Hello all, noob here, so I hope I’m following all procedures and protocols. I’m trying to load Linux Debian 12 on an old iMAC: 2017, Ventura 13.7.6, i7, 16Gb RAM. I have 2 ISO files, and I’ve tried using balena/Etcher to create a bootable USB flashdrive. I don’t want to dual boot, I want to use the whole hard drive (1Tb, SSD) for the Debian distro. The iMAC won’t recognize the USB, so thus far it’s been fail, fail, fail, rinse-and-repeat. Does anybody have a cheat-sheet-for-dummies I could use? Thanks in advance, any and all guidance will be much appreciated, Gionni
Hi! Welcome to the forum. I’m not sure if I understand correctly. Your computer runs Windows or Mac?
Best,
Miro
Welcome to the forum! Do you know if your iMac has a Fusion Drive? If it does you’ll need to follow this walktrough first to “de-couple” the drives - https://medium.com/@shrey3432/breaking-apples-fusion-drive-8ff8ded97396
[quote=“Gionni, post:1, topic:4791”]
It’s an old iMAC: 2017, Ventura 13.7.6, i7, 16Gb RAM. I can’t get the imac to recognize the USB drive I made bootable with balena/etcher using a debian iso file.
I don’t know what a Fusion Drive is. How can I find out?
After some quick research, I believe my iMAC does NOT have a Fusion Drive, it’s 1Tb SSD.
Do you have another computer to test the usb drive on? Which version of Debian did you put on the usb drive? I might be able to test this myself as I have a spare 2017 iMac at work. Give me a couple of days and I’ll report back.
@Gionni I was able to use balenaEtcher to flash Debian 12 on a 16GB flash drive and boot from it on an iMac Core i5 21.5" (Mid-2017) similar to what you might have. Mine does have the fusion drive setup.
Here are my steps:
- Downloaded Debian 12.11.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso
- Flashed it using balenaEtcher
- Held down the option(alt) key on keyboard at startup to load the boot menu.
- Clicked on EFI Boot on the boot menu
- Debian loaded to the install screen
I hope this helps you.