Very happy with the results here. Installed 17.10 onto a 1tb HD I poached out of another machine. Everything worked out of the box including the Broadcom wifi card. If you've got a MacBook/Pro that you can't upgrade to HighSierra, I highly recommend doing this to extend the life of these fully functional machines. NOTE: This is for dual-booting OS X 10.11 with Ubuntu 16.04. Install Preparation in OS X Resize OS X partition with Disk Utility. Download the Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop 64-bit ISO from ubuntu or download whatever flavor you might prefer. I prefer using dd to create a LiveUSB. Booting into the live USB Shut down the Macbook.
- Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro 64-bit
- Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro 2017
- Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro Keyboard Cover
- Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro 2020
- Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro Windows 7
Cons Of The MacBook Pro. Touch bar sensitivity can be problematic. Dell Precision M7710 for Ubuntu. This offering from Dell is a heavy-duty option for those who need a proper workstation for various computer tasks. Fortunately, not only does the hardware support Ubuntu but it can also be chosen to be preinstalled in lieu of Windows.
Ubuntu 20.04 just released and I can't wait to try it out and install on my MacBook Pro 14.1 model. I am going to tell you what works and what doesn't work, as well as any workaround to fix those issues.
The install steps are simple:
- Download a copy of ubuntu 20.04 iso image;https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop
- Get a USB drive. Format it to FAT format via mac os disk utility tools
- Using Etcher to create bootable USB drive. You can download the software here: https://www.balena.io/etcher/
- After you fresh the drive with the iso image, reboot your Mac and pressing Option key to select boot from a USB drive.
Once you start to boot up from USB drive, you would notice something doesn't work already: the track-pad. It doesn't respond, but never mind, we can either use an external mouse or continue the installation via keyboard. (And we can fix the driver issue later as per the steps below). Follow the instructions and you may boot to ubuntu operating system now. One thing I like for this version is the boot screen is black install purple in the previous version.
Out of the box, here are what's working:
- Keyboard with backlight
- Screen display and graphic card
- Wifi to connect internet
- USB ports
- Battery
What doesn't work out of the box:
- Speaker (a workaround to use external headphone, or HDMI at an external monitor, or fix with this: https://github.com/leifliddy/snd_hda_macbookpro
- Trackpad (a workaround to use an external mouse, or install the driver here:https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver
- Bluetooth (it can be fixed by installing driver:https://github.com/leifliddy/macbook12-bluetooth-driver Note that if you hit error 404 to download 5.4.0 version, edit the script to 5.4.1 instead would work.)
- Camera (It can be fix by install driver: https://github.com/patjak/bcwc_pcie/wiki/Get-Started In case you hit an error:
make -C /lib/modules/5.4.0-26-generic/build M=/home/Workspace/bcwc_pcie modules_installmake[1]: Entering directory ‘/usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-26-generic'INSTALL /home/Workspace/bcwc_pcie/facetimehd.koAt main.c:160:
SSL error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory: ./crypto/bio/bss_file.c:69SSL error:2006D080:BIO routines:BIO_new_file:no such file: ./crypto/bio/bss_file.c:76sign-file: certs/signing_key.pem: No such file or directoryDEPMOD 5.4.0-26-genericWarning: modules_install: missing ‘System.map' file. Skipping depmod.make[1]: Leaving directory ‘/usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-26-generic'
You could get rid of that error by not using modules_install in your Makefile.
Change:
to
Other customization I like after installation are:
- Switch to dark mode.
- Show battery percentage:
$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface show-battery-percentage true
- Install gnome tweak
- Install ubuntu restricted extras:
- Install atom editor
$wget -qO - https://packagecloud.io/AtomEditor/atom/gpgkey | sudo apt-key add -$sudo sh -c ‘echo 'deb [arch=amd64] https://packagecloud.io/AtomEditor/atom/any/ any main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/atom.list'$sudo apt-get update$sudo apt-get install atom
- Disable trackpad while typing
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So now everything works. And you have a secure and high performance operating system. It's painful but fun with Linux since it's open-source and allow you to do all kinds of customization. You can create all the bugs and crash your operating system if you don't know what you are doing, not just frustrating but also rewarding experience to learn something new through troubleshooting the issues. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to get in touch.
