Installing Ubuntu on iMac

BlackEdelweiss · 17-10-2012 04:12PM #1

I need to install Ubuntu on my iMac to run some software. Can anybody direct me to a good guide to do this or can anybody tell me how to do it.

It is a fairly demanding bit of software used for fire simulation so it might need a good bit of free hard drive space.

I also want to keep my normal iMac going, not to replace it.

croo · 17-10-2012 04:15PM

Why not install virtualbox on the mac and install linux & the software you need in a virtual machine.

BlackEdelweiss · 17-10-2012 04:39PM

croo wrote: »

Why not install virtualbox on the mac and install linux & the software you need in a virtual machine.

I have virtualbox installed and it is set to run Ubuntu but when I click it it says "No bootable medium found! System halted"

Do I have to do something else to activate it?

croo · 17-10-2012 08:19PM

No, you on't nee to do anythng special.
Did you complete the install in the virtual machine or just run the live-cd?

BlackEdelweiss · 17-10-2012 09:20PM

I got it up and running, well my 11 year old son did, it was him who had virtualbox installed in the first place, he just hadent installed ubuntu from a disk yet.
The software I am trying to install uses a lot of computing power, will virtual box be able to handle this?

BlackEdelweiss · 17-10-2012 09:34PM

My iMac is 64 bit, should I choose the 64 bit version for linux as well, probably a stupid question.

croo · 18-10-2012 04:06AM

The software I am trying to install uses a lot of computing power, will virtual box be able to handle this?

With a modern cpu and the Hardware Virtualization enabled on VM (i..e Settings->System->Acceleration tab and the VT-x/AMD-V options enable) I found performance to be excellent. I haven't run any formal performance tests, I just based this on the building & deployment of a large, java based, ERP type app. I found the time taken by the VM to be comparable with that of the host system itself.

re: 64/32 bit
Actually unless I need access to very large amounts of memory or, more commonly, need to test the 64bit version of something - I generally stick to 32bit for the VM (the host I alwyas ru 64bit). I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. But since your needs are so cpu intensive perhaps a small difference is important!? In which case just create two VM and compare both!

T-K-O · 18-10-2012 06:50AM

Have you tired bootcamp

BlackEdelweiss · 18-10-2012 10:21AM

T-K-O wrote: »

Have you tired bootcamp

I was going to try that first but I am very new to iMac's and have done nothing more than surfing the net on this so far. I like the mac but I have to admit I am still lost on how to use it properly.
Do I need to burn my data to a disk to back it up? I was trying something online but I got stuck at this point as I have no blank disks left.

T-K-O · 18-10-2012 01:23PM

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I was going to try that first but I am very new to iMac's and have done nothing more than surfing the net on this so far. I like the mac but I have to admit I am still lost on how to use it properly.
Do I need to burn my data to a disk to back it up? I was trying something online but I got stuck at this point as I have no blank disks left.

It takes a little time to get to grips with OSX but it will happen..

I haven't tried to install ubuntu but I have installed windows 7 and I understand the process is more or less the same.

Basically you create a partition with bootcamp restart the machine and load the new os. You can find tutorials online.

If you dont backup your data I recommend that you back up before using bootcamp. I didnt experience any problems but you never know. If you have an external hard drive, connect it to the mac and run time machine.

Installing Ubuntu on iMac

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