt in most cases.

Unless you're triple-booting with Windows or some other BIOS-only OS, I recommend at least trying to get a native EFI-mode boot of Linux working. This means you should not use Boot Camp or create a hybrid MBR -- in fact, much of my reason for offering this advice is because hybrid MBRs are so dangerous, as the linked-to page describes. That said, some users with some models report that some hardware (typically the video hardware) works poorly or not at all when booted in EFI mode, so a BIOS-mode boot of Linux may be necessary. I recommend you consider this a fallback position, though.

I've written a Web page on installing Ubuntu on a Mac in EFI mode; see here. Unfortunately, that page is a bit outdated, and my only Mac is a rather old 32-bit model, so some details are likely to be different for users of newer 64-bit Macs. Still, it may be a useful reference.

Rod Smith
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I set up a Mac to dual boot so that Ubuntu boots first; you have to hold option to get to the Mac EFI. I am sure there is a name for this, but I am not good with the terms.

The basic steps were

  • create Mac Live USB
  • reformat the hard drive
  • partition the drives, making sure the one to instal the Mac OS on is formatted for Mac and the Linux drive is formatted for Linux
  • Install Linux
  • Install Mac

I did this because the consensus everywhere I looked is that boot camp is junk. This works great on my box for both operating systems, although the recovery for Mac disappeared, so you should definitely have a recovery USB.

813bruce
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Take A Look Here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MactelSupportTeam/CommunityHelpPages

I usually recommend Refit, But First Check out the link.

samgabbay
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