Originally published athttps://victorleungtw.com.
NOTE: This is for dual-booting OS X 10.11 with Ubuntu 16.04.
Install
Preparation in OS X
Resize OS X partition with Disk Utility.
Download the Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop 64-bit ISO from ubuntu or download whatever flavor you might prefer.
I prefer using dd to create a LiveUSB.
Booting into the live USB
Shut down the Macbook.
Hold the Option (Alt) key, and then press the power button for a couple seconds until you see the menu to choose a startup disk; select the LiveUSB (which will be labelled as EFI).
Ubuntu
Use gparted to create an ext2 partition of 512MB after the third partition, which is the OS X Recovery HD, and an ext4 partition with the remaining free space.
Choose 'Something else', and then mount the newly created ext2 as /boot, and /dev/mapper/vgcrypt as /. Keep FORMAT unchecked.
Choose to 'Continue testing', DO NOT reboot yet.
You will then need to chroot into the new system.
My /etc/fstab looks something like this:
create /etc/crypttab:
NOTE I cannot remember whether this was actually necessary. I believe it may only be necessary when you need to mount an encrypted swap.
The UUID is determined from a previous step.
Back in chroot:
Install bootloader with systemd-boot
DO NOT REBOOT YET.
Outside of the chroot environment, you'll need to mount the EFI System Partition (ESP) which lives on /dev/sda1 to where the newly-installed Ubuntu partition maps the ESP:
Then, from within the chroot, copy the kernel and initrd to /boot/efi:
Create the needed directories.
Then, create /boot/efi/loader/loader.conf with the contents:
Create a /boot/efi/loader/entries/ubuntu.conf:
Then, finally, install the bootloader and set systemd-boot as the default:
Post-Install
Get WiFi working
You don't need an internet connection to get WiFi to work. Just plug in the LiveUSB you used to install Ubuntu. Once it's mounted, you'll see a folder, /path/to/USB/pool. This is where you can get the drivers.
You'll need to copy pool/main/d/dkms-*.deb and pool/restricted/b/broadcom-*.deb to, say, ~/Desktop.
This should automatically load the WiFi module.
More stuff
NVIDIA (optional)
NOTE It is not necessary to install the propriety nvidia drivers, unless you are doing some intensive graphics work that the open-source nouveau driver can't handle as well.
In Additional Drivers, enable nvidia-361. Then run
You'll then need to reboot.
Notes on Propriety NVIDIA Graphics
- I would stick with text-only boot for Ubuntu (i.e. no splash screen) because it freezes at the prompt for the encrypted volume pass.
- The first time I rebooted after installing NVIDIA drivers, I had a black screen. Had to force shutdown (by pressing the power button for 8 seconds), since I could not switch to a TTY, either. But on the second boot, I was able to proceed.
- ~My laptop ran really hot for the first few uses of Ubuntu 16.04, but cooled down over time. Really odd..~ It runs really hot.
- Take a look at xorg.conf.
- rc.local is necessary to get brightness control to work.
Graphics
Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro 2017
This machine can run really hot when the discrete GPU, the NVIDIA card, is turned on, even if using the propriety drivers. Since I don't really do any intensive gaming or CUDA programming on this machine and need it to be portable, I keep the discrete GPU off and so use the integrated Intel card.
- Switch to dark mode.
- Show battery percentage:
$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface show-battery-percentage true
- Install gnome tweak
- Install ubuntu restricted extras:
- Install atom editor
$wget -qO - https://packagecloud.io/AtomEditor/atom/gpgkey | sudo apt-key add -$sudo sh -c ‘echo 'deb [arch=amd64] https://packagecloud.io/AtomEditor/atom/any/ any main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/atom.list'$sudo apt-get update$sudo apt-get install atom
- Disable trackpad while typing
Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro 64-bit
So now everything works. And you have a secure and high performance operating system. It's painful but fun with Linux since it's open-source and allow you to do all kinds of customization. You can create all the bugs and crash your operating system if you don't know what you are doing, not just frustrating but also rewarding experience to learn something new through troubleshooting the issues. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to get in touch.
