If you haven’t already seen the new ads Microsoft have been running you are probably one of the lucky few. Personally I think there playing some spin on the mac ads.
How ’bout, I’m a PC and using Linux was my idea. K-Thx-Bai.
Tag Archive for 'Linux'
On a side note, The @0:17sec “Abso-Fricking-Lutley” chick is awesome
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Ha ha ha (I see what I did there). Anyway. Just felt that I would post about the pure-awesome file manager that is Thunar.
I’ve recently installed #!Crunchbang, Now its good and all but it uses openbox and an ugly combination of PCMan and Terminator (for terminal emulation).
Seriously though. Install thunar, its brilliant. 
(I was going to hotlink an image but decided against it.)
I now have Crunchbang working. Not just working in the sense that it installs and 
runs but more that it has a keyboard backlight, screen brightness and multitouch working. Good old debian/ubuntu-based linux! Keep in mind that some of this tutorial has not been tested, I note the untested sections. – Some information was obtained from the ubuntu wiki. Thanks Guys -.
The super button is the command key on your mac, On a PC the super key is the Start Button.
What Worked Out of the Box:
- ! Basic Screen Drivers (X11 – Incorrect Res)
- ! Touchpad (Single Click only – No tap)
- ! Keyboard (Not backlight or controls)
- Wireless (With driver load)
- Ethernet
- USB
- Headphones (Not speakers)
Basic Fixes
- Screen drivers can be installed via the “Restricted Device Manager” under system in the main menu (If you cant right click hit “Super + Space” or for you uninitiated mac users “Command + Space”.)
- The multi touch touch pad is a little more complicated, but not too hard. It will be continued below.
- Keyboard is also slightly more complicated and will be continued below.
- Wireless, Same deal as the screen drivers, Its in the “Restricted Device Manager” under system in the main menu, Its easy enough to enable (Reboot after.)
- Sound Card + Internal Speakers is the hardest to fix, The headphone port works out of the box (OOB here on in) but the speakers require complete reconfiguration of ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)
Install Hints
I use the bootcamp wizard to create the windows partition and allocate my space, then reboot into crunchbang using the bootcamp wizard. Once in start gparted (Super + Space, Run program, “sudo gparted”) and delte the partition that is ‘Fat32′ or called BOOTCAMP. (If that’s too hard you may need to reconsider linux on mac).
To boot back into your new Crunchbang install you will need a boot tool such as rEFIt, Get that here. Once you have installed that, Head to finder -> Macintosh HD (presuming thats your hard drive) -> efi -> refit -> enable-always.sh -> open with “Terminal.app”. Then reboot.
Post Install
Firstly you may notice by now your MacBook / MacBook Pro is starting to burn a hole in your lap/desk, You need to install basic power managment and temprature controls to stop this.
Go to the main menu (Super + Space) and click on Terminal (or Super + T) you then need to become a root user, Don’t worry thats easy, Copy and paste (or type) these commands.
sudo -i
# You will then be asked for your password. Enter it.
echo deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mactel-support/ubuntu jaunty main >> /etc/apt/sources.list
echo deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/mactel-support/ubuntu jaunty main >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 7A6BC20C4FE04DADD10837608DB7F87A2B97B7B8
# (Above is all one line) Then update your repos with
apt-get update
# Now install the sensor modules
sudo apt-get install applesmc-dkms
echo coretemp >> /etc/modules
echo applesmc >> /etc/modules
# Because reboot doesnt work this will shut down your computer. Turn it back on after.
shutdown -h now
So theres the basics out the way, The computer wont overheat and explode now so thats a good thing (Right?).
The Keyboard (not Jaunty)
This does not work in Jaunty, Not sure why Ubuntu thing?
The keyboard has some custom functions, such as expose and dashboard, We want to enable these. Head back into terminal (Super + T) and type.
sudo apt-get install applesmc-dkms hid-dkms
Bluetooth Problems
If you do have problems with bluetooth you can try resetting the interface, Personally I don’t use bluetooth but here you go
sudo hciconfig hci0 reset
The Touchpad
Apple introduced multi-touch in the 5,x series MacBook and MacBook Pro. This is a cool piece of technology but takes some doing to make work. Head into the terminal (Super + T)
