Mac mini (2,1), release date: Late 2007.
Under Ubuntu, you can verify that this is the model that you have by typing at the terminal:
sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name
This command should output Macmini2,1. Some people seem to have upgraded their original Mac mini (1,1) firmware to Mac mini (2,1). These systems are not covered here.
The original systems were sold in two flavors: * Core 2 Duo @ 1.83 GHz (T5600) * Core 2 Duo @ 2.00 GHz (T7200)
Important information for booting
Mac mini (2,1) will only boot from the internal HDD, internal Super`Drive, or (presumably) FireWire target disk mode. This means that booting via a USB port Does not work.
Mac mini (2,1) uses an 64-bit EFI firmware but also support BIOS boot compatibility. However, due to the EFI implementation a Mac mini (2,1) does not handle a BIOS / EFI bootable disk gracefully, usually dropping to the following prompt:
1. 2. Select CD-ROM boot type: