installing FreeBSD on an old MacBook (c. 2008)

C

cyranno

Hi, I'm trying to install FreeBSD from a memory stick. The following images are pictures of what I see on the monitor. The EFI firmware is recognized but the computer hangs early in the boot process. Thanks in advance.

IMG_0516.jpg


IMG_0517.jpg
 
forums.freebsd.org

Solved - FreeBSD 14.0 planning

… Do you have an idea when version 14.0 will be available? 14.0-RELEASE some time in 2023, I guess. {link removed ? link provider grahamperrin is dead} {link removed} {link removed}
forums.freebsd.org forums.freebsd.org
You might equally attempt to boot from the installer for 13.0-STABLE, <https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/snapshots/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/13.0/>.

Solely to help tell the cause of the problem in your case.

(Neither 14.0-CURRENT, nor 13.0-STABLE, can be updated as easily as 13.0-RELEASE.)
 
cyranno said:
… the battery is toast. …
Click to expand...

Ha ha … for a long time my occasional 'side computer' was an old MacBook Pro minus its battery. With two cats dancing around the whole caboodle, I'm amazed that it didn't lose power more often.

The expertise can be simplified, but I can't argue with the decision to dispose of a 2008 MacBook. Thanks!
 
Just have tried to install 15.0 and 14.3 on my old MacBook A1183 (2008) recently, got stuck with exactly same issue (same picture on the screen). Looks like FreeBSD hangs while unpacking kernel. Any ideas how to get pass that ?
 
Can you not boot from a cd or dvd? It has a builtin dvd drive... Correction on my prev. message: only the 2006 model had T2400. A 2008 model has either a T8100 or T8300, which should handle amd64 kernels.... Model number is Macbook4,1. Search for macbook4 on the forum as there are a number of threads about it.
 
Well, I figured out that mine is Intel Core 2 Duo (T8100) which is not fully 64 bit compatible, so I think I should use 32 bit FreeBSD. Now trying to find out how to boot it. Finding working CD/DVD recorder is a not easy nowadays.
 
I was able to install FreeBSD 14.3 i386 on my old MacBook (it appeared to be based on Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 actually) from DVD.

Now, I see there are no any drm-kmod drivers in FreeBSD-kmods repo (basically I need i915kms.ko). An attempt to build drm-*-kmod from ports gets me to any sort of messages like "amd64 only" or "not supported on FreeBSD 14.2". Any ideas how to get the driver ?
 
T7400 is a 64bit processor. Very likely the EFI on your macbook is 32bit. You may wish to research how to install any 64bit os on it.
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It's definitely possible. It seems there's some sort of a bug in 64 bit video console driver, it just stops displaying anything after "Loading splash ok" message on this particular machine. I tried theese 64 bit versions of FreeBSD: 13.5, 14.3 and 15.0 - same effect (32 bit version of 14.3 boots and installs just fine). Although it proceeds working/booting, it's kind of hard installing anything in the blind. I think I have to get to the UART.
 
You can't install 64-bit FreeBSD
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Any particular reason for that ?

Actually 64-bit FreeBSD 14.3 and 15.0 run fine on that machine except the vidconsole that is not working, which makes it hard to use for anything exept headless server. UEFI loader starts fine from DVD image, there's /boot/loader_ia32.efi which does the trick I think.
 
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