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Enabling boot through to a desktop, NomadBSD 20240711 on an Apple mid-2011 21.5-inch iMac
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imac_nomad.md

Enabling boot to desktop with NomadBSD on Apple mid-2011 21.5-inch iMac

Hardware: mid-2011 2.5Ghz i5 iMac, specs https://support.apple.com/en-gb/111983

OS version: FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p2 NOMADBSD amd64

Steps from a live booted NomadBSD disk:

  1. in boot options: choose (6) Disable Automatic Graphics Detection and set to YES

  2. then boot

  3. then when in desktop session open the sakura terminal program and type:

doas sysrc initgfx_enable="NO"

and reboot

Observations about the installation:

  1. sound is really tinny, there must have been a profile in MacOS to restore tonal balance based on the the physical characteristics of speaker and enclosure.

  2. wifi does not work, despite showing up in the network menu. During boot it is evident that it is not correctly configured.

  3. looks like screen dimming does not work

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