2013 MacPro (trash can) Bazzite/Kinoite/Bluefin install failure
hardware-compat
Preface: Let me start by saying i have been able to get Bluefin working on an external drive in the past, but that was around Fedora 39 and it was a short lived experiment. With the current version of MacOS being the last that will be Intel compatible (thanks be to Open Core for keeping it current so far), it's time I move to Linux on this machine. I run Bluefin on a Lenovo X13 Yoga, Aurora on a 2012 MacBook Air and two other Asus Laptops that my kids use, and Bazzite on my 2010 MacPro and Asus Rog Ally Xbox X (rediculuously long name imho). So I have installed Universal Blue based OSes several times and am familiar with doing so. I've used Rufus, Balena Etcher, Fedora Media Writer, Impression, and the Raspberry Pi Imager to make my install USB's to install Fedora Atomic/Universal Blue OS (legacy & live installers) on the trashcan mac. I have successfully installed and booted Alpine linux, but have had no luck with any combination of USB's, Imagers, or Fedora Atomic Based Distros. I have used 8 different USB drives during my attempts.
Problem: I can boot into GRUB and start the installer, but it stalls and never enters anaconda or the live desktop environment. It does seem to "lag" getting to GRUB and after selecting the live enviroment, I get a blank, black screen. I have left it for 30 mins to see if this was again "lag" and believe it will not proceed no matter how long I wait.
Ultimate Question: Is there a solution to this problem I am not aware of, or are the dual AMD Fire Pro 300's in my Trashcan Mac the problem? Ultimately ,is any Fedora Atomic/U-blue OS going to work for me? Even if I can install another distro, I'd prefer to stick to Atomic Fedora/U-blue as I like what I've got going on here with the U-blue's teams curated versions of Fedora. I dont want to go Debian/Ubuntu based distro or Arch, and will reluctantly EOL this machine.
Problem: I can boot into GRUB and start the installer, but it stalls and never enters anaconda or the live desktop environment. It does seem to "lag" getting to GRUB and after selecting the live enviroment, I get a blank, black screen. I have left it for 30 mins to see if this was again "lag" and believe it will not proceed no matter how long I wait.
Ultimate Question: Is there a solution to this problem I am not aware of, or are the dual AMD Fire Pro 300's in my Trashcan Mac the problem? Ultimately ,is any Fedora Atomic/U-blue OS going to work for me? Even if I can install another distro, I'd prefer to stick to Atomic Fedora/U-blue as I like what I've got going on here with the U-blue's teams curated versions of Fedora. I dont want to go Debian/Ubuntu based distro or Arch, and will reluctantly EOL this machine.
Solution
Confirmed on Bazzite, likely to work on other Fedora atomic based builds.
Ok, I've solved this issue after some internet searches and I want to put this out there in case anyone else comes here looking for answers to the same problem.
This will get the live installer to run with the AMD Fire Pros:
1. When the grub menu pops up, press "e" to edit the boot parameters in grub.
2. When the boot parameters pull up use the arrow key to go to the end of the line that starts with the word "linux".
3. Add a space and type: nomodeset
4. Press F10 or Ctrl + X to save and exit.
The installer should reboot into the live environment. It might take a few minutes to fully boot, but you should not have a black screen.
I was able to run the Bazzite installer from the live environment and when it was complete, I successfully boot into Bazzite without any further modifications.
Ok, I've solved this issue after some internet searches and I want to put this out there in case anyone else comes here looking for answers to the same problem.
This will get the live installer to run with the AMD Fire Pros:
1. When the grub menu pops up, press "e" to edit the boot parameters in grub.
2. When the boot parameters pull up use the arrow key to go to the end of the line that starts with the word "linux".
3. Add a space and type: nomodeset
4. Press F10 or Ctrl + X to save and exit.
The installer should reboot into the live environment. It might take a few minutes to fully boot, but you should not have a black screen.
I was able to run the Bazzite installer from the live environment and when it was complete, I successfully boot into Bazzite without any further modifications.
