How to Install Omarchy on an Old Intel Mac

Omarchy is DHH’s opinionated Arch Linux desktop OS. It runs on Intel Macs. Apple Silicon is not yet supported.

This is the path for an old Mac you are happy to turn into a Linux machine. Officially, Omarchy expects to be the only OS on the drive. The install wipes the disk. macOS will not boot afterwards unless you restore it later with Internet Recovery.

Back everything up first. Photos, documents, browser profiles, the lot. Assume the drive and data are gone.

What you need

• An Intel Mac (MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, iMac, etc.). Not M1/M2/M3/M4.
• A USB stick big enough for the ISO (a few GB is fine).
• Another computer (or the Mac before you wipe it) to download the ISO and flash the stick.
• A wired or 2.4 GHz keyboard if you use an external one. Bluetooth keyboards cannot enter the disk encryption password at boot.

Download the current ISO from omarchy.org. Getting Started covers the flash and first boot. Flash it with balenaEtcher (or Raspberry Pi Imager) on macOS or Windows. On Linux, caligula is the usual recommendation in the Omarchy docs.

Turn off Secure Boot (T2 Macs)

Macs with a T2 chip (roughly late 2017 through 2020 Intel models) will not boot a random USB until you loosen Startup Security.

1. Shut down the Mac.
2. Power on and hold Command-R until Recovery appears.
3. Sign in if asked.
4. Menu bar: Utilities → Startup Security Utility.
5. Authenticate.
6. Set Secure Boot to No Security.
7. Set External Boot to Allow booting from external or removable media.

Older Intel Macs without a T2 chip do not have this utility. Skip this section and go straight to booting the stick.

Boot the USB and install

1. Plug in the Omarchy USB.
2. Restart and hold Option until the boot device screen appears.
3. Pick the orange EFI Boot entry.
4. Walk through the installer like a normal Omarchy install: keyboard, user, passwords, pick the internal drive, confirm.

Full-disk install wipes that drive. Encryption is on by default. Keep both passwords somewhere safe: the LUKS unlock at boot, and the user login.

On Mac hardware the installer tries to apply the usual fixes for you: Wi-Fi/firmware, SPI keyboard quirks on the models that need them, NVMe suspend fixes where relevant. On T2 machines it also pulls in the patched linux-t2 kernel, T2 audio setup, and fan control via t2fanrd.

When it finishes, remove the USB and reboot into Omarchy.

Hardware problems

Check the Mac support page for the current list. Short version:

T1 Touch Bar MacBook Pros (2016): Touch Bar does nothing. Sound does not work. Treat those as known gaps, not something you “forgot to configure.”

T2 machines (2018–2020 Intel): Much better. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth firmware, audio, fans, and a Boot Camp-style Touch Bar path are what the installer aims for. Still read the manual before you rely on a Touch Bar workflow.

If something is broken after install, the Omarchy Discord #omarchy-on-other and #omarchy-help channels are where people dump Mac-specific fixes.

After first boot

Update when the system asks. Learn the Omarchy menu and hotkeys from the manual. Install whatever editor you actually use (Neovim is the default; Cursor and others are a menu away).

If you later want macOS back on that hardware, use Apple’s Internet Recovery and restore from scratch. Your Omarchy install will be gone when you do.

That is the whole job: flash USB, disable Secure Boot on T2 boxes, Option-boot, wipe, install. An old Intel Mac is a perfectly good Omarchy machine if you are done waiting for Apple to care about it.