figured out the simplest way to run Linux on a Mac
the latest Mac boots EFI way, it's much simpler than the legacy way of master boot record / boot sector:
here are the steps for Ubuntu studio, can be applied with any Debian / Ubuntu based distro (including Mint)
1) make sure a usb stick in FAT format;
2) get ubuntustudio-13.10-dvd-amd64.iso (officially from http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/saucy/release/), open this iso with any Archive manager, copy boot/ and EFI/ to the root of usb stick; the EFI directory contains files of EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi and bootgrub.efi; the boot/ contains grub modules and conf files;
3) mkdir /ubuntustudio/ on the root of usb stick (can be any other names if you want), copy /casper/{vmlinuz,intrd.lz} from the iso to this studio/capser/; this is linux kernel and initrd to boot with;
4) copy the ubuntustudio-13.10-dvd-amd64.iso to /ubuntustudio/ of the usb stick;
5) edit /boot/grub/grub.conf, add this as first menuentry:
enuentry "Start Linux Ubuntu-Studio 13.10 (Saucy Salamander)" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /ubuntustudio/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/mint.seed boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/ubuntustudio/ubuntustudio-13.10-dvd-amd64.iso quiet splash --
initrd /ubuntustudio/initrd.lz
}
Plugin this usb stick, boot mac with holding Option key, till boot manager shows up with a new EFI boot, that is for the usb stick boot option, choose it boot!
References:
- http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-boot-a-linux-live-usb-stick-on-your-mac/
- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI
- https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Boot_Loaders