Originally published athttps://victorleungtw.com.
NOTE: This is for dual-booting OS X 10.11 with Ubuntu 16.04.
Install
Preparation in OS X
Resize OS X partition with Disk Utility.
Download the Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop 64-bit ISO from ubuntu or download whatever flavor you might prefer.
I prefer using dd to create a LiveUSB.
Booting into the live USB
Shut down the Macbook.
Hold the Option (Alt) key, and then press the power button for a couple seconds until you see the menu to choose a startup disk; select the LiveUSB (which will be labelled as EFI).
Ubuntu
Use gparted to create an ext2 partition of 512MB after the third partition, which is the OS X Recovery HD, and an ext4 partition with the remaining free space.
Choose 'Something else', and then mount the newly created ext2 as /boot, and /dev/mapper/vgcrypt as /. Keep FORMAT unchecked.
Choose to 'Continue testing', DO NOT reboot yet.
You will then need to chroot into the new system.
My /etc/fstab looks something like this:
create /etc/crypttab:
NOTE I cannot remember whether this was actually necessary. I believe it may only be necessary when you need to mount an encrypted swap.
The UUID is determined from a previous step.
Back in chroot:
Install bootloader with systemd-boot
DO NOT REBOOT YET.
Outside of the chroot environment, you'll need to mount the EFI System Partition (ESP) which lives on /dev/sda1 to where the newly-installed Ubuntu partition maps the ESP:
Then, from within the chroot, copy the kernel and initrd to /boot/efi:
Create the needed directories.
Then, create /boot/efi/loader/loader.conf with the contents:
Create a /boot/efi/loader/entries/ubuntu.conf:
Then, finally, install the bootloader and set systemd-boot as the default:
Post-Install
Get WiFi working
You don't need an internet connection to get WiFi to work. Just plug in the LiveUSB you used to install Ubuntu. Once it's mounted, you'll see a folder, /path/to/USB/pool. This is where you can get the drivers.
You'll need to copy pool/main/d/dkms-*.deb and pool/restricted/b/broadcom-*.deb to, say, ~/Desktop.
This should automatically load the WiFi module.
More stuff
NVIDIA (optional)
NOTE It is not necessary to install the propriety nvidia drivers, unless you are doing some intensive graphics work that the open-source nouveau driver can't handle as well.
In Additional Drivers, enable nvidia-361. Then run
You'll then need to reboot.
Notes on Propriety NVIDIA Graphics
- I would stick with text-only boot for Ubuntu (i.e. no splash screen) because it freezes at the prompt for the encrypted volume pass.
- The first time I rebooted after installing NVIDIA drivers, I had a black screen. Had to force shutdown (by pressing the power button for 8 seconds), since I could not switch to a TTY, either. But on the second boot, I was able to proceed.
- ~My laptop ran really hot for the first few uses of Ubuntu 16.04, but cooled down over time. Really odd..~ It runs really hot.
- Take a look at xorg.conf.
- rc.local is necessary to get brightness control to work.
Graphics
Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro 2017
This machine can run really hot when the discrete GPU, the NVIDIA card, is turned on, even if using the propriety drivers. Since I don't really do any intensive gaming or CUDA programming on this machine and need it to be portable, I keep the discrete GPU off and so use the integrated Intel card.
Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro Keyboard Cover
Download imovie macbook pro free. You do not have to install the nouveau or intel drivers manually, but for reference sake (or in case you need to reinstall them), the packages are xserver-xorg-video-intel and xserver-xorg-video-nouveau.
- systemd-vgaswitcheroo-units Set of scripts to turn off the discrete GPU at boot. NOTE This only works if you are using the open-source, Nouveau drivers rather than the NVIDIA ones.
- gpu-switch Script to switch between Intel and NVIDIA cards. However, requires that you restart your Macbook.
Updating the kernel
Download Ubuntu 17.10 Macbook Pro 2020
If you're using rEFInd as a bootloader, or bootctl (included in systemd), after installation you will need to copy the initrd and vmlinuz files to /boot/efi (where your actual EFI system partition is mounted in Ubuntu):
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