- Joined
- Nov 14, 2012
- Messages
- 31
- Motherboard
- Asus P8Z77-V LX
- CPU
- i7-3770K
- Graphics
- GeForce GTX 660
- Mac
- Classic Mac
- Mobile Phone
The following is a summary of my successful triple boot installation with Maverick, Win 8 and Linux Mint.
Since Linux creates the biggest headache, this guide is a bit more detailed on that section.
My Hardware:
SSD OS X
SSD Win 8
SSD Linux Mint
HDD Data
Goal
We want that Chimera only displays three boot options: OS X, Win 8 and Linux
We do not want that OS X complains: “The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer”
here we go...
Install OS X
Connect the SSD OS X to the mother board.
Follow the OS X installation guidelines in this forum and install Chimera via MultiBeast.
After the OS X installation log out and switch off the PC.
Install Windows
Switch off the PC disconnect the SSD OS X.
With only SSD Win 8 connected to the mother board install Windows.
Find in Windows under system settings the option where you can format your HDD (it took me 10min to find it and forgot how I got there).
Change the volume names “System Reserved” to “Windows” and the other windows partition to “Win8”
Explanation:
This is in preparation for Chimera to display sensible strings under the icons.
After reboot Chimera should display OS X, Windows and Win8 icons.
Prepare a Linux Mint USB stick
Load OS X
Download Linux Mint (google is your friend)
Drag the Linux Mint iso file to the desktop (makes the following easier)
Rename the file to linuxmint.iso
Open the Terminal and enter the following commands in italic:
Convert iso to img
hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o ~/Dektop/linuxmint.img ~/Dektop/linuxmint.iso
Rename linuxmint.img.dmg to linuxmint.img by just clicking on the file.
Get current devices:
diskutil list
Insert an USB stick (4 GB is more than enough)
Run diskutil list again and determine the device node ‘N’ assigned to your USB stick (e.g. /dev/disk2).
Unmount the USB stick (replace the N with the device number from above)
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
Put the linuxmint.img file to the USB stick (replace the N)
sudo dd if=/Desktop/linuxmint.img of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m
Eject the USB stick (replace the N)
diskutil eject /dev/diskN
Install Linux Mint
Switch of the PC
Disconnect SSD OS X, SSD Win and HDD data
Connect SSD Linux
Repower the PC and boot Linux from USB stick (how to do it depends on you board, this forum or google are your friends)
When the Linux Mint desktop appears double click on Install Linux Mint
When you arrive at the window “Installation Type” select “Something else” and click “Install now”
That following “Installation Type” window shows a table. Most likely in the Device column you have an entry /dev/sda. Select it and click “New Partition Table…”
By pressing the (+) button add the following partitions (the MB’s are an example):
a) Dummy partition: FAT32 100 MB (we do not need more)
b) Linux Root (/): Ext4 10720 MB
c) Linux Swap: Ext 4 21440 MB (as a minimum size of RAM)
d) Linux Home (/home): Ext4 10720 MB
e) Linux User (/usr/local): Ext4 21440 MB (the remaining space of the HDD)
Device for boot loader installation:
f) Select from the drop down that it points to the Linux Root (/)
Explanation:
a) prevents OS X to show the ignoring message after boot: “The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer”. This partition must be FAT32 formatted and must be the first partition.
f) enables Chimera to find the Linux boot loader
Finalize the Linux installation and close Linux.
Switch off the PC and rewire all HDDs.
Reboot
Chimera now displays OSX, Linux, Windows and a couple of more icons. We suppress the unnecessary icons in the next step. Write down the position of icons you do NOT want to get displayed.
Hide Partitions in Chimera
Load OS X
Find via Spotlight the file: org.chameleon.Boot.plist and load it into a text editor.
You have two options to suppress a partition in Chimera, by string or hd() reference. I got rid of my unwanted partitions by adding:
<key>Hide Partition</key>
<string>"UNUSED" "Win8" hd(1,1)</string>
But, there might be a downside. On my system DiskUtilities hangs when I suppress partitions.
