Thanks to all who answered! I wanted to try a live media before
installing. I couldn't even boot up MBP far with random errors. I used
Rufus, in an updated 64-bit W10 Pro. PC with
https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/11.3.0-live+nonfree/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-xfce+nonfree.iso,
to make a bootable 8 GB USB flash stick.

Photos:
https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/UtCzzdimSDXsSDkejfRsAlPb/ima_9c157e3.jpeg
https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/rEXcninIChudPWCTIOsKTkGT/ima_70e42e4.jpeg
https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/pGRdlmZycRXJoJOrUJsyCHJu/ima_97650d7.jpeg

I tried the same USB flash media on a 2012 MBP, and it had no problems
booting up. :/

In comp.os.linux.misc Ant <ant@zimage.comant> wrote:
> Hello.

> I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz
> Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
> GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
> from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.

> I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
> suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
> trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
> wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
> again with it.

> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
--
Dang HDD's SMART errors & failed tests meaning it's from 2016, heat wave, body (tired, achy, & noisy), life, etc. Every1 is BUSY! :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

On 6/26/22 12:59 AM, Ant wrote:
> Thanks to all who answered! I wanted to try a live media before
> installing. I couldn't even boot up MBP far with random errors. I used
> Rufus, in an updated 64-bit W10 Pro. PC with
> https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/11.3.0-live+nonfree/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.3.0-amd64-xfce+nonfree.iso,
> to make a bootable 8 GB USB flash stick.
>
> Photos:
> https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/UtCzzdimSDXsSDkejfRsAlPb/ima_9c157e3.jpeg
> https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/rEXcninIChudPWCTIOsKTkGT/ima_70e42e4.jpeg
> https://matrix.ross154.net/_matrix/media/r0/download/ross154.net/pGRdlmZycRXJoJOrUJsyCHJu/ima_97650d7.jpeg
>
> I tried the same USB flash media on a 2012 MBP, and it had no problems
> booting up. :/
>
>
> In comp.os.linux.misc Ant<ant@zimage.comant> wrote:
>> Hello.
>> I have a 14 years old old MacBook Pro (15" A1260 model, unibody; 2.4 Ghz
>> Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB (667 MHz) of DDR2 SDRAM, 200 GB HDD, NVIDIA
>> GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB of VRAM), & Mac OS X (El Capitan v10.11.6))
>> from early 2008. Its software are too old, unsupported, and too slow.
>> I'm thinking about replacing them with Linux, but which one would be
>> suitable for it? I still want basic GUI like web browsing. I remember
>> trying doing the same for an old PowerBook G4, but I couldn't get its
>> wifi to work with various Linux installations. I hope this won't happen
>> again with it.
>> Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon. :)
> Dang HDD's SMART errors & failed tests meaning it's from 2016, heat
> wave, body (tired, achy, & noisy), life, etc. Every1 is BUSY! :(

Uhhhhhhhh ... bad SMART test = DO NOT USE !

I'd suggest SCRIPTING those SMART tests weekly at least.
Just run it from root cron, maybe have it send e-mails.

I can provide a fair example of such a script if you really
badly need it (personal/company particulars excluded, of
course)

You can do it all with bash ... basically run the smartctrl
short test on each drive and send the results to a file -
then probe the file for certain keywords and prepare your
final report from the results. I have several boxes that
do it every morning on all drives before biz hours. Some of
the others have web interfaces and run such tests themselves -
so you can just look at the reports. Anyway, a TAD clunky
but WORKS real good. You can smarten-up the tests using
something like a Python script instead, I've got one of
those, makes it easier to find keywords and format/mail
the reports. Simple, crude, gets it done.

Need to smarten-up the reports a bit so they'll ignore
really OLD, usually ATA, errors probably related to
bad shut-downs. The SMART report DOES list power-on
hours ... just gotta compare TODAYS power-on hours
vs when the ATA errors happened. Over, say, 250 hours
diff and it's not worth reporting.

In comp.os.linux.setup 25.BZ959 <25BZ959@nada.net> wrote:

> Uhhhhhhhh ... bad SMART test = DO NOT USE !

> I'd suggest SCRIPTING those SMART tests weekly at least.
> Just run it from root cron, maybe have it send e-mails.

> I can provide a fair example of such a script if you really
> badly need it (personal/company particulars excluded, of
> course)

> You can do it all with bash ... basically run the smartctrl
> short test on each drive and send the results to a file -
> then probe the file for certain keywords and prepare your
> final report from the results. I have several boxes that
> do it every morning on all drives before biz hours. Some of
> the others have web interfaces and run such tests themselves -
> so you can just look at the reports. Anyway, a TAD clunky
> but WORKS real good. You can smarten-up the tests using
> something like a Python script instead, I've got one of
> those, makes it easier to find keywords and format/mail
> the reports. Simple, crude, gets it done.

> Need to smarten-up the reports a bit so they'll ignore
> really OLD, usually ATA, errors probably related to
> bad shut-downs. The SMART report DOES list power-on
> hours ... just gotta compare TODAYS power-on hours
> vs when the ATA errors happened. Over, say, 250 hours
> diff and it's not worth reporting.

That's a different computer, not 2008 MacBook Pro.
--
Dang HDD's SMART errors & failed tests meaning it's from 2016, heat wave, body (tired, achy, & noisy), life, etc. Every1 is BUSY! :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

On 6/26/22 2:42 AM, Ant wrote:
> In comp.os.linux.setup 25.BZ959 <25BZ959@nada.net> wrote:
>
>> Uhhhhhhhh ... bad SMART test = DO NOT USE !
>
>> I'd suggest SCRIPTING those SMART tests weekly at least.
>> Just run it from root cron, maybe have it send e-mails.
>
>> I can provide a fair example of such a script if you really
>> badly need it (personal/company particulars excluded, of
>> course)
>
>> You can do it all with bash ... basically run the smartctrl
>> short test on each drive and send the results to a file -
>> then probe the file for certain keywords and prepare your
>> final report from the results. I have several boxes that
>> do it every morning on all drives before biz hours. Some of
>> the others have web interfaces and run such tests themselves -
>> so you can just look at the reports. Anyway, a TAD clunky
>> but WORKS real good. You can smarten-up the tests using
>> something like a Python script instead, I've got one of
>> those, makes it easier to find keywords and format/mail
>> the reports. Simple, crude, gets it done.
>
>> Need to smarten-up the reports a bit so they'll ignore
>> really OLD, usually ATA, errors probably related to
>> bad shut-downs. The SMART report DOES list power-on
>> hours ... just gotta compare TODAYS power-on hours
>> vs when the ATA errors happened. Over, say, 250 hours
>> diff and it's not worth reporting.
>
> That's a different computer, not 2008 MacBook Pro.

2008 is pretty old ... but most Mac operating systems
since 2007 were actually Unix-based. Somewhere under
the hood there's fair Unix/Linux compatibility.