Ubuntu 24.04 on Imac (late 2009) - 10.1

[Lofi]

Hello,

I just got an old Imac from a friend and installed a fresh Ubuntu 24.04

The graphics card on this machine only works properly with the radeon driver if the machine is booted in legacy mode.

UEFI mode causes trouble and garbage on the screen - only the kernel option "nomodeset" forces the machine to boot a standard software renderer driver. The latter is incapable of using the hardware acceleration - so this is no option.

If you want to install Ubuntu (or any other Linux) I recommend to use refind boot manager. Refind is capable to boot in legacy bios mode. You have to configure refind by editing

refind.conf

(on your EFI partition) and add the line

scanfor internal,hdbios,external,biosexternal,optical,cd,manual

hdbios and biosexternal enable the legacy boot for internal and external sources.

If you want to boot an external USB boot stick you can choose "legacy boot on whole disk" and install your system.

I hope this information is useful.

Best Regards,
Hans



Host: Apple Mac-F2268CC8 2009 - all in one with Ubuntu 24.04 (exported from Linux-Hardware.org)

PROBE ID

Devices on the board are the following:

DEVICE	STATUS	COMMENT
BUS: PCI ID: 1002:9488:106b:00b6 CLASS: 03-00 VENDOR: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] DEVICE: RV730/M96-XT [Mobility Radeon HD 4670] TYPE: graphics card DRIVER: radeon	Works	Only works properly if system is booted in legacy mode on Imac. If booted in UEFI graphic card won't show a useable output with radeon driver. In UEFI only nomodeset delivers a useable output - but radeon driver cannot be used then.
BUS: PCI ID: 1002:aa38:106b:aa38 CLASS: 04-03 VENDOR: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] DEVICE: RV710/730 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4000 series] TYPE: sound DRIVER: snd_hda_intel	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0ac0:10de:cb79 CLASS: 04-03 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 High Definition Audio TYPE: sound DRIVER: snd_hda_intel	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0ab0:10de:cb79 CLASS: 02-00 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 Ethernet TYPE: network DRIVER: forcedeth	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 168c:002a:106b:008f CLASS: 02-80 VENDOR: Qualcomm Atheros DEVICE: AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) TYPE: network DRIVER: ath9k	Works
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0ab5:10de:cb79 CLASS: 01-01-85 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 SATA Controller TYPE: storage DRIVER: ahci, pata_acpi	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 104c:823e CLASS: 06-04 VENDOR: Texas Instruments DEVICE: XIO2213A/B/XIO2221 PCI Express to PCI Bridge [Cheetah Express] TYPE: bridge DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0a84 CLASS: 06-00 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 Host Bridge TYPE: bridge DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aab:10de:cb79 CLASS: 06-04-01 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 PCI Bridge TYPE: bridge DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aac:10de:cb79 CLASS: 06-01 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 LPC Bridge TYPE: bridge DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0ac4:10de:0000 CLASS: 06-04 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 PCI Express Bridge TYPE: bridge DRIVER: pcieport	Works
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0ac6:10de:0000 CLASS: 06-04 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 PCI Express Bridge TYPE: bridge DRIVER: pcieport	Works