sudo -i
apt-get install bcm5974-dkms
# Blacklisting the USBHID seems sinister but we load it later so thats not that bad.
echo blacklist usbhid >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
echo bcm5974 >> /etc/modules
echo usbhid >> /etc/modules
# make sure usbhid is last, or it wont work.
depmod -ae
update-initramfs -u
Now run
gksudo gedit /etc/hal/fdi/policy/11-x11-synaptics.fdi
and add
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”ISO-8859-1″?><deviceinfo version=”0.2″>
<device>
<match key=”info.capabilities” contains=”input.touchpad”>
<match key=”info.product” contains=”Synaptics TouchPad”>
<merge key=”input.x11_driver” type=”string”>synaptics</merge>
<!– Arbitrary options can be passed to the driver using
the input.x11_options property since xorg-server-1.5. –>
<!– EXAMPLE:
<merge key=”input.x11_options.LeftEdge” type=”string”>120</merge>
–>
</match>
<match key=”info.product” contains=”AlpsPS/2 ALPS”>
<merge key=”input.x11_driver” type=”string”>synaptics</merge>
</match>
<match key=”info.product” contains=”appletouch”>
<merge key=”input.x11_driver” type=”string”>synaptics</merge>
</match>
<match key=”info.product” contains=”bcm5974″>
<merge key=”input.x11_driver” type=”string”>synaptics</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.LeftEdge” type=”string”>0</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.RightEdge” type=”string”>1280</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.TopEdge” type=”string”>0</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.BottomEdge” type=”string”>800</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.ClickFinger1″ type=”string”>1</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.ClickFinger2″ type=”string”>3</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.ClickFinger3″ type=”string”>2</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.HorizEdgeScroll” type=”string”>0</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.VertEdgeScroll” type=”string”>0</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.VertTwoFingerScroll” type=”string”>1</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.HorizTwoFingerScroll” type=”string”>1</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.HorizScrollDelta” type=”string”>0</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.VertScrollDelta” type=”string”>40</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.PressureMotionMinZ” type=”string”>10</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.FingerLow” type=”string”>16</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.FingerHigh” type=”string”>80</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.FingerPress” type=”string”>256</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.PalmDetect” type=”string”>1</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.PalmMinWidth” type=”string”>10</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.PalmMinZ” type=”string”>200</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.MinSpeed” type=”string”>0.8</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxSpeed” type=”string”>1.2</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.AccelFactor” type=”string”>0.10</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxTapMove” type=”string”>25</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxTapTime” type=”string”>223</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.MaxDoubleTapTime” type=”string”>200</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.TapButton1″ type=”string”>1</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.TapButton2″ type=”string”>3</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.TapButton3″ type=”string”>2</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.RTCornerButton” type=”string”>0</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.RBCornerButton” type=”string”>0</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.LTCornerButton” type=”string”>0</merge>
<merge key=”input.x11_options.LBCornerButton” type=”string”>0</merge>
</match>
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>
Now save & reboot and you should have a working touch-pad!
Sound
My sound only works via headphones at the moment as I am stuck on the patching stage but I’m hoping that this method will work properly.
Headphones (tested):
sudo -i
cd /etc/modprobe.d/
echo options snd_hda_intel model=mbp3 >> alsa-base.conf
Speakers:
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.19.tar.bz2
wget http://qwe.pl/~kacper/alsa-driver-1.0.19-mb51.patch
tar jxf ./alsa-driver-1.0.19.tar.bz2
mv ./alsa-driver-1.0.19-mb51.patch ./alsa-driver-1.0.19
cd ./alsa-driver-1.0.19 patch -p2 < ./alsa-driver-1.0.19-mb51.patch
./configure
make
sudo make install
sudo gedit /etc/asound.conf
and add/edit the following
pcm.out {type route
slave.pcm “hw:0,0″;
slave.channels 6
ttable {
0.0 1
1.1 1
2.2 1
3.3 1
4.4 1
0.5 0.5
1.5 0.5
}
}pcm.!default {
type pulse
}
“Change PulseAudio configuration to use 6 channels and ‘out’ upmix instead of hw:0,0″
sudo gedit /etc/pulse/default.pa
and add the following:
load-module module-alsa-sink channels=6 device=out
The sound section is not mine, I have not tested it, I sourced it from here.
Screen Brightness
I don’t know why but for me the screen brightness is broken. F1 and F2 do NOT adjust brightness at all. Eventually using the following method I got F1 and F2 to change the brightness, As well as automatic dimming in different light conditions. Go to terminal (Super + T) and run this command:
sudo apt-get install nvidia-bl-dkms
Now run (“Run Program”)
gksudo gedit /etc/modules
And add
nvidia_bl shift=2
To the end of the file!
Getting Too Hot
For some reason the fan control may not be regulated properly. If this is the case, manually set the fan so it cant drop below a certain point. This is permanent and the fan will always run fast.
echo 3000 | sudo tee -a /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_min
OR : – Sometimes Laptop Mode will have the same effect
sudo /etc/init.d/laptop-mode start
Not Sleeping – Overuse of Power
The driver Crunchbang uses to drive the Ethernet can cause it to make the computer wake up or over-use the CPU even if its not in use. If you don’t use the Ethernet you could disable eth0 or try this: Open Terminal (Super + T)
sudo apt-get install powertop
sudo powertop
#Powertop allows you to monitor power usage.
Once powertop is installed take note of eth0 then:
gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
And add
blacklist forcedeth
To the bottom of the file. If you then run powertop again this should show reduced ethernet draw.
Prettyness Hack
Get a crisp usplash on bootup, Run this command (FN + Option (alt) + F2):
gksudo gedit /etc/usplash.conf
then find and change “yres=720″ to “yres=800″
Credits :
Mactel PPA & The Ubuntu Wiki
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook5-1/Jaunty
Though I wrote the guide for Crunchbang I used some of the stuff provided by these guys, they helped me and prehaps you so a big thanks to them!
sudo /etc/init.d/laptop-mode start
