Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (mid 2010)

Apple's Mid 2010 MacBook Pro is capable of installing and running Gentoo Linux. Installation and configuration is decently easy, especially when these types of guides are available!

Installation media
This computer is capable of an EFI only install. This is made possible via booting from EFI media. SystemRescueCD should do the trick. Some users have reported rEFInd was needed to get EFI working properly, however this did not appear to be the case for this system. It should be able to boot off of EFI enabled medium.

To boot to a LiveCD or LiveDVD put the disk into the DVD drive and reboot the system. Press and hold the  key at the beginning of the boot process (before the sound plays). Continue holding the key until a mouse pointer appears. The DVD drive should be making some noises. Eventually (around a minute) two boot options should appear. Select the DVD drive.

For further installation instructions see the AMD64 Handbook. Refer to some of the configuration instructions in the lower sections of this article for help with specific device setup and kernel configuration.

Kernel
Configuring the kernel for most recent MacBook systems is relatively simple. Specific kernel options can be viewed on the MacBook Pro Retina Kernel Configuration article. The writer of this article has verified the kernel options listed there will work for the 13-inch, Mid 2010 MacBook Pro with the exception of the iSight microphone driver which can be seen below:

Wireless drivers
See the wireless driver section from the MacBook Pro Retina article for proper wireless driver configuration. The writer of this article has verified the kernel options listed there will work for the 13-inch, Mid 2010 MacBook Pro. There is no need to repeat them here.

Use SystemRescueCd
Many software tools and hardware detection utilities are available in order to help troubleshoot a new Gentoo installation. Users who are new to Gentoo have many options to choose from. Quite a few of the packages available in the Portage tree are utilities available on other Linux distributions. Other utilities are included on the Gentoo-based SystemRescueCD, which is a great distribution to use when installing or troubleshooting a Gentoo system.

External resources

 * http://support.apple.com/kb/sp583 - Apple's technical specifications page for this laptop.
 * https://www.gentoo.org/downloads/ - Obtain a Minimal Installation CD from a Gentoo mirror.
 * http://www.sysresccd.org/ - A Gentoo-based rescue CD that includes many helpful troubleshooting tools not included on Gentoo's Minimal Installation CDs.