Apple Intel Users FAQ

[Gen2ly]

Welcome to the Apple Users Forum! This Faq is designed for Apple Intel Users.

If you have a question, feel free to ask it in the forums - a fair number of forum users are very willing to help. Likewise, alot of answers can also be found here. To help avoid replicate threads it is requested to search the topic concerned before posting a new topic.


Installation and Basic Setup

The MacBook Ubuntu Wiki

• Covers details of installing Ubuntu on a MacBook. First time users best start at the wiki.

The iMac Ubuntu Wiki

• Covers details of installing Ubuntu on a iMac. MacBook and iMac installtion are very similiar.

Bluetooth Setup

• If you use a short-distance wireless device this has some nice information.

HOWTO: iSight

• How to get your iSight camera running.

HOWTO: Synaptics Touchpad

• A Touchpad tutorial - the touchpad has alot of configurations.

Advanced Posts

HOWTO: Compile a Kernel for your MacBook

• More advanced users can to compile their own kernel. This provides advantages over general kernels that can be a bit slower, and not as nicely tuned to your system.

Benanzo's post on Howto Compile Madwifi Drivers

• Compile the madwifi drivers from scratch.

Howto Check and Repair HFS+ Drives/Partitions in Ubuntu

• Darwin utilities provide a way to check and repair HFS+ drives from within Linux. Here's what needs to be done to build them.

[cyberdork33]

Before Posting anything:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=869215

Hardy / Intrepid Installation BUG:
If you have problems booting Ubuntu after installing Ubuntu 8.04 or 8.10, please see this link. There is a bug in the Ubuntu installer.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=767677

What is the Mactel-Support PPA?
A lot of threads and how-tos may mention the mactel-support ppa. This is a community-maintained repository containing software fixes for Intel Macs. A full description of each package in the PPA and what it is for can be found in this link:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MactelSupportTeam/PPA

Advanced Topic: GRUB2 / GRUB-EFI
If you'd like to experiment with booting Linux without BIOS emulation, directly via EFI, check the following thread for info.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=995704

Additional Posts Useful to Intel-Mac owners.

32-bit or 64-bit (i386 vs AMD64)?

• If you have a Core2 CPU (sorry Core(1) is only 32bit), then you might wonder which version of Ubuntu to use.

Using NDISWrapper with the Broadcom 4328 Wi-Fi Card

• This card is used in the Intel iMacs as well as the new SantaRosa Macbooks (>Macbook2,1) and Macbook Pros (>MacbookPro3,1)
• There seems to be a problem with ndiswrapper and Ubuntu Studio. Try using the generic linux kernel rather than the rt kernel.

Booting from External (USB and Firewire Drives)

• There are issues with booting legacy OSs (Read Linux) from an external hard drive or flash drive. Some have supposedly got it to work.
• If you have a Mac Mini, you can get it working. See this thread for information.

Set Macbook (Pro) Fan Speeds

• Macbook owners can get a lot of control over their fan speed if they feel the machine is getting too hot.

Mac Pro (NOT Macbook Pro) Sound Issues

• There is a problem with Gutsy on Mac Pros that causes the sound to be very low. Here is the fix.

iMac 20" / 24" Aluminum: Sound Patch

• There is a problem with ALSA on the aluminum iMac. nicfagn has created a patch.

Strange Power-related Issues?

• On Mac laptops, sometimes you can see some strange reporting for the battery / power system. Resetting the SMC can fix this.

Installing Ubuntu on a Mac Pro

• If you try to install Ubuntu on a Mac Pro (on a second hard drive), you will likely run into booting problems. There is some manual work you have to do to get it working. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=553587
• More in-depth info is here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=842100

HOW-TO: Apple Remote Control

• For aluminum iMacs, additional info might be helpful if you have problems: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=607797

HOW-TO: get the MBP keyboard backlight working properly

• An excellent How-To for Configuring the keyboard backlight with pommed.

HOW-TO: Dual-boot MBP with Ubuntu encrypted

• If you want to install Ubuntu on an encrypted partition this is a good guide.

Macbook Keyboard configuration information

• This page in the Gentoo wiki gets in depth about Apple keyboard default behavior and methods of customization.

Single Boot Ubuntu Without Long Delay

• If you completely wipe out OS X and install Ubuntu only, you will get long delays at bootup. This shows you how to use the bless command on your OS X disc to fix the problem.

Assign a Keyboard key as right-click

• Because there is only one button on Mac touchpads, you might want to assign a keyboard key as right-click.
• This information will also help you assign keys to perform other functions as well.

Broadcom WiFi cards in Intrepid 8.10

• Broadcom has provided a driver for Linux.

[Fink]

I really think the bluetooth setup is cool, my buddy has it on his Mac and I was very impressed

[macuser2000]

The 24-inch Aluminum iMac sound issue applies to the 20-inch Aluminum iMac too. The same fix works.

[cyberdork33]

The 24-inch Aluminum iMac sound issue applies to the 20-inch Aluminum iMac too. The same fix works.

Added 20" to the description.

For others,Contributions or fixes to the posted information are always welcome. Thanks!

[Sita Ram]

Thanks for the awesome info.

Quick question, Where is all the extensive info on Intel White Imac's (specifically the 1.8 ghz/ 2.0 ghz models)?

Ciao for now.

[cyberdork33]

Quick question, Where is all the extensive info on Intel White Imac's (specifically the 1.8 ghz/ 2.0 ghz models)?

There really isn't any because there isn't any special configuration required.

Go to:
http://wiki.ubuntu.com
and search "imac" in the top right corner.

[mabovo]

Is there a HowTo for MacBook keyboard configuration in other languages different from GB or US ?

[Bose]

Wow...when deciding to try Ubuntu for the first time I had NO idea how little I really knew about computers. I used Windows for about 10 years and just recently bought a Macbook. I'm smarter than the average cookie when it comes to computers, but reading some of these guides have left me absolutely dumbfounded.

Can someone explain the following things to me?

Daily Snapshot

Subversion

Can Ubuntu be installed on a Macbook (Core2duo) via USB flash drive?

Thanks for the help guys

[cyberdork33]

A "Daily Snapshot" refers to software development. It is a snapshot of the code for that particular day. These are usually generated by some source management software such as....

subversion [svn] (This is a popular one for open source projects). There are several others though such as git, bzr, darcs, and cvs.

I would answer your last question with a yes except it depends on what you mean... So far nobody has been able to get Mactels to boot from usb drives (other than external CD drives) in a consistent way.