ubuntu on new retina macbook : any experience ?

[avehoudini]

When I followed this guide I thought that the problem with resolution was solved. Icons and text are so small that it’s hard to see what’s there. Or this problem is solved? May be I’m doing something wrong?

[raccoonone]

When I followed this guide I thought that the problem with resolution was solved. Icons and text are so small that it’s hard to see what’s there. Or this problem is solved? May be I’m doing something wrong?

I'm pretty sure that's how it's going to be, if you run it at native resolution. Ubuntu doesn't support UI scaling like OSX does. So if you want the fonts to be larger you'll probably want to just run the screen at a lower resolution.

[plech.d]

When I followed this guide I thought that the problem with resolution was solved. Icons and text are so small that it’s hard to see what’s there. Or this problem is solved? May be I’m doing something wrong?

Install gnome-tweak-tool. There, set the font scaling to 1.5. Sometimes I had to log out and back in afterwards for the change to take effect completely. Icons will stay small, Chrome tabs will be tiny, but the text will be perfectly readable. Also, in Chrome, go to Settings, Advanced Settings, and set scaling to 150%.

The main reason I installed Ubuntu on my rMBP 15" was for the extra screen estate. I don't want to go years behind and effectively have a resolution of 1440x900 on my 15" screen. I know I can kick up OS X to look like 1920x1200, but the UI lag then is horrible. I'm kind of angry with myself to have bought this computer, because I'm stuck with either 1440, or a very laggy 1920, which is not so great considering the cost of the laptop, and its proposed performance. Installing Ubuntu makes me a little happier, but it still doesn't adapt all that well to the resolution and not everything works.

[lukeco11]

I've found a couple of things help with the resolution situation:

• Gnome-Shell over Unity - The Panels scale with the text, so not everything looks small (or bad). You can also edit the theme to use bigger icons in the dock, making everything much more manageable than Unity even when cranked up to the largest icons.
• Firefox over Chrome - I prefer Chrome normally, but in both Firefox and Thunderbird you can goto about:config or advanced settings and set layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to a greater value, I have it set at 1.9. This eliminates zooming, and basically Firefox functions with normal tabs sizes and everything works pretty well. Sometimes some UI elements are small, but most of the time it acts as if it was on a non-retina display, just crisper.
• Text Scaling - As mentioned this helps, I have mine set on 1.7, up to you for what you like.

What I haven't figured out how to change:

• Icons in Weird Places - For instance Gwibber and Nautilus both have icons/UI elements that are tiny compared to the text, makes using them either annoying or not worth it.
• Docky Text- I use Docky, but the mouse over text that appears is super small, still can't figured out if this can be changed.
• Flaky WIFI - The only thing holding me back from using Ubuntu full time on this computer is the flaky WiFi. If it is in my lap it is fine, if I put it down or closer to the router it gets really slow and disconnects, whereas OSX has no problem. I believe it is generally slower than OSX too, but that is just my feeling and I haven't tested.

[avehoudini]

I'm pretty sure that's how it's going to be, if you run it at native resolution. Ubuntu doesn't support UI scaling like OSX does. So if you want the fonts to be larger you'll probably want to just run the screen at a lower resolution.

I could not make the screen resolution lower. There is always 2880x1800 and I can't change it. Could you please explain how to do it, if there is such opportunity? Thank you.

I really need Ubuntu for my embedded projects. I knew about this problem with resolution before buying this laptop, but I thought that it's easy to change the resolution.

plech.d, lukeco11, thank you guys for help. I'll try this at home

[raccoonone]

I could not make the screen resolution lower. There is always 2880x1800 and I can't change it. Could you please explain how to do it, if there is such opportunity? Thank you.

I really need Ubuntu for my embedded projects. I knew about this problem with resolution before buying this laptop, but I thought that it's easy to change the resolution.

plech.d, lukeco11, thank you guys for help. I'll try this at home

I haven't tried doing it myself, but this guide looks like it has directions for using 'cvt' to add new modelines: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Res..._than_expected

Alternately, if you just install Ubuntu without following the steps for EFI, then it should force you into a lower resolution.

[sandy_ptc]

it is not working for me. Try opening www.islamichouse.com. I can not read anything.

[plech.d]

Good news !
There's a new patch from Daniel Blueman/Alexander Stein/Takashi Iwai (https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/11/4/11) that solves the microphone issue. It's apparently made it in 3.7-rc5, which I am currently running.
add:
options snd-hda-intel model=mbp101
in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
I have not seen regression in audio associated to this patch.

Hi, could you hint on how you installed the graphics on 3.7rc5?

I tried the following: Installed Ubuntu. Installed all updates. Installed rc6. Reboot. Installed grub efi. Installed nvidia-current. Run nvidia-xconfig. Reboot. I can't get past the console login. With nomodeset, I get directly to the console login. Without, I get the low graphics mode warning.

Thanks for the information.

Apart from that, without nvidia drivers, I can confirm that the microphone works.

[magnumripper]

I tried the following: Installed Ubuntu. Installed all updates. Installed rc6. Reboot. Installed grub efi. Installed nvidia-current. Run nvidia-xconfig. Reboot. I can't get past the console login.

This should give you a good hint on what is happening:
dmesg | grep -Ei 'nvidia|nvrm'

When you installed nvidia-updates, did you see it successfully build DKMS modules? If not, purge nvidia-updates and then install it again and confirm it could build the modules.

[magnumripper]

I've found a couple of things help with the resolution situation:

• Gnome-Shell over Unity - The Panels scale with the text, so not everything looks small (or bad). You can also edit the theme to use bigger icons in the dock, making everything much more manageable than Unity even when cranked up to the largest icons.
• Firefox over Chrome - I prefer Chrome normally, but in both Firefox and Thunderbird you can goto about:config or advanced settings and set layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to a greater value, I have it set at 1.9. This eliminates zooming, and basically Firefox functions with normal tabs sizes and everything works pretty well. Sometimes some UI elements are small, but most of the time it acts as if it was on a non-retina display, just crisper.
• Text Scaling - As mentioned this helps, I have mine set on 1.7, up to you for what you like.

Man, that layout.css.devPixelsPerPx fix was a good advice! Both Firefox and Thunderbird are excellent now. Thanks!

My biggest problem now is the silly trackpad. I'm used to Lenovo's trackpoint (which is excellent). Trackpads are a genuinly stupid idea. But in OSX I have much less problems with it so it can probably be tweaked.