MacBookAir (6,2) on Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander)



This page aims to describe the steps needed, to fully enable all features of the 6-th Generation MacBookAir (release date: mid 2013) when using Ubuntu 13.10, Saucy Salamander.

IconsPage/terminal.png You can find out, what model you have by typing at the terminal:

sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name


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.

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. MacBookAir6,2

2. Apple USB-Ethernet Adapter

3. USB-Stick (1GB at least)

4. ubuntu-13.10-desktop-amd64.iso.

Partition Harddisk

1. Boot Macbook Air into OSX

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 Ubuntu

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

2. Make sure that the USB-Ethernet Adapter is inserted. (With a network connection the bcmwl-kernel-source module gets downloaded during the installation process.

3. Choose "Something else" for partitioning.

4. The installation process should run through smoothly.

5. Restart with pressed "Alt"-Key.

6. Restart again. Now a Ubuntu labled "/efi/ubuntu/grubx64.efi" should be shown.

Wireless (AirPort)

IconsPage/restricted.png

Requires an Apple USB-Ethernet Adapter.

1. Log into ubuntu 13.10 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

Manual installation without USB-Ethernet Adapter

1. Download bcmwl-kernel-source deb package on an other computer.

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

Sound

Works.

Loudspeaker works, even if headset is attached. alsamixer running from termial is required to lower volume on loudspeaker while maintaining on headset.

iSight

IconsPage/webcam.png

iSight HD webcam does not work as Apple changed to PCI for higher resolution raw images. The camera is not recognized as USB device. The current iSight-Firmware cutter does not help here.

Touchpad (appletouch)

Works.

External Monitor

Requires at least kernel 3.11.6 - Take care with vanilla kernel as this might not contain the sound fix.

Function Keys

Works.

I personally prefer to use fn+Fkeys for the brightness and sound settings but leave the Fkeys for the applications without pressing fn. To change this behaviour

echo options hid_apple fnmode=2 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u -k all

Then reboot. For further info on this topic check AppleKeyboard.

Backtick and tilde keys

The tile and backtick key will print the greater than and less than symbol. To fix this:

1. Find the key code for the key that mapps to the "less" and "greater" signs

2. edit (or create) ~/.xmodmaprc and include the following line in it

3. run xmodmap

Thanks to emesjay from the thread Macbook with Ubuntu - backtick and tilde not working.

Finetuning Powersave functions

With the procedures enabled below ~10h on battery can be achieved.

1. Install powertop

2. Install TLP

3. Copy tlp config tlp to /etc/default/tlp or adjust (only changes are shown)

4. Enable more powersaving options

5. Run sudo tlp stat

Suspend/resume backlight issue

There is a strange bug with backlight. All settings (using F1 F2 keys) work great but after suspend your can only get 0% or 100% backlight.

There is no real solution for the moment but there is now a workaround.

Look at comment 78 in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=67454#c78

Patrik Jakobsson wrote a kernel module that directly programs the backlight driver and it works!

If you don't want to compile by yourself, Miek Gieben did it for you. It is in comment 82 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=67454#c82

1. Download the deb file and install it

wget http://miek.nl/downloads/2013/mba6xbl-dkms_0.0.1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i mba6xbl-dkms_0.0.1_all.deb

2. If it does not exist, create a /etc/X11/xorg.conf containing:

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Intel Graphics"
        Driver          "intel"
        Option          "Backlight"     "mba6x_backlight"
EndSection

If /etc/X11/xorg.conf already exists, just add or edit the above section.

3. To get the driver automatically loaded on startup, add mba6x_bl to /etc/modules:

sudo echo "mba6x_bl" >> /etc/modules

In my case this fixed the problem (macbook air 13" core i7) and this finally makes my MBA usable under linux. I'm just missing the camera but it does not even work well under macOS!


CategoryMac




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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.



MacBookAir6-2/Saucy (last edited 2015-04-08 01:04:15 by cpe-24-29-62-216)