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I have the new late 2018 Mac Mini and want to use as an Ubuntu Server (why is not the question here). There is a plethora of contradicting posts on the Internet related to the T2 Chip, some saying its not possible and some say it is by disabling boot security and allowing external media, but I haven't managed to find anything conclusive based on facts.

I have so far tried a couple of of Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian and CentOS with boot security switched off and external media allowed via USB stick. For all of them, I can boot the media and get the text based menu (not the one with purple/pink background and no option to "try Ubuntu") and when I select "Install Ubuntu", the screen basically goes black and nothing happens. I currently connect the Mini to my monitor with USB-C but have tried HDMI to my TV as well (my monitor has no HDMI) with same result

I would like to understand

1. Has someone actually managed to put Linux on a Late 2018 Mac Mini and proven that its possible ?




2. If this is a UEFI, driver or similar problem that can be resolved by tweaking the install media config files, or if it is due to hardware constraints in the Mac Mini hardware.

Any thoughts or comments welcome

According to this article there's a "Startup Security Utility" that allows users to boot Linux on the 2018 Mac Mini T2 chips: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/11/apple-t2-chip-cant-boot-linux. However, even after disabling the boot security, there are problems getting GNULinux to "see" the SSD: https://forum.level1techs.com/t/linux-doesnt-support-t2-as-a-ssd-controller-apples-t2-secure-boot-chip-is-blocking-usage-of-linux-in-t2-chip-macs/134832, and How can you get any version of Linux to see the 2018 MacBook Pro SSD?.

For those with older Mac Minis...

I spazzed out and originally posted irrelevant stuff about older Mac Minis, so for anyone who landed here and happens to have older hardware here's my old, impulsive I-didn't-read-the-question-before-jumping-into-research-mode answer:

This is a sixteen-minute-twenty-second YouTube tutorial in which someone dual boots a Mac Mini with Puppy Linux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mq2oAWtRe0 (result: it worked).

This is an "Installation Guide for Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Debian on a Mac mini": https://www.codeproject.com/articles/652612/installation-guide-for-ubuntu-linux-mint-debian-on (result: ran with a bug, but the poster fixed the bug).

Here's an Apple Community discussion on the topic: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/870240 (result: the user who started the thread later posted, "I am running Linux with a full blown partitions just like good old Unix books taught us to do. I found most of the information about installing Linux on Macs on the Internet inaccurate and misleading").

And here's a Macrumors forum discussion: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/linux-on-mac-mini.319861/ (result: user 'websavage' posted "I used to run linux on my ppc mini with considerable success. I didn't need to use wifi though which is probably where you'll come unstuck.").

One tutorial many peopled linked details the installation of an old version of Fedora. The link now 404s, but here's a WayBack Machine archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20120108013151/http://www.redhat.com/magazine/007may05/features/mac-mini/.

So what I'm taking away from this is that it can be done, but you may have to work a bit to make the results top-notch.