Feature #6319

Restructure the documentation on Mac support

Added by sajolida 2013-09-28 10:09:57 . Updated 2019-11-22 07:58:31 .

Status:
Confirmed
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Category:
Hardware support
Target version:
Start date:
2013-09-28
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Feature Branch:
bitingbird:doc/6319-mac
Type of work:
End-user documentation
Blueprint:

https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/support_page/

Starter:
0
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

  • Create a single page called “Using Tails on a Mac” on (doc/first_steps/mac) to centralize all the information we have about how Tails works on Mac.
  • Insert it in the documentation index between “Upgrading” and “Start Tails”.
  • Link it from “Start Tails!”.
  • Rename the “Apple hardware” section of the “Know issues” page as “Mac” and limit it to a single sentence pointing to “Using Tails on a Mac”.
  • Move the page “Manually installing onto a USB stick for Mac” under “Using Tails on a Mac” in the documentation index.
  • Add an introduction to “Manually installing onto a USB stick for Mac” that summarizes its limitations and points back to “Using Tails on a Mac”.
  • Remove the end notes listing Mac models in “Manually installing onto a USB stick for Mac”.
  • Ask for review of our page to people knowledgeable about Mac.
  • Ideas of content for the page “Using Tails on a Mac”:
    • Disclaimer, we don’t know much about Mac. Please report your findings.
    • Link to the online list of Macs per generation and firmware version.
    • Tails does not work on PowerPC.
    • Try burning a DVD first and see if this works.
    • If you don’t have a DVD try a USB stick installed using Tails Installer. Create that from a PC if needed.
    • Install rEFIit and explain how to desinstall it.
    • On some models, a USB stick created with Tails Installer works with rEFIt.
    • Mention that “MAC USB Installer” and others are likely not to work either. Otherwise please tell us. If it work, be careful as it might break some security features.
    • You can try the instructions for “Manually installing onto a USB stick for Mac” if you really want a USB stick but it will be without persistence.

Subtasks

Related issues

Related to Tails - Feature #7147: Improve documentation about ISO verification for Mac using GPGTools Resolved 2014-05-01
Related to Tails - Feature #11682: Document Etcher to install Tails from macOS Resolved 2016-08-20
Related to Tails - Feature #15292: Distribute a USB image Resolved 2016-04-14 2019-01-29

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2013-10-03 05:52:11

  • Category set to Hardware support

#2 Updated by BitingBird 2015-01-03 00:56:21

We now have support for UEFI, so I guess the instructions are outdated.

#3 Updated by BitingBird 2015-01-08 02:53:57

  • related to Feature #7147: Improve documentation about ISO verification for Mac using GPGTools added

#4 Updated by BitingBird 2015-03-23 02:18:59

  • Assignee set to BitingBird

#5 Updated by BitingBird 2015-03-23 02:26:45

  • Target version set to Tails_1.4

#6 Updated by BitingBird 2015-04-05 17:54:05

  • Status changed from Confirmed to In Progress
  • Feature Branch set to bitingbird:doc/6319-mac

#7 Updated by BitingBird 2015-04-07 00:59:33

  • Assignee changed from BitingBird to sajolida
  • QA Check set to Info Needed

I created a page like you mentionned, but it doesn’t look very good to me. Do you have some more ideas of things to add or reorganize?

#8 Updated by BitingBird 2015-05-09 03:56:20

  • Target version changed from Tails_1.4 to Tails_1.4.1

#9 Updated by sajolida 2015-05-27 16:13:27

  • Tracker changed from Bug to Feature
  • Description updated

#10 Updated by sajolida 2015-05-27 16:39:19

I think it’s a good start :)

Here are some more ideas to make it better:

  • We’ve considered saying “Apple hardware” in the past already but discarded this option because nowadays “Apple hardware” corresponds to tons of other devices that we are far from supporting (iPod, iPad, iPhone, etc.). The personal computers made by Apple Inc are called “Mac”, that’s why we’ve been using this term until now.
  • “PowerPC” maybe this needs clarification because I guess that newer Mac users don’t even know this existed. What about saying “Tails only works on Intel-based Mac and not on PowerPC. PowerPC architecture was discontinued in 2006” or something better? Maybe with a cheap link to Wikipedia…
  • Link to upstream websites when mentioning “MAC USB Installer and other similar tools” to avoid confusion between tools with similar names (this happens a lot).
  • List what are those “other similar tools”. See Feature #8802 for the list of stuff we’ve tested and didn’t work.
  • I find it weird to be pointed to “manually install using Mac” in a paragraph that doesn’t refer otherwise to the list of hardware in #mac_manual_install. What about merging both things (the link and the list of hardware)?
  • In this list of hardware, I bet that the bug with the graphical card doesn’t not depend on the installation method. So maybe we should remove it from there (and maybe moving it as a dedicated know issue but I’m not sure how relevant this still is since it dates back from May 2013).
  • Once people manage to boot from DVD or from a manual USB, then they should try to clone and see if works. Now that we have UEFI it works on some models (the pretty old description of the ticket couldn’t take this into account).
  • So what about restructuring the installation options in three sections: “burn DVD”, “manual install”, “clone and install”?

#11 Updated by sajolida 2015-05-27 16:39:35

  • Assignee changed from sajolida to BitingBird
  • QA Check changed from Info Needed to Dev Needed

#12 Updated by BitingBird 2015-06-22 07:51:01

  • Target version deleted (Tails_1.4.1)

#13 Updated by Anonymous 2017-06-30 14:32:48

I wonder if it’s sajolida’s gigantic reviews that trigger non action on the other side. Very sad that when we put work into things, they sometimes get stuck along the way :(

@BitingBird: will you work on this again, or does this ticket need a new assignee?

#14 Updated by BitingBird 2017-08-29 15:34:56

  • Assignee deleted (BitingBird)

#15 Updated by BitingBird 2017-08-29 15:39:06

  • related to Feature #11682: Document Etcher to install Tails from macOS added

#16 Updated by sajolida 2017-12-28 00:59:01

  • related to Feature #15130: Restructure our support page and content added

#17 Updated by Anonymous 2018-01-15 14:00:57

  • Assignee set to sajolida

Hi sajolida, I’m assigning this to you to see if you want to hand this over to one of our tech writers to follow up on the initial work by BitingBird?

Also see https://mailman.boum.org/pipermail/tails-project/2017-December/001030.html

#18 Updated by Anonymous 2018-01-15 14:02:57

  • Blueprint set to https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/support_page/

#19 Updated by Anonymous 2018-01-15 14:04:15

#20 Updated by sajolida 2018-06-04 12:54:48

#21 Updated by sajolida 2019-03-07 16:58:30

  • Status changed from In Progress to Confirmed
  • QA Check deleted (Dev Needed)

#22 Updated by sajolida 2019-11-22 07:58:32

  • Assignee deleted (sajolida)