Linux on a Early '08 version MacBook Pro?

Tarek · Jul 1, 2009

Hello guys,

So I just got my laptop back, its optical drive was getting fixed, turned out it had a lot of dust on the lens and stuff. Anyhow, I installed Linux using Boot Camp (instead of Windows) because I started using Linux 7 Mint Gloria on my other computer and it's pretty awesome. However, I can not install my computer's drivers using the Mac OSX DVD 1 of course because it works on Windows only. So what can I do in order to install the drivers on Linux? Of course I can not access the internet from there, obviously.

Thanks a lot and have a nice day.

vansmith · Jul 1, 2009

A lot of device support is built into the kernel. NIC drivers, for instance, are either built into the kernel or built as kernel modules. It is very possible therefore that support for the hardware on the Mac is not built into the kernel. There are some "exceptions" though, such as the GPU which can have support added afterwards. That said, the nvidia and ati drivers actually build kernel modules IIRC.

Upon some further reading, you may need to patch the kernel with some patches but depending on your hardware, you may be able to avoid this. Your best bet would be to provide a list of the hardware that doesn't work and the name and model of each piece so we can see what is and isn't supported.

As for the networking, can I assume you are using wireless? I only say that because ethernet NICs are pretty well supported and you should have no problems with them (in general). The only thing I can think of right now for wireless would be to install ndiswrapper and use the Windows driver for the chipset.

chscag · Jul 1, 2009

Tarek said:
Hello guys,

So I just got my laptop back, its optical drive was getting fixed, turned out it had a lot of dust on the lens and stuff. Anyhow, I installed Linux using Boot Camp (instead of Windows) because I started using Linux 7 Mint Gloria on my other computer and it's pretty awesome. However, I can not install my computer's drivers using the Mac OSX DVD 1 of course because it works on Windows only. So what can I do in order to install the drivers on Linux? Of course I can not access the internet from there, obviously.

Quite frankly, if it were me - I would dump Mint Gloria and instead install the latest version of Ubuntu (9.04). It simply works out of the box; network, graphics, wireless, etc. all there. As a matter of fact, I found the Ubuntu install easier than Windows XP.

Your choice of course and as everything else, mileage may vary. O:)

Regards.

vansmith · Jul 1, 2009

I agree - installation of an easier to use distribution is probably a better bet. If you can find one that works out of the box, you should have no problems and you can learn from there. If you still want to tackle Mint, I'd be glad to help though.

neilf · Jul 1, 2009

Another thumbs-up for Ubuntu.
Everything just works except..........
If anyone knows how to get a brother DCP117C printer to work, it would be perfect.

Neil

Tarek · Jul 2, 2009

Thank you for your replies. Yeah, everything I need is pretty much working efficiently (graphics, sound, ethernet, and such). You're right, I want to use Wireless, I don't always stick to my desk you know.. but it's not working and I tried finding tutorials but all of them are for PowerBook G4 and old Apple computers like that; of course I tried their tutorials but no luck.

About the Ubuntu (9.04), I'd be glad to download and install it if you think it's good. As I told you, Linux Mint is the very first Linux OS that I ever tried, so I don't really know the difference you know. Also, the installation of Mint is pretty hard, having to do the partitions manually and stuff (because I don't like installing side by side) is tiring because I'm not used to all that, Windows XP installation FTW lol.

I am not sure if that's legal, but care providing me with an Ubuntu 9.04? Or do I have to pay for it? If I download it like warez (if it's not free), would I be able to get cracks or serials for it that actually work? Because well, I'm not and probably not going to be a permanent Linux user so I just want to give it a try, not worth paying if it's expensive and I know I am not going to find original versions of it in Egypt.

Thanks again.

EDIT - I am guessing it's free? I am downloading it from here Your Download will Start Shortly | Ubuntu and it doesn't say "Buy now" or "Trial" or anything like that. The thing is, I am downloading from a mirror in Belgium because almost all of the ones in North America and Africa are really slow, so I assume it's the same version and the download location has nothing to do with the installation (OS) language, right?

todd51 · Jul 2, 2009

You're correct, Ubuntu is completely free and right now has one the best support communities out there. It worked completely fine on my MBP, which is older than yours.

Have fun with Ubuntu! Also, if you like the KDE environment rather than the Gnome, there is also Kubuntu. The only difference is that Kubuntu is KDE rather than Gnome.

swisscow · Jul 2, 2009

Isn't mint gloria based on ubuntu 9.04? In the past mint versions were just ubuntu versions with enhancements to make them easier to use. If this is the same still then hardware support will be the same as with ubuntu 9.04. Or have things changed?

vansmith · Jul 2, 2009

Hardware support may not be the same if the Mint people include a different kernel and drivers.

@OP - Linux distributions are generally free (if not always) because of the nature of the software used. If someone sold you Ubuntu, you could copy it a million times and distribute it to whoever you wanted. The licenses used in open source software allow for redistribution and modification.

Tarek · Jul 2, 2009

I am using Ubuntu 9.04 at the moment, it is pretty awesome. The taskbar (if that's what you call it on Linux) is like the Macintosh's, though, I liked it better in the Mint where it was like the "Start" button in Windows XP; at least it was easier. So everything is working great except the Wi-Fi, still. So can any one help me with this? I, again, tried some tutorials but none of them worked. I also downloaded a file called wl_apsta.o, but no luck in Terminal.

