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Created September 6, 2022 19:28
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Install Arch linux on Mac Mini (late 2012)
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arch-mac-mini.md

Install Arch Linux

We will be creating dual boot for OS X and Linux with no special boot loader. For other setup, refer to [1]. We will keep all data on an external hard drive, so we do not need huge amount of space for the linux system. We will install from an USB thumb drive (will need at least 1GB in size), newer Minis do not have CD roms.

Prepare the disk in Mac OS X (El Capitan)

  • Open Disk Utility and select the disk (not partition), click Partition (top tool bar)
  • There are at least 3 partitions: EFI, OS X, Recovery. Only OS X will be shown.
  • Repartition your disk as follows:
    1. OS X (size: ~ tens of GB, type HFS+, for OS X)
    2. Arch tmp (size: ~ 10 GB, FAT, will be removed later)

Create LiveUSB that we will boot from

  • Download the .iso from download page
  • Open Terminal
  • $ diskutil list and find out its name (let's say it is /dev/disk2)
  • $ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2 to unmount the drive
  • # dd if=/path/to/arch-linux-image.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m (we replaced disk with rdisk which is the "raw" disk in OS X and a lot faster, it is not a typo)
  • $ diskutil eject /dev/disk2

Boot from LiveUSB

  • Hold Alt while booting
  • Select the USB disk
  • Welcome to Arch Linux installer ;-)

Installation

  • Connect to network

    • $ wifi-menu to setup wireless networking (assuming DHCP is available)

  • Setup time

    • $ timedatectl set-ntp true
    • Check its status $ timedatectl status

  • Partition the drive again ;-)

    • # cgdisk
    • Remove the Arch tmp partition we created earlier.
    • Remember to create 128 MB gap after OS X partitions, by typing +128M for the start of the partition.
    • Add new Arch boot partition (~ 100 MB)
    • Add new Arch root partition (fill the space)
    • Swap file can be created later if needed

  • Create file systems

    • # mkfs.ext2 /dev/<arch boot>
    • # mkfs.ext4 /dev/<arch root>

  • Mount the partitions

    • # mount /dev/<arch root> /mnt
    • # mkdir /mnt/boot
    • # mount /dev/<arch boot> /mnt/boot

  • Edit mirror list

    • # vim /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist it will be used pac the next step, so take good care of it here

  • Install the base packages

    • # pacstrap /mnt base

  • Configure the system

    • # genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
    • # arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
    • # echo <computer name> > /etc/hostname
    • # ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/<zone>/<subzone> /etc/localtime
    • # nano /etc/locale.gen uncomment locales you want
    • # locale-gen
    • # echo LANG=<your_locale> > /etc/locale.conf
    • TODO: setup wireless networking
    • # mkinitcpio -p linux
    • # passwd
    • # pacman -S gptfdisk

Boot loader

  • # mkdir /boot/efi
  • # mount /dev/<EFI partition>
  • # pacman -S grub efibootmgr
  • # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=arch
  • # grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Reboot

  • # exit or Ctrl + D
  • # umount -R /mnt
  • # reboot

References

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