Similar to my Mac Minty which I have written about here and here, I have brought new life back to an otherwise ignored iMac in work with the installation of a Linux operating system. This time the Linux Distro I have chosen is Elementary.
The 2013 iMac was a beast when it was bought new with a one terabyte drive, 24 gigabytes of RAM and a gorgeous 27-inch retina display. It was my main design and production machine in work, and I used it until it stopped taking updates. Sadly, in the printing industry, the printer has to stay abreast of the latest and greatest as far as desktop publishing software. Chances are customers will send in a project requiring that up to the minute update of a particular piece of software. It’s like an endless arms race. Computers get outdated fast which is the case with this particular iMac.
The old mechanical hard drive buried under the glass of the iMac’s gorgeous display wasn’t doing it any favors. A number of updates and wear and tear have greatly slowed the computer down. It could be replaced with a newer and speedier drive, but that would require invasive surgery. In their pursuit of improbable industrial design standards, Apple has made their computers serviceable only by the brave, the bold or the foolhardy. Besides, the computer doesn’t belong to me, so I am not going to pursue a cure that very well may kill the patient.
But there is a workaround!
Looking down the back of the iMac at the external hard drive atop a tiny shelf (also from Dan) attached to the computer’s foot.
This Mac will boot from an external drive via USB or, even better, through this model’s Thunderbolt 2 port which is a lot faster. As it turns out, I got a Mercury-On-The-Go hard drive enclosure from the late, great Dan Love who bought it on impulse and decided to shed it as technology progressed. Like a lot of his discarded gear, I wound up with it. It has a Thunderbolt 2 port, and with a Samsung Solid State Drive, I was in business!
The external hard drive is plugged into one of two Thunderbolt 2 ports on the back of the iMac.
Similar to my 2012 Mac mini which I have dubbed the Mac Minty, I decided to give this iMac a new lease on life with a Linux operating system. Unlike the Minty, I decided to leave the internal drive alone on this iMac. If needed, I can boot into the Mac OS or I can boot into a brand new, safe and secure operating system that is FAST just by holding option down on startup and selecting the external hard drive.
As long as the iMac’s components hold out, I’ll have a machine that I can confidently use every day.
No, it won’t run Adobe or Microsoft apps in the Linux OS, but there are substitutes that work fairly well, and the best part is they’re free.
Nice!!!
So far, so good.