Thanks again.

vansmith · Jul 2, 2009

wl_apsta.o is firmware for a particular subset of Broadcom wifi chips. If that is what you need, you need to use b43-fwcutter to utilize it. If you don't have it, you can get it through apt. I have modified some instructions from here, including only what you need (enter the following at the command line):

1. export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
2. wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
3. tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
4. cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod
5. b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta.o

Or, if you've already downloaded wl_apsta.o, just execute the following: b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o.

Tarek · Jul 2, 2009

tarek@Tarek-MBP:~$ b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o
The program 'b43-fwcutter' is currently not installed. You can install it by typing:
sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter
bash: b43-fwcutter: command not found

That's what I get. Thanks for your reply, btw.

EDIT - Okay I installed fwcutter.

EDIT #2 - Now it says "tarek@Tarek-MBP:~$ b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o
Cannot open input file wl_apsta.o
tarek@Tarek-MBP:~$ "

vansmith · Jul 2, 2009

You have to either be in the directory that wl_apsta.o is located or you have to include the full path. So, let's say that the file is in a folder called Downloads in your home directory. You could do one of two things:

1. b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware ~/Downloads/wl_apsta.o
or
2. cd ~/Downloads; b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta.o

Once this is done, reboot the machine.

Tarek · Jul 2, 2009

tarek@Tarek-MBP:~$ b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware ~/Downloads/wl_apsta.o
This file is recognised as:
ID : FW10
filename : wl_apsta.o
version : 295.14
MD5 : e08665c5c5b66beb9c3b2dd54aa80cb3
Extracting b43legacy/ucode2.fw
failed to open file: Permission denied
tarek@Tarek-MBP:~$

Denied?

vansmith · Jul 2, 2009

Sorry, this is my mistake. Since you are modifying a directory outside of your home directory, you neet root privileges. Add sudo to the beginning of that command and you should be good to go.

Tarek · Jul 2, 2009

Thanks a lot man and I am really sorry having to put you through all that. I successfully extracted it from the Terminal and rebooted, but the Wi-Fi still didn't work; I guess the file I downloaded doesn't include the Airport Extreme, then. By the way, one LAST thing, how do I install applications like this?

Thank you very much.

vansmith · Jul 2, 2009

That appears to be a binary. Simply change directories at the command line and execute the binary (./rar or ./unrar). I just checked at Ubuntu packages both rar and unrar (ie. you can get it through apt). Your best bet is to try and get everything through apt if you can. It will make things so much easier.

Ok, let's start at the beginning. Execute "lspci -v" at the command line and post the output here.

Tarek · Jul 3, 2009

tarek@Tarek-MBP:~$ lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00007000-00007fff
Memory behind bridge: 90000000-930fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000080000000-000000008fffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 04)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
I/O ports at 80c0
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 04)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at 80a0
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 04) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
Memory at 9b504c00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 04)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
Memory at 9b500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: 9b400000-9b4fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 04)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=0a, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00006000-00006fff
Memory behind bridge: 97400000-9b3fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000093100000-00000000970fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 04)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0b, subordinate=0b, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: 97300000-973fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 04)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0c, subordinate=0c, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00005000-00005fff
Memory behind bridge: 97200000-972fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 000000009b600000-000000009b6fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 04)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at 8080
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 04)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at 8060
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 04)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at 8040
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 04) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
Memory at 9b504800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f4) (prog-if 01)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0d, subordinate=0d, sec-latency=32
Memory behind bridge: 97100000-971fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 04)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at 8108
I/O ports at 811c
I/O ports at 8100
I/O ports at 8118
I/O ports at 80e0
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA IDE Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO])
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at 80f8
I/O ports at 8114
I/O ports at 80f0
I/O ports at 8110
I/O ports at 8020
I/O ports at 4000
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 04)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 10
Memory at 9b505000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
I/O ports at efa0
Kernel modules: i2c-i801

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600M GT (rev a1)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 00a3
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at 92000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at 80000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at 90000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
I/O ports at 7000
Expansion ROM at 93000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: nvidiafb

0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 05)
Subsystem: Apple Computer Inc. Device 008c
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at 97300000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
Kernel modules: wl, ssb

0c:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Marvell Yukon 88E8058 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 13)
Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Device 00ba
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 2298
Memory at 97200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
I/O ports at 5000
Expansion ROM at 9b600000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: sky2
Kernel modules: sky2

0d:03.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB82AA2 IEEE-1394b Link Layer Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 10)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 248, IRQ 19
Memory at 97104000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Memory at 97100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ohci1394
Kernel modules: firewire-ohci, ohci1394

There

.

Tarek · Jul 3, 2009

The only reason I want to install RAR instead of Ark and the default one is because of this: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/wi...chive-file-type-not-supported.html#post868775

vansmith · Jul 3, 2009

Well, here is your wireless network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 05). Read the instructions here (note, you already have b43-fwcutter installed because we did that earlier). Assuming you are using Jaunty (9.04), you can skip ahead to these instructions. Those should work.

You can use apt to install rar as opposed to using those binaries - it will be easier to use and upgrade. Just execute "sudo aptitude install rar" (w/o the quotation marks) and you should be good to go.

Linux on a Early '08 version MacBook Pro?

Tarek

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