Installation on MacMini Intel (x86)

From openSUSE

I've been experimenting with a MacMini recently. I had no success when I first looked at this a month ago due to time limitations but now have finally returned to this issue.

Status: OpenSuse 10.2 i386 is working on a Mactel Mini!!!

You will only need the install DVD/CD or net install CD as well as the Apple OS disks.

1. Boot using Apple's OS install disk. Open up partition manager and convert the disk to an MBR disk. (I'm unsure if we even need to do this) Restart after this is done and hold the F12 key till the disk is ejected if you don't have a Mac keyboard like me.

2. Install OpenSuse as normal. Yes, grub is what I'm using instead of lilo or elilo!

3. When rebooting, most likely you will see a grey screen followed by a question marked folder. The install disk will now boot and the "Boot From Harddisk" option will probably fail.

4. Select Install from the Opensuse boot menu again and choose to boot a previously installed copy. This allows you to complete the installation.

5. Now you should be in Opensuse. Eject your install disk and reboot. You should see the usual grey screen, then the question marked folder, then the screen goes blank except that now it loads up grub!!!

I have this running on one MacMini thus far. If anyone would like to confirm this, that'd be great! Email me at ewu@krystalmods.com if you need to contact me.

Update/Problems:

1. Headless boot does not work in a setup like this so if you wish to use it as a server, it won't do you much good unless you have a KVM or monitor attached to it. Some have reported that installing Boot Camp will allow headless boot.

2. Onboard NIC will appear to be fully functional and yield very good performance for receiving data. Sending data can be limited to approximately 70KB/s!!! Update the kernel through online update to fix this issue.

These might help also:

mach1:~ # lsmod

Module Size Used by

i915 22656 2

drm 71316 3 i915

xt_pkttype 6016 0

ipt_LOG 10624 0

xt_limit 6912 0

snd_pcm_oss 53376 0

snd_mixer_oss 21248 1 snd_pcm_oss

snd_seq 60272 0

snd_seq_device 12812 1 snd_seq

af_packet 29320 2

cpufreq_conservative 11912 0

cpufreq_ondemand 10892 2

cpufreq_userspace 9088 0

cpufreq_powersave 5888 0

speedstep_centrino 12832 1

freq_table 8832 1 speedstep_centrino

button 10896 0

battery 14340 0

ac 9476 0

ip6t_REJECT 9344 0

xt_tcpudp 7296 0

ipt_REJECT 9472 0

xt_state 6272 0

iptable_mangle 7040 0

iptable_nat 11524 0

ip_nat 21804 1 iptable_nat

iptable_filter 7168 0

ip6table_mangle 6528 0

ip_conntrack 52960 3 xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_nat

nfnetlink 11032 2 ip_nat,ip_conntrack

ip_tables 17604 3 iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter

ip6table_filter 7040 0

ip6_tables 18756 2 ip6table_mangle,ip6table_filter

x_tables 18180 10 xt_pkttype,ipt_LOG,xt_limit,ip6t_REJECT,xt_tcpudp,ipt_REJECT,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_tables,ip6_tables

ipv6 263584 21 ip6t_REJECT

apparmor 55572 0

aamatch_pcre 18304 1 apparmor

loop 20488 0

dm_mod 60184 0

usbhid 52192 0

intel_agp 26652 1

sky2 44424 0

snd_hda_intel 23060 1

agpgart 35528 3 drm,intel_agp

snd_hda_codec 164352 1 snd_hda_intel

ehci_hcd 34696 0

ohci1394 37040 0

ieee1394 102584 1 ohci1394

snd_pcm 86788 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec

snd_timer 27908 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm

uhci_hcd 26892 0

ide_cd 42272 0

cdrom 38432 1 ide_cd

snd 61188 10 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer

soundcore 13792 1 snd

snd_page_alloc 14472 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

i2c_i801 11660 0

i2c_core 25216 1 i2c_i801

usbcore 114896 3 usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd

xfs 539608 1

sg 38044 0

edd 13892 0

fan 8964 0

ata_piix 19076 2

libata 117908 1 ata_piix

piix 13700 0 [permanent]

thermal 18568 0

processor 34664 2 speedstep_centrino,thermal

sd_mod 24576 3

scsi_mod 136712 3 sg,libata,sd_mod

ide_disk 20480 0

ide_core 129992 3 ide_cd,piix,ide_disk

mach1:~ # lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

00:07.0 Performance counters: Intel Corporation Unknown device 27a3 (rev 03)

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 02)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 22)

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. Unknown device 001c (rev 01)

03:03.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Agere Systems FW323 (rev 61)