How do you install and use a Linux partition on Mavericks? As a just-for-fun type of experiment, I was wanting to install Linux on an external drive that I own and boot it up on my 2007 iMac desktop.

I know there are a plethora of guides out there on how to do this, but I have not encountered one yet about if it remains the same on 10.9. I have read, however, that the software that lets you dual-boot Mac OS X and Linux is broken on Mavericks, which is where my reluctance comes from.

The primary reference that I looked at for how to install Linux onto Mac OS X (on a separate partition) was written for Tiger (see here; MacLife magazine), so I assume there are some things to be updated in that respect.

Furthermore, the boot menu that I have heard has broken on Mavericks is rEFIt. I noticed that it is no longer maintained, and there is the project known as rEFInd that is maintained.

So far, I have tried to use an install DVD to boot up Fedora on my machine, but I can't get my system to recognize the Fedora DVD in any way. I have tried holding down the 'C' key and the 'option' key to try to get it to recognize it, but I never see it outside of my desktop when I'm logged in on Mac OS X. All I have put on the disc is the ISO of Fedora.


Additionally, after this, I have tried putting the necessary files for installation on an external drive partition that I want to install Fedora on full-time; however, I am also having issues with that as well. Neither rEFInd nor the system recognizes the hard drive as a bootable partition. I was starting to wonder if it might be because the drive is formatted as an exFAT partition?



I just need to know if that there is currently a safe way to install Linux on an external hard drive for use on my computer. Thanks!
This is getting increasingly harder over time.  Instead of creating a bootable Linux partition, I find it much easier to simply install virtualBox and create a Linux virtual machine instead.