MATE 20.10 on 2010 MacBook 7,1 A1342?

JohnW · 3 January 2021 00:15

Is it possible to get Ubuntu MATE 20.10 running on my two 2010 13" white mid-2019 MacBooks?
Model 7,1 A1342, 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA GeForce, 4GB 1067MHz DDR3 RAM.
I'm starting on one of them, and it runs fast on 20.10 via "Try..." on the USB install image. It refuses to boot the installation though, popping the infamous "MOK..." message and then going into a black coma awaiting a power button long-press to shutdown:

I've rummaged the rabbit hole of countless "solutions" on this topic, tried a lot of things with multiple 20.10 re-installs including various ways of purging Shim stuff, getting Grub to work, and installing rEFInd. No joy.

This general topic seems to get a lot of views everywhere. Solutions seem to vary based on Mac hardware. As of 1/1/2020 this MacBook apparently no longer runs a supported version of MacOS. MATE 20.10 is smooth and seems to run well on this model even via the Install USB, and there are a lot of used ones for sale. So I'm hoping to get it working, and post a simple step by step process to guide others once fixed.

I've invested 12 fruitless hours in this already, so I'm hoping to quickly get it working with your help. I have no interest or need to boot MacOS, and have swapped out the internal HDD for a 1TB SSD. How exactly can I get this baby to boot directly into 20.10 on the SSD without pausing at a Grub menu when the USB installer's not plugged in? Can it be done?

At this point, I'm not sure if it's possible since nobody with this model seems to have reported success in the many posts on this general topic. My hope is that a simple way of purging every trace of Shim would be a start. I've found Shim bits scattered all over the SSD after install. Next would presumably be a way to remove all Grub stuff and then install only the one that will work. What exact Terminal commands from the Install USB "Try..." boot would do this?

JohnW · 3 January 2021 06:59

Rummaging the web more, I decided to try a clean install. First booted the USB and wiped the SSD with the Disks app. Then did the Install with no Internet connection, auto-login, Minimum Install. When "Failed to set MokListRT... Continuing boot..." error popped up I just waited. Unlike all the other attempts at a full install, this time after a long pause and no keyboard input by me, it proceeded to boot!

So now I'm looking for a hopefully safe and easy way to get rid of Shim since that's apparently the conflict with much (all?) of the Mac hardware's boot process. Then the consensus seems to be that I'll need to do something with Grub.

TBC...

JohnW · 3 January 2021 08:14

On a hunch, I decided to try a Minimum Installation, so I deleted both partitions from the SSD and used the USB's Install icon to start over. This time I also stayed offline with no "Install Updates" or other stuff, both to make it quicker and to minimize potential distractions.

To my pleasant surprise, when the"Failed to set MokListRT... Continuing boot..." error showed up and I waited without any input, it booted!

A post at the bottom of this article is a suggestion for removing shim:

sudo apt-get purge shim

I added the sudo in bold at the start of the line, because it won't work without that. Of course, it then prompts for the password given during the MATE install process. Anyway, that seemed to eliminate the troublesome shim without rooting around in the file system.

That post also suggests backing up the EFI, but I prefer to keep it simple and simply Install again if things get messy. It also suggests installing Grub, but I decided to try a GUI approach instead. I ran Software & Updates and added Canonical Partners, then ran Software Boutique and tried to install the Software app but it reports "No Application Data Found" so it seems I'm stuck with the Boutique or other sources.

Then I ran Software Updater and I was glad to see Grub go by in the Details list of stuff being done. It looked like the same version that's on the smooth-booting USB.

Sure enough, when I then rebooted there was no "Mok" error. Instead I got a scary long pause on a black screen with a non-blinking cursor. Then it magically booted normally.

Now I'm going to take a break, explore a little, and report back (possibly tomorrow) on anything of interest.

JohnW · 6 January 2021 06:38

I ended up doing a full normal install and again waited without any input when the "Mok" message showed up, and it booted. For assorted reasons though, I decided to wipe 20.10 and go with 20.04 LTS. So I probably won't be adding anything more here, but will leave it unless someone wants it removed. My hope is it might help someone else whose install goes off the rails. If it's any consolation, MATE on a MacBook can be done. Use the Mate Tweaks app, choose Cupertino, and it's already better and faster than MacOS. After enough fiddling it gets Insanely Great, so maybe someday there will be a standard Mac installation for MATE (wish I knew how to build one!).