Notes on installing debian 8.0 jessie on Macbook Air (13-inch, Mid2012).

Installing on SD Card

First, prepare an appropriate media (/dev/diskX) other than the target SD card, and burn the debian 8.0 jessie Live install image to /dev/diskX. Once burned, restart while holding the command key and boot debian from /dev/diskX.

$ diskutil unmount /dev/diskX
$ dd if=debian-live-8.3.0-amd64-lxde-desktop.iso of=/dev/diskX

Next, create two partitions on the SD card (/dev/diskY). Use GUID Partition Table (GPT) as the partitioning scheme. Format the first partition as FAT32 and the second partition as ext4, etc.

$ diskutil list
(omitted)
/dev/diskY
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *7.8 GB     diskY
   1:       Microsoft Basic Data EFI                     1.0 GB     diskYs1
   2:       Microsoft Basic Data                         6.7 GB     diskYs2

Once formatting is complete, install the UEFI boot manager rEFInd on the first partition (diskYs1).

$ mount -t msdoc /dev/diskYs1 /Volumes/EFI
$ ./refind-install --ownhfs /Volumes/EFI --alldrivers
$ cp /Volumes/EFI/System/Library/CoreServices/refind_x64.efi \
     /Volumes/EFI/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi

Finally, build the rootfs on the second partition (diskYs2).

$ mount /dev/diskYs2 /mnt/debian
$ apt-get install debootstrap
$ debootstrap --arch amd64 jessie /mnt/debian http://http.debian.net/debian
$ chroot /mnt/debian /bin/bash
$ vi /etc/fstab
$ apt-get install linux-image-3.16.0-4-amd64

Installing on Internal SSD

Divide the internal SSD into two partitions and copy the rootfs as is.

Other

For wifi configuration, refer to here.