Arch Linux

stefano

Member

Registered: 2011-04-09

Posts: 287

Installing Arch on an old PowerBook (MacBookPro1,1 late 2006)?

Hello all,

I am wondering if I could  recycle an old Mac PowerBook I have lying around as a viable interface to my audio media server (I find the interfaces available on music clients working on small screens or on TV (e.g. Symphonium, Kodi, Moode, etc) absolutely unusable).  The PowerBook is very old, late 2006, running MacOs 10.6.8 and none of the music players I looked at (Clementine, Vox, IIna, etc.) support it anymore, so I'd like to try running Arch on it and perhaps Clementine. The model is MAcBookPro1,1, which has a 32 bits EFI, I believe, and the info I found online seem to suggest it's very problematic to get an Arch install drive to boot and install.

Anyone has any experience with such old hardware?   

Stefano

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,418

Re: Installing Arch on an old PowerBook (MacBookPro1,1 late 2006)?

What CPU do you have? Wikipedia says that the Core 2 Duo version came out in 2007, so 2006 would be a Core Duo (32-bit)?

stefano

Member

Registered: 2011-04-09

Posts: 287

Re: Installing Arch on an old PowerBook (MacBookPro1,1 late 2006)?

It has indeed a Core Duo from 2006, which I think is 32 bits

Edit: Confirmed, the CPU is a 32-bit Core Duo 2GHz (T2500)

Last edited by stefano (2026-01-05 17:52:33)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,418

Re: Installing Arch on an old PowerBook (MacBookPro1,1 late 2006)?

Arch dropped 32 bit support years ago. There is a community fork, Arch Linux 32, but I have no idea what state it's in. That's where you'd need to go.

Last edited by Scimmia (2026-01-05 17:45:19)

stefano

Member

Registered: 2011-04-09

Posts: 287

Re: Installing Arch on an old PowerBook (MacBookPro1,1 late 2006)?

Thanks, will go there then.