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0ac7:10de:0000 CLASS: 06-04 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 PCI Express Bridge TYPE: bridge DRIVER: pcieport	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aa3:10de:cb79 CLASS: 0b-40 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 Co-processor TYPE: co-processor DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 104c:823f CLASS: 0c-00-10 VENDOR: Texas Instruments DEVICE: XIO2213A/B/XIO2221 IEEE-1394b OHCI Controller [Cheetah Express] TYPE: firewire controller DRIVER: firewire_ohci	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0a88 CLASS: 05-00 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 Memory Controller TYPE: ram memory DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0a89 CLASS: 05-00 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 Memory Controller TYPE: ram memory DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0a98:10de:cb79 CLASS: 05-00 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 Memory Controller TYPE: ram memory DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aa4 CLASS: 05-00 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 Memory Controller TYPE: ram memory DRIVER: -	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aa2:10de:cb79 CLASS: 0c-05 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 SMBus TYPE: smbus DRIVER: i2c_nforce2	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aa5:10de:cb79 CLASS: 0c-03-10 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller TYPE: usb controller DRIVER: ohci_pci	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aa6:10de:cb79 CLASS: 0c-03-20 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller TYPE: usb controller DRIVER: ehci_pci	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aa7:10de:cb79 CLASS: 0c-03-10 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller TYPE: usb controller DRIVER: ohci_pci	Detected
BUS: PCI ID: 10de:0aa9:10de:cb79 CLASS: 0c-03-20 VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation DEVICE: MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller TYPE: usb controller DRIVER: ehci_pci	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 0e41:4142 CLASS: ff-00-00 VENDOR: Line6, Inc. DEVICE: TonePort UX2 TYPE: DRIVER: snd_usb_toneport	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 05ac:8215 CLASS: ff-01-01 VENDOR: Apple, Inc. DEVICE: Built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR HCI TYPE: bluetooth DRIVER: btusb, apple_mfi_fastchar...	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 05ac:8502 CLASS: 0e-01-00 VENDOR: Apple, Inc. DEVICE: Built-in iSight TYPE: camera DRIVER: apple_mfi_fastcharge	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 05ac:8403 CLASS: 08-06-50 VENDOR: Apple, Inc. DEVICE: Internal Memory Card Reader TYPE: disk DRIVER: apple_mfi_fastcharge, uas...	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 0a5c:4500 CLASS: 09-00-00 VENDOR: Broadcom Corp. DEVICE: BCM2046B1 USB 2.0 Hub (part of BCM2046 Bluetooth) TYPE: hub DRIVER: hub	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 1d6b:0001 (2x) CLASS: 09-00-00 VENDOR: Linux Foundation DEVICE: 1.1 root hub TYPE: hub DRIVER: hub	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 1d6b:0002 (2x) CLASS: 09-00-00 VENDOR: Linux Foundation DEVICE: 2.0 root hub TYPE: hub DRIVER: hub	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 05ac:8242 CLASS: 03-00-00 VENDOR: Apple, Inc. DEVICE: Built-in IR Receiver TYPE: human interface DRIVER: apple_mfi_fastcharge, usb...	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 046d:c31c CLASS: 03-01-01 VENDOR: Logitech, Inc. DEVICE: Keyboard K120 TYPE: keyboard DRIVER: usbhid	Detected
BUS: USB ID: 046d:c05a CLASS: 03-01-02 VENDOR: Logitech, Inc. DEVICE: M90/M100 Optical Mouse TYPE: mouse DRIVER: usbhid	Detected
BUS: EISA ID: apple-app9cbc VENDOR: Apple Computer DEVICE: Color LCD APP9CBC 1920x1080 475x267mm 21.5-inch TYPE: monitor DRIVER: -	Works
BUS: SYS ID: apple-215-0-0-0-0-06-14-2019 VENDOR: Apple Inc. DEVICE: BIOS 215.0.0.0.0 06/14/2019 TYPE: bios DRIVER: -	Works
BUS: SYS ID: intel-6-23-10-core-2-duo-e7600 (2x) VENDOR: Intel DEVICE: Core 2 Duo CPU E7600 @ 3.06GHz TYPE: cpu DRIVER: -	Works
BUS: SYS ID: ram-modules-12gb-dimm VENDOR: DEVICE: RAM Module(s) 12GB DIMM TYPE: memory DRIVER: -	Works
BUS: SYS ID: apple-mac-f2268cc8 VENDOR: Apple Inc. DEVICE: Motherboard Mac-F2268CC8 TYPE: motherboard DRIVER: -	Works
BUS: SCSI ID: hl-dt-st-dvdrw-ga11n VENDOR: HL-DT-ST DEVICE: DVDRW GA11N TYPE: cdrom DRIVER: ahci, sr	Detected
BUS: IDE ID: samsung-ssd-850-evo-500gb [93C] VENDOR: Samsung DEVICE: SSD 850 EVO 500GB TYPE: disk DRIVER: ahci, sd	Detected