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MacBook Air (5,2) on Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr)

This page aims to describe the steps needed, to fully enable all features of the 5-th Generation MacBook Air (release date: mid 2012) when using Ubuntu 14.04, Trusty Tahr.

ATTENTION: During my installation on MacBook Air 5.2, Ubuntu 14.04 has shown some stability issues!

How to check your MacBook Air model

In OS X, click on the Apple logo on the top-left of the screen. And then "About This Mac". In the new opened windows, click on the "More Info..." button. Now, under the label "MacBook Air" you should be able to see your MacBook Air model (e.g. "13-inch, Mid 2012"). If you further click on "System Report...", you will see under the voice "Model Identifier:" your MacBook Air model - i.e. "MacBookAir5,2".

Alternatively, in OS X, you can check your model in terminal with:

In Ubuntu with:


If you have a different model, please go here and find the right wiki.

Overview

Anything not mentioned here probably already works out of the box. If not, please refer to the Ubuntu Apple Users forum.


Legend:

IconsPage/ok.png (works out-of-the-box)
IconsPage/ok.png IconsPage/info.png (works, with remarks)
IconsPage/warning.png (needs manual install)
IconsPage/dont.png (won't work)
IconsPage/question.png (not yet documented)

Basic Installation Instructions

Common things about installing and maintaining Ubuntu on Intel-based Macs: Intel CPU-based Macintosh Generic Installation Instructions

Prerequisites

1. MacBook Air 5,2 (see Section "How to check your MacBook Air model" above)

2. USB stick (1GB at least)

3. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/14.04/release/ubuntu-14.04-desktop-amd64+mac.iso.

Partition Harddisk

1. Boot MacBook Air into OS X

2. Open Disk Utility

3. Select "Macintosh HD" > (Tab)Partition

Prepare USB-Stick

1. In OSX

2. Download iso image to ~/Downloads

3. Open Terminal (a detailed description can be found here.

Install rEFInd

1. Download rEFInd (Binary Zip-File) (Direct Download refind-bin-0.8.2.zip)

2. Follow the installation procedure "Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS X" (http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/installing.html)

3. If you use OS X whole-disk encryption (File Vault), at every reboot you may encounter a delay of about 30 seconds before rEFInd is properly started.

Install Ubuntu

1. Restart and press "Alt"-Key on startup.

2. Select first USB-device labled "EFI-Boot" and press "Enter".

3. Choose "Something else" for partitioning.

4. The installation process should run through smoothly.

6. Restart. Now a Ubuntu should be shown.

Wireless (AirPort)

IconsPage/restricted.png

Needed only if you didn't choose to install 3rd party software during the installation.

Requires an Apple USB-Ethernet Adapter.

1. Log into ubuntu 14.04 and open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+t).

2. Start (Panel) > (Menu)System Settings > (Icon)Software & Updates or from terminal /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/software-properties-gtk

3. Now reboot again

iSight

IconsPage/webcam.png

iSight HD webcam does not work.

Touchpad (appletouch)

Works. No multi-touch gesture.
The quality of the touchpad is not as good as in OS X.

External Monitor

Not tested.

Bluetooth

Works.

There a problem in turning it off, which simply won't work.

Changing the "InitiallyPowered" and the "DisablePlugins" entries in the bluetooth configuration file (i.e. /etc/bluetooth/main.conf) does not seem to work.

However, I was able to to turn off the Bluetooth by blacklisting it.

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-rare-network.conf

Adding this:

#Disable bluetooth
alias net-pf-31 off


Function Keys

Works.
You will probably want to switch the mapping of "cmd" with "alt". See AppleKeyboard#Corrections page this and other for fine tuning.

Finetuning Powersave functions

The battery duration is quite good by default. However, it can be boosted.

1. Install powertop

2. Install TLP

3. Restart tlp with sudo /etc/init.d/tlp restart

Backlight

Works. No sensor. You can only control it manually.


CategoryMac




IconsPage/users.png
Please update this page, if you have figured out anything, that is not mentioned here!



IconsPage/users.png
The MactelSupportTeam is about to restructure and reorganize the documentation for Intel-based Macs. If you are interested in helping, please visit our team page for information. For all Mactel wikis, there is a starting place here. There is also a thread about planning the Mactel docummentation going on.



MacBookAir5-2/Trusty (last edited 2024-07-30 22:18:44 by inclusive-disjunction)