[Discuss] Help installing linux on I Mac

[Jay Kramer]

Hi,
It's been a long while since I have visited BLU mail.  After viewing the
discussion on Self Sovereignty, I regret missing all of the excellent
discussions within the group.

I have a 2012 I Mac that runs OS X Sierra.  I never really used it so I
decided to load linux on it.  I am unfamiliar with OS X.  Being lazy, dumb,
and in a hurry, I assumed that it would install just like it would on a
PC.  I did a few quick searches for how tos on the internet and followed
the information provided to install Ubuntu 20.4 from a usb stick.

Unfortunately, it did not work and in the process I installed linux on the
entire system erasing OS X.  After the fact, I searched a little harder and
discovered that the partition tables are completely different between
systems.  Which is the likely cause of the problem.

I tried and failed to restore OS X using the command -R key on boot so I
imagine that I can not restore OS X.  If I could I would be able to
eliminate the white screen that I get on boot from grub.  I could also use
it to properly format the USB stick before loading ubuntu.

I would be eternally grateful if someone can provide some positive advice.

Do you think it would help to use a linux USB stick to reformat the hard
drive prior to installing Ubuntu.  Does the ubuntu install come with
gparted?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Jay