User profile for user: Sean Calvert
Sean Calvert Author
User level: Level 2
371 points

Linux Grub2 not compatible with T2 chip?

I am trying to get a Linux distro working on a 2018 macbook pro. My preference would be to be able to dual boot from the internal drive, but I would be happy with booting into Linux from off an external drive.


There have been a number of problems with this however. I have been able to work around some, but regardless of the method of work around it is getting stuck, regardless of the distro at the Grub2 install stage.


The first problem is that when you boot from any system other than MacOS you apparently cannot see or modify the internal drive. I have, after a fair amount of work covered in another support thread, been able to partition the drive so that I could install the Linux distro, but whether booting from a cd or a flash the install fails to recognize that there is even an internal drive.


So no problem I will install to an external drive and boot from that when wanting to boot Linux. That actually works acceptably well. I can create a usb that will allow me to boot a live version of Linux so that I can then partition and format the drive and install the distro. The install even appears to work, but it hangs every time, regardless of distro, at the Grub2 install stage.


I am beginning to think this is an issue with the T2 chip. I have booted into recovery and set the preferences to minimal, allowing it to boot from an external drive and with no security for the moment. I have also gone in and set csrutil disable. Neither of these have allowed the Grub2 installation.


Anyone have any thoughts as to what I might be missing? I am beginning to suspect that this is just a part of the T2 boot process that you can't turn off or modify.


Thanks

Posted on Sep 22, 2018 7:50 PM

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8 replies
User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
123,458 points

Sep 24, 2018 7:19 AM in response to Sean Calvert

I very much doubt that Apple sat down with your Linux distro provider and worked out all of the details to make Linux compatible with the 2018 MBP. Apple is not Dell. If you screw around long enough, grub will stomp the macOS boot blocks, and you will have other issues.


If you have a 250GB, or larger internal flash storage, get the free Parallel's Desktop Lite client from the Mac App Store, and install your Linux distro as a Parallel's guest. Visit Time Machine preferences, and exclude that Parallel's Guest folder. This will be the fastest Linux IO you can buy with that Internal storage on the 2018 MBP running 3200 read and 2200 write, or there abouts. At 16 GB RAM standard, you have plenty to run that VM.


Plan B, would be an external USB3.1 Gen 2 (10Gbps) drive enclosure with the USB3.1 Gen 2 compatible cable (Thunderbolt 3) into the MBP. with an added SSD. Look at Startech for the enclosure and cable. Disclaimer, I do own Startech products, but in no way benefit from their recommendation here.

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User profile for user: rccharles
rccharles
User level: Level 6
13,037 points

Sep 24, 2018 11:36 AM in response to Sean Calvert

I haven't thought this out fully. Why don't you format and install Linux on the drive with some other linux system. You could even try from your vm. The full version of parallels let you attach a drive directly to your machine. When you plug the drive into your mac, all you have to do is figure out how to boot the drive. see if the drive is listed in the startup manager. hold down the option key the power on your machine.


R

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User profile for user: Sean Calvert
Sean Calvert Author
User level: Level 2
371 points

Sep 24, 2018 12:18 PM in response to rccharles

Actually that is the problem. I did boot from an external Linux live file. You can, provided you change the secure boot settings to minimal security and to allow booting from an external device, boot Linux off of a cd or usb drive.


The issue is that the live file is a limited install and is usually just used to format the drive and install a full install. While you can boot the live file however and format the drive, other then the internal drive, the install will fail at the point where it would be installing Grub2. So in each instance, and I have tried this any number of times with different versions of Linux, I can get Linux up and running from an installer, but can't create a dual boot system on any device. I have not tried this yet from Parallels, but expect the result would be the same.


Presumably because to run the virtual machine in Parallels you must boot MacOS as the base operating system the issue with Grub and the T2 chip just doesn't come up. Maybe I am wrong about it being an issue with the T2 chip, but there appears to be some conflict between Grub and the Mac bootloader.


For the time being through thanks to the input from Viking though I have at least been able to get a modifiable Linux system running.

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Linux Grub2 not compatible with T2 chip?

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