Linux on a Macbook

I will only use Gentoo linux. I want to get a Macbook because I like the way they look and feel. Money is not a limiting factor. However, I am wondering if I will get stuck with things not working like the wifi. Can anyone tell me what I could be in for?

 

Well, the specs look pretty similar to mbp 13 with the exception of the firewire and the sd card reader. I think it should run fine, everything should be working, for wireless u just need the broadcom driver. The only negative thing is battery life, u wont get the 7 hour battery life. If u dont mind that then u should go ahead and make zee purchase!!

 

The new Macbook? The MC207*/A aka Macbook6,1?

According to ifixit's teardown, it has the same Broadcom BCM4322 that the MBP5,5 does...


The BCM4322 works with the proprietary Linux STA driver from Broadcom. You should be able to use the directions from here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=418403#wireless

Most of the tweaks from my guide above should hopefully work. The only problem I can see is that the hotkeys and sensors might not work until somebody makes a patch, because the model won't be known yet to pommed (which handles hotkeys and a few in Macbooks) since it's so new.

 

I recently purchased a MacBook 6,1 white 13.3" screen. I'm not sure if this discussion is for Linux-only on the Intel Mac, or dual-booting with OS-X and Linux.

I chose to keep OS-X on the drive and use Boot Camp, rEFIt and some tutorials to get them all to play nice.

I first installed #! crunchbanglinux 9.04. I used it for a while on a Dell D600 before the laptop's HD met its end. I was so pissed. Anyway...

Here's what I experienced. Everything worked. Except for sound. This is a known issue and so far it's been a pain to try and fix it based on net/googling. They "say" the trouble is with Alsa being configured incorrectly. I botched the system "real bad" trying to apply kernel alsa patches and what-have-you.

I then installed Linux Mint 8 Main Edition in place of crunchbang.

Results: A bad idea for the following reasons. Some of these reasons are minor quirks/annoyances whilst others were a show-stopper.

1. Wifi did not work, or was not enabled. Seriously?? How is this a good thing? I am pretty sure its base of origin (Ubuntu 9.10) is this way too.
   It's a LAPTOP for crying out loud. Yes, I know that i can plug in an ethernet cable, but I should be able to use the machine in any room that can wirelessly access the router. Period.
   
2. Sound also did not work. And by not work, I mean the lights were on. but no one was home. The hardware was detected. But no sound would come out of the Apple Laptop's speakers at all. Sound themes were all greyed-out.
   
3. rEFIt boot screen refused to show the lovable TUX icon as a boot choice like it did when Crunchbang was the Linux OS. This is a minor quirk, but a stupid one, and it was aesthetically displeasing to see this ugly 4-square windows wanna-be icon in gray shades. It also decided to call this "Legacy OS" as it "thought" it was not Linux. -This is a result of any Linux distro that uses Grub 2 (Mint 8 uses Grub 2, as does Ubu 9.10). Crunchbang used the older Grub. rEFIt supposedly is trained on old Grub.

Don't get me wrong. Mint 8 is an excellent distro but I would not recommend it for laptops.

Summary: I put Crunchbang 9.04 back onto the machine and I have resigned myself to just "do without" working sound. When I discovered that MEPIS supposedly had better hardware detection and setup, I downloaded and burned the LIVE CD of 8.0.12 and tried it on the MacBook.

The MEPIS Live CD failed miserably. Although the md5sum checks out, the LIVE CD won't get past the bootup stage even when using the proper passwords. It fails on xOrg detection somewhere in the mix. I'm going to burn another CD and see if the same thing happens again.

In its defense I will state that for my needs, the Linux distro has to be 32-bit even though I'm quite certain that the MacBook6,1 intel core2 Duo is 64-bit. I have some Java applications that simply up and fail when trying to install and run that work OK in the 32-bit environment, so instead of mucking about with emulations, downgrades, and other mish-mashes, I simply install a 32-bit.

So, I say good luck to you. Let us know how it goes. -Adam

 

Start here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=328

and:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1192296
Good luck

 

Same hardware (for the most part) as the 5,5. No need to reinvent the wheel.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=418403

Apple Users on Ubuntu forums is a great place to troubleshoot.

 

Thanks for posting and helping.

ALLurGroceries, your post's link helped me to do the trick.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=418403#sound

Whilst the resulting volume through the MacBook speakers isn't too loud, at least NOW I know it will put sound on my headphone jack so I can enjoy music and podcasts.

Thanks again, Adam

 

Try the mixer or sound preferences to make sure 'speaker' or 'front' is all the way up. If all u have is master volume maybe it needs an option line in alsa-base.conf. Also there might be a 'surround' switch like the 5,5 but I am not sure. You may have to unhide these switches and/or faders by opening the mixers preferences, they could be hidden by default.

 

yes, pcm or 'front' sliders pushed all the way up....like 'groceries says...sounds familar