Don Swatzy

This MacBook Pro is one that still allows for easy switching of RAM and disk. Both are not Apple original anymore, I upgraded the RAM in 2013 and the HDD for an SDD in 2017. A beauty of a machine of which I gladly replaced Mac OS for a Free Software OS.

For the test I used Elementary OS 0.4.1 Loki.

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Broadcom WIFI firmware installation

For more information http://linuxwireless.sipsolutions.net/en/users/Drivers/b43/#firmware

The Broadcom wireless chip needs proprietary software (called “firmware”) that runs on the wireless chip itself to work properly. This firmware is copyrighted by Broadcom and must be extracted from Broadcom's proprietary drivers. To get such firmware on your system, you must download the driver from a legal distribution point, extract it, and install it. This is accomplished different ways by different Linux distributions, so please read the section for yours for the best results. You will need an alternate working internet connection (by Ethernet cable, for example) since the firmware cannot be included with the distro itself.

Fedora

With Fedora 10 and above, you should install wget and the b43-fwcutter tool (which will extract firmware from the Windows driver):

  su -
  yum install b43-fwcutter wget

Next use the instructions here, skipping b43-fwcutter installation part.

openSUSE openSUSE 11.3 and above includes a utility that will automatically download the firmware and install it into its proper location. With working Internet access, run the following commands:

  sudo zypper install b43-fwcutter
  sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware
 

Ubuntu/Debian

In recent versions of Ubuntu and Debian, installing the firmware-b43-installer package will handle everything for you:

  sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

You will be asked to automatically fetch and install the firmware into the right location. Again, you will need an internet connection.

Ubuntu Community Documentation Ubuntu also has a page detailing the process of installing Broadcom wireless drivers on their community documentation. If you have internet access on the device that you want to install the b43 driver onto, follow this link: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx#b43%20-%20Internet%20access . If you do not have internet access on the device that has a b43 supported broadcom wireless chipset and would like to use b43, follow this link instead: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx#b43%20-%20No%20Internet%20access.

Note that you can only follow one of the two guides, not both.

Gentoo

Gentoo systems supply a pre-compiled binary for b43-fwcutter. You need to:

  emerge b43-fwcutter

and then follow the instructions below to download the Broadcom driver. The line that invokes b43-fwcutter will need to be changed to execute the program emerged above.

Mandriva

See the instructions at http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Installing_wireless_network_cards_using_the_b43_driver

Other distributions not mentioned above Note: You need to have a compiler and headers for libc installed, since you will have to build fwcutter from source

Install b43-fwcutter Use version 018 of b43-fwcutter. Download, extract the b43-fwcutter tarball and build it:

  wget http://bues.ch/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-018.tar.bz2 http://bues.ch/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-018.tar.bz2.asc
  gpg --verify b43-fwcutter-018.tar.bz2.asc
  tar xjf b43-fwcutter-018.tar.bz2
  cd b43-fwcutter-018
  make
  sudo make install
  cd ..

If verification of the GPG signature fails due to an unknown key, you need to import the following key:

Key ID = 4203454C Key fingerprint = 757F AB7C ED18 14AE 15B4 836E 5FB0 2747 4203 454C If you are using the b43 driver from 3.2 kernel or newer: After installing b43-fwcutter, download version 5.100.138 of Broadcom's proprietary driver and extract the firmware from it:

  export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
  wget http://www.lwfinger.com/b43-firmware/broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
  tar xjf broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
  sudo b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" broadcom-wl-5.100.138/linux/wl_apsta.o
 

If you are using the b43 driver from older kernel: After installing b43-fwcutter, download version 5.10.56.27.3 of Broadcom's proprietary driver and extract the firmware from it:

  export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
  wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-5.10.56.27.3_mipsel.tar.bz2
  tar xjf broadcom-wl-5.10.56.27.3_mipsel.tar.bz2
  sudo b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" broadcom-wl-5.10.56.27.3/driver/wl_apsta/wl_prebuilt.o

Note that you must adjust the FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR path to your distribution. The standard place where firmware is installed to is /lib/firmware. However some distributions put firmware in a different place.

If you are using the b43legacy driver: After installing b43-fwcutter, download version 3.130.20.0 of Broadcom's proprietary driver and extract the firmware from it:

  export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
  wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
  sudo b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR" wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o

Note that you must adjust the FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR path to your distribution. The standard place where firmware is installed to is /lib/firmware. However some distributions put firmware in a different place.

The AppCenter of Elementary OS is rather limited. You can install more software by for example installing Synaptic:

> sudo apt