How to give a new life to an old Mac!

I recently bought an old 2012 Mac Mini server on Facebook Marketplace for the mighty sum of $80. I intended to keep it as a backup for a vacation home. Once I started installing Mac OS on it, I realized that Apple had all but ended the support for this decade old Mac. The latest OS you could install on it was the High Sierra which is archaic from any standard. I could not install my printer and most of the software was not supported on this version.

I have played with Ubuntu distribution of Linux before and set out to see what I could get done with installing another OS on this Mac Mini. The steps are simple even if some guides make it sound intimidating.

What do you need?

1. Your trusted old friend the Mac Mini

2. A stable internet connection

3. A USB Drive that is preferably 2 GB or more

What are the steps:

1. Format your USB drive.

   1. Go to Utilities on your Mac

   2. Click on Disk Utilities

   3. Once you insert the USB stick, you should see it appear under ‘External’

   4. Choose this external disk. Be careful NOT to choose your Mac Hard disk.

   5. Click on Erase after choosing the USB drive. The format should be MS-DOS (FAT)

2. Download the Ubuntu ISO file from the following link.

   1. https://ubuntu.com/download

3. Download Etcher on your Mac and Run it.

   1. Simply run Etcher and choose your formatted USB disk and then ISO image you downloaded in the above step.

   2. Etcher will run for a while and make your USB stick bootable and you can run Ubuntu from this USB or use it for installing Ubuntu on your Mac Hard Disk.

4. Reboot your Mac and if on a Mac Keyboard, hold Command + R till you see a startup menu with all disks shown. If on a PC Keyboard, press Windows logo key + R.

5. Choose the USB drive to boot from.

6. Welcome to Ubuntu. It will ask if you want to run Ubuntu from the USB drive or want to install Ubuntu. Choose to install Ubuntu.

Voila! You now have Ubuntu installed on your Mac Mini. Enjoy the OS without any lag and get to install any software, printer etc as Ubuntu supports a lot of hardware without any issues.

I used Ubuntu’s guide to help myself and while it can be intimidating for those not familiar with the process, I am referencing it below:

Official Guide