MacBookAir (6,2) on Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werwolf)

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 15.10, Wily Werwolf.

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.

Feature

Support status

LCD Panel

works

Suspend & Hibernate

needs manual install. See Backlight

Shut-down and Reboot

works

Keyboard functions (Brightness,volume,...)

works

Touchpad (appletouch)

works

Wireless (AirPort)

needs manual install. See Wireless (AirPort)

Bluetooth

works

iSight

won't work

Sound

works

Microphone

works

External Monitor

works

Thunderbolt 

not yet documented

 SD card slot 

works

HFS+ (OS X disc partition) 

works (mounts read-only)

 Fan Control 

works (according to tlp stat)

 Sensors (temps & fans) 

works (according to tlp stat)

 GPU Power Save 

 works 

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 (2GB at least)

4. ubuntu-15.10-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 OS X

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.

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/vmlinuz ... .efi" should be shown.

Wireless (AirPort)

Requires an Apple USB-Ethernet Adapter.

Log into ubuntu 15.10 and open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+t).

Attach Apple USB-Ethernet Adapter. Update all packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade    

Install wlan driver

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

Now networks should be found.

Sound

Works. You may want to change default ALSA sound card (needed for Lubuntu) - put this in /etc/asound.conf:

defaults.ctl.card 1
defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.timer.card 1

iSight

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

Works via thunderbolt --\> DVI out of the box.

Bluetooth

Works.

Function Keys

Works. See also AppleKeyboard#Corrections page for fine tuning.

To change Function keys such that they are used as first key

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

Finetuning Powersave functions

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

1. Install powertop and tlp

2. Run powertop autotune

3. Adjust /etc/default/tlp (only changes are shown)

4. Enable more powersaving options

5. Enable i915 powersaving

Then run sudo update-grub and reboot. After that:

Backlight

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.

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

If you don't want to compile by yourself, use the attached deb file <attachment:mba6xbl-dkms_1.0.0_all.deb>. Please note that the deb file only contains the sources but no binaries.

1. Install Build-Essentials and headers

2. Download mba6xbl-dkms_1.0.0_all.deb and install it with

3. Load the module:

4. Log out and log back in. It should load automatically on next boot.

Display

Display colors are not true by default. To have right color profile, you should consider import ICC color profile from your OSX installation, located on your OSX partition at /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays.

You can import this profile from System-Settings into the Color settings pannel.


CategoryMac


MacBookAir6-2/Wily (last edited 2015-10-31 13:24:24 by p5B22EC66)