Please try one of the boot media on a different machine just to be sure and eliminate that question. Then if it works on another 64-bit machine, return to the Macintosh mini.

I have to quit for the day...for my own mental health...I'll check back later...
First I need a pill...
Thanks

Interesting: I installed (as an experiment a couple of years ago) Ubuntu on my wife's MacBook Pro 2010 model and it installed and worked perfectly. I then turned around and restored from time machine before she found out. I don't think I used refind.

MacOS isn't toxic at all - it actually rocks, but, you have to drink the koolaide and do things Apple's way, which is why I also have a Linux box

FYI: there is a whole thread going on at the FreeBSD Forums about installing FreeBSD on Mac minis. The FreeBSD installer is a piece of cake, it just takes some work to get it desktop capable after that - there is no hand holding...

https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/w...4/#post-463177

Agreed; if you remain in the Apple ecosystem, things are great. If you like to shell out $$$ for things that only work well with themselves.

Their monitors are awesome, though...full credit there. That's why I got a 27" iMac, and immediately loaded Tumbleweed on it (no rEFInd either). Hardware and form-factor were good, and had flexibility once I took off OSX.

I didn't see a specific mention of what happens for you, but if you start it, get a grub menu, choose "run as a live boot" or whatever, and then it starts to get the boot text but then locks up, "nomodeset" to change the way it handles video drivers may hep.

To boot from a USB drive hold down “Option” key during boot, choose “EFI disk.” When the USB presents you with a GRUB screen, highlight main entry and hit “e” for edit. Add the string “nomodeset” between ro and splash in the text then F10 to continue.

Best to install with the wired network since the wireless might not work at first, too.

This thread has some more info...

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-a-4175661399/