BINGO DONE
Up to now I failed to suppress the devices of Win8 in OS X under Finder Devices. I do not need access to them from OS X and therefore I do not want them to show-up.
Since Linux creates the biggest headache, this guide is a bit more detailed on that section.
My Hardware:
SSD OS X
SSD Win 8
SSD Linux Mint
HDD Data
Goal
We want that Chimera only displays three boot options: OS X, Win 8 and Linux
We do not want that OS X complains: “The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer”
here we go...
Install OS X
Connect the SSD OS X to the mother board.
Follow the OS X installation guidelines in this forum and install Chimera via MultiBeast.
After the OS X installation log out and switch off the PC.
Install Windows
Switch off the PC disconnect the SSD OS X.
With only SSD Win 8 connected to the mother board install Windows.
Find in Windows under system settings the option where you can format your HDD (it took me 10min to find it and forgot how I got there).
Change the volume names “System Reserved” to “Windows” and the other windows partition to “Win8”
Explanation:
This is in preparation for Chimera to display sensible strings under the icons.
After reboot Chimera should display OS X, Windows and Win8 icons.
Prepare a Linux Mint USB stick
Load OS X
Download Linux Mint (google is your friend)
Drag the Linux Mint iso file to the desktop (makes the following easier)
Rename the file to linuxmint.iso
Open the Terminal and enter the following commands in italic:
Convert iso to img
hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o ~/Dektop/linuxmint.img ~/Dektop/linuxmint.iso
Rename linuxmint.img.dmg to linuxmint.img by just clicking on the file.
Get current devices:
diskutil list
Insert an USB stick (4 GB is more than enough)
Run diskutil list again and determine the device node ‘N’ assigned to your USB stick (e.g. /dev/disk2).
Unmount the USB stick (replace the N with the device number from above)
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
Put the linuxmint.img file to the USB stick (replace the N)
sudo dd if=/Desktop/linuxmint.img of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m
Eject the USB stick (replace the N)
diskutil eject /dev/diskN
Install Linux Mint
Switch of the PC
Disconnect SSD OS X, SSD Win and HDD data
Connect SSD Linux
Repower the PC and boot Linux from USB stick (how to do it depends on you board, this forum or google are your friends)
When the Linux Mint desktop appears double click on Install Linux Mint
When you arrive at the window “Installation Type” select “Something else” and click “Install now”
That following “Installation Type” window shows a table. Most likely in the Device column you have an entry /dev/sda. Select it and click “New Partition Table…”
By pressing the (+) button add the following partitions (the MB’s are an example):
a) Dummy partition: FAT32 100 MB (we do not need more)
b) Linux Root (/): Ext4 10720 MB
c) Linux Swap: Ext 4 21440 MB (as a minimum size of RAM)
d) Linux Home (/home): Ext4 10720 MB
e) Linux User (/usr/local): Ext4 21440 MB (the remaining space of the HDD)
Device for boot loader installation:
f) Select from the drop down that it points to the Linux Root (/)
Explanation:
a) prevents OS X to show the ignoring message after boot: “The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer”. This partition must be FAT32 formatted and must be the first partition.
f) enables Chimera to find the Linux boot loader
Finalize the Linux installation and close Linux.
Switch off the PC and rewire all HDDs.
Reboot
Chimera now displays OSX, Linux, Windows and a couple of more icons. We suppress the unnecessary icons in the next step. Write down the position of icons you do NOT want to get displayed.
Hide Partitions in Chimera
Load OS X
Find via Spotlight the file: org.chameleon.Boot.plist and load it into a text editor.
You have two options to suppress a partition in Chimera, by string or hd() reference. I got rid of my unwanted partitions by adding:
<key>Hide Partition</key>
<string>"UNUSED" "Win8" hd(1,1)</string>
But, there might be a downside. On my system DiskUtilities hangs when I suppress partitions.
BINGO DONE
Up to now I failed to suppress the devices of Win8 in OS X under Finder Devices. I do not need access to them from OS X and therefore I do not want them to show-up.