Oh yes - it's definitly possible. I am actually running this setup here and now.

How I managed to get this working ? Fairly simple - once you know the special beheaviour of all systems. So - use the following steps to do it:

• 1. Boot a Linux CD - to actually set the partition type to msdos. Check my dedicated FAQ Entry for achieving this.
  Create a ntfs Partition for the use of Windows XP
• 2. Install Windows XP as usual. Make sure it's WinXP Service Pack 2. Eventually you will need some drivers you will find on the Leopard installation DVD.
• 3. Install Leopard - e.g. Boot Leopard through the DVD - and install it on an external Harddisk. best is Firewire. I had ran Leopard from an external Disk anyway - as I had Windows XP and Linux running on my mini before. However - the external harddisk was kinda slow
• 4. Apply all updates to Leopard - then use Carbon Clone Copy (Google for it on the net) to clone it over to a dedicated partition on the Mini. This dedicated partition is of Type unknown, and has to be formatted by Leopard to hfs+. Use the Disk utility for that
• 5. Download and install ReFit onto the newly cloned installation. This will make you a nice looking Boot-Manager - where you will not have to always hit the ALT key while booting if you want another OS to be started. Note that to activate ReFit - I had to clear the PRAM first.
• 6. Last step - use the remaining harddisk space to install linux. Boot into b.e. KUbuntu 8.04.1 - add a root, one swap, a home partition - and install kUbuntu. Make sure that you use the advanced mode to install Grub into the root partition. This would be the 3rd partition.

This - in short - is how I did it. The ReFIT is required - as the Mac-Mini will automatically use the boot-loader on the hfs+ partition. Putting Grub into the MBR doesn't make a difference. However - you'll see the grub after selecting to boot linux anyway.


The following Howto has helped me a lot. It is based on the Macbook pro - however it shows different ways to install a tripple boot on that hardware - which is valid also for the mini.