Set Ubuntu to boot first: sudo efibootmgr -o 0,80 Install efibootmgr: sudo apt-get install efibootmgrĬheck your EFI to see what Ubuntu is called: sudo efibootmgr I did try to use rEFInd but while Ubuntu did boot, it couldn’t use the monitor, even setting nomodeset. Follow the steps in this tutorial to get Ubuntu to boot in EFI mode (no need for refind).

Still in Ubuntu LiveUSB, modify EFI to boot Ubuntu.Install the bootloader on the desired device. I installed it to a USB 3.0 external hard drive because I wanted to preserve Mac OS X in case somebody else inherited this computer later. Linux /install/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ed nomodeset quiet. Press “e” and edit the boot command, adding “nomodeset”.You should see two icons, one saying “Macintosh HD” and another “EFI”. Boot Mac OS X and hold Alt while booting.

In the Live USB, use efibootmgr to allow EFI to boot Ubuntu.

Boot the LiveUSB (boot with option nomodeset) and install Ubuntu on a hard drive.

Create a LiveUSB as usual, for example using Startup Disk Creator.

The easiest and most functional procedure was to: All I needed to do was boot with “nomodeset” as a boot parameter and edit the EFI bootloader. Initially, I used a third party LiveUSB creator, but later I realized that creating a regular LiveUSB works just fine. Normally I would not buy an unnecessarily expensive computer like this, but since it was free and it had 64 GB of RAM, I decided to keep it. Thanks to many resources online I was able to install full single-boot Ubuntu on a Mac Pro that I was given at work.

How to install linux on a mac