Etcher for old Mac

I have an old Powerbook G4 that I want to put linux on. I downloaded the current version of Etcher added it to a usb stick. I also had ubuntu ver 20 on a dvd. I trided to run etcher from the stick but a message came up saying that it can’t run with that version of etcher.
Where can I get a version that will run for the linux install?

Hi there, apologies, but I am a bit confused by the process you are taking here. Can you clarify the exacts steps you have followed? Etcher doesnt need to go on the USB stick, you should be installing that locally on the PC, then, using it to flash your OS of choice to the USB stick. If you can clarify the steps you’ve taken, perhaps we can better guide you. Thanks!

Hi Thanks for your help.
This is for an old Mac.
I had put the app on a usb stick as the Mac has internt connection problems and doesn’t look like its ever been given any updates while being used.

  1. I downloded the Mac balencaEtcher.app from the pc then plugged the usb into the mac.
  2. I downloaded Ubuntu added the iso image to a dvd and put dvd into the mac dvd drive.
  3. I had another usb plugged into the mac to copy the finished ubuntu image too.
  4. I clicked on the app to run it. It started verification of the app mounted the usb and then gave the notification it couldn’t run with this version of Mac OS X.

Hello, have I understood this correctly - your mac, with which you wish to use to create a bootable USB stick has internet connectivity problems, which prevents you from downloading and installing etcher on the mac. So you have downloaded etcher on a different machine, and put it onto a USB stick. You’ve then placed the USB stick in the mac, and you try to click on etcher and run it from the USB stick, but get an error message saying it won’t run with this version of Mac OS X?

What version of Mac OS X is your mac running?
Did you move the app onto the mac or just try to run it from the usb stick?

Thanks

The Mac OS is:
Mac OS X
Version - 10.5.8
Power PC

What you have said is correct the app unpacks on the desktop and when run comes up with this message.

" You can not use this version of the application BalencEtcher.app with this version of Mac OS X"

This is an old computer given to me it belonged to someone now deceased. I don’t know its owners password so can’t do updates.

Hi Peter, Etcher GUI is based on the Electron framework, which only supports macOS (Yosemite) 10.10 and newer versions. If your MacOS version comes under this and then only you would be able to use Etcher for MacOS which explains the error message coming up.

I did read about electron in my seach on this problem thanks for clarifying that for me. I was hoping there was an earlier version that wasn’t built on that framework if not do you have any other ideas for me to get around this problem?

Hello Peter, from my check, the last version we supported at the minimum was MacOS 10.9 and that was over 4 years ago. Even if there was an earlier version that was built not using Electron then too there is no assurance that that version of Etcher would still work.

Ok doesn’t seem like its going to be possible, but l would like to thank you and others in the team for all your help on this. Its much appreciated.

Always happy to help in any way we can, Peter!

One last question if I download etcher on another mac and make the linux usb on that mac. Would the image created work on the mac I’m trying to put it on or is there still association with electron that would stop that image from working.

Hi Peter,

Electron is the UI framework that Etcher uses, and has nothing to do with the image that is being written to USB. Provided that the image you’re writing supports the target hardware, then you should be fine.

Cheers,
James.

Ok thanks for that!

Where can I find a link to download a version of Etcher for Yosemite?

@tamir you can actually download it from our main site: balenaEtcher - Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives
Etcher is based on Electron which thankfully works on macOS v10.10 (Yosemite) and newer. :slight_smile:

Oh shoot, @tamir, I made a mistake. It looks like Electron is now supporting only El Capitan (v10.11) and above. I’m sorry. :frowning: