• 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
  Sound
  Suspend & Hibernate
  Desktop Effects (Compiz)
  HFS+
  International Keyboard layout
  Keyboard functions (Brightness,volume,...)
  CD/DVD Writing
  Bluetooth
  External Monitor
  Wireless (AirPort)
  iSight
  Touchpad (appletouch)
  Mic
  Apple Remote Control
  Firewire

(works out-of-the-box)
(works, with remarks)
(needs manual install)
(won't work)
(not yet documented)

Basic Installation Instructions

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

International Keyboard layout

When keyboard layout selected is Apple - MacBook/MacBook Pro (intl) (macbook79), then keyboard is almost unusable, or at least does not work as it should. That is strange since it was working under jaunty. This is a very bad regression since it renders Ubuntu unusable in practice:

• With french layout, left apple key on the keyboard seems to be unrecognized. One is unable to produce ~ (apple+n or shift+apple+n), } (apple+)), or ] (apple+shift+)), for instance.

• Same strange things appears when using external Apple keyboard (the keyboard layout printed is even not the good one: no F13 to F15 keys).

Keyboard functions (Brightness,volume,...)

By default functions keys are usable with the fn key. That means that when using F1 you get Brightness down and if you want F1 you should use simultaneously fn and F1.

If you want to get the opposite (functions keys first) you should pass an option to hid-apple module:

sudo echo options hid-apple fnmode=2 >/etc/modprobe.d/hid-apple.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u -v -k `uname -r`

Keyboard brightness is not managed out of the box. If you want that feature you need to install pommed package and configure it as needed:

sudo apt-get install pommed
sudo gedit /etc/pommed.conf

Wireless (AirPort)

Bug 278190 (concerning flakiness of ath9k) is still not fixed in Karmic: wireless (wpa) works but goes down very frequently.

The only fix I have found, which worked on Jaunty and seems to work on Karmic, is described in comments 35 (use of wicd instead of NetworkManager).

Touchpad

As on Jaunty you should remove mouseemu package:

sudo apt-get --purge remove mouseemu

Then you need to go to System - Settings - Mouse / Touchpad (and not item System - Settings - Touchpad) to activate click with fingers on touchpad functions:

• Button 1 (left) is clicked when you click on the button just under the touchpad,
• Button 2 (middle) is clicked when three fingers are on the touchpad and you click on button 1,
• Button 3 (right) is clicked when two fingers are on the touchpad and you click on button 1,

Unfortunately this behavior is not the same as on Jaunty (button 2 was with 2 fingers, and button 3 with 3 fingers as on MacOS X).

I do not know how to revert to classical (MacOS X one) behavior.

CategoryMac