I wish I could give another life to my old imac 2013 with a linux distro (cannot install latest osx updates, thanks apple).
I’ve tried most of the popular distro (ubunbu/popos/manjaro/mint) but not of them actually work. I explain:
boot on USB works most of the time and I can use the “live usb”
but once I install the distro and reboot
=> black screen or the logo is displayed for ever and nothing happens.
or, with manjaro, the screen gets pixelized and freeze
I suspect the nvidia driver to mess up completely. Do you have any suggestion how to move forward? I don’t have any log and nothing gets printed on screen.
I’m about to throw that perfectly working hardware to the bin…
Possible things to try:
install a distro with OLD nvidia driver (which one?)
install from scratch from base arch or debian, without any graphic driver and see where it starts failing, but honestly I haven’t countless hours to spend there)
install THE linux distro I’m not yet aware of, targeting old hardware
It is specifically designed for Macs. I don’t know much about the topic as I don’t own a Mac, only what I have read/seen in the past. Zero experience with this.
Like with all Macs we need the exact model number, eg “imac14,1”. Run inxi at the live usb or find your model at everymac.com where you can also find more info regarding ways to upgrade hardware, issues etc. Once you have the identifier also check arch linux wiki as well as the manjaro forum here for more particular info.
AntiX
Getting it done on a more mainstream distro is tricky if free nouveau driver doesn’t work at all, however, since your live usb works I wonder if that’s actually the case.
manjaro runs just find on my 2013 imac. if you want to keep macos. download open core legacy and you can run the latest sequioa… runs great too on the 2013 imac. I had mine working just using the nvidia prop drivers.
But… sequioa runs just fine on it… the only caveat, any updates require you to reapply the root drivers. Open Core Legacy will walk you through it… Let me know if you want to go that direction, and i can help you get started.
Further to the good @doctorx’s comments regarding OpenCore, you might also find the OpenCore Legacy Patcher (OCLP) for Unsupported Macs is quite useful.
i suggest the main problem is that the nvidia gt755m / gtx 780m graphics card is the problem cause the actual nvidia-driver doesn’t support them anymore.
please check the following first: boot up into the black screen and switch to a console via strg-alt-F4. do you reach a login console ?
there is still the “brute-force” method to install the nvidia-driver. the only concern is to test if the older nvidia-drivers do well with the actual kernels. nevertheless the iMac is worth to give it a try. i still use my iMac 12.2 as daily computer for internet and multimedia use. yes it’s just a 60 Hz display but the color-quality thanks to its retina display is even for today’s standards superior.
the only problem with this iMacs is that they are designed to run at the temperature-limits of the electrical parts. a good cleaning and renewing of the thermal-paste should be mandatory. install a decent ssd and spend some 16GB of RAM and voila… still a good choice and worth to use.
well you’ll get 5 different answers if you ask 5 people but my personal opinion should not be the solution for others but everyone who loves his compute-mate should care on this maintaining. in this case the iMac is over 10 years old and that’s already over the limits of every thermal-paste. ordinary thermal paste works for 1-3 years (depending on the thermal-load) until it’s baked off. there is “better” thermal-paste like this grizzly-paste that can cool better cause it is more liquid than ordinary but to the disadvantage that it bakes off faster than ordinary ones and must be replaced more often.
Just choose to use the open-source drivers when you install Manjaro and it will work.
iMac 2013 is basically the same hardware as I’m writing this on (Macbook Pro 11,3 Retina 15" Late-2013).
It’s not worth going through the hassle of dealing with ancient unsupported proprietary Nvidia drivers for GT750M graphics that are only 15-20% faster than Intel Iris Pro 5200 anyway. First thing I did after installation was switch to the integrated gpu - less heat and fan noise and better battery life.
Note: on this Macbook Pro 11,3 the bios powers off the igpu unless it detects macOS, not sure if the iMac does the same but if so and you want to use the igpu then you’ll need to chainload apple_set_os.efi or use some other method to persuade it that it’s running in Apple’s walled garden. See this thread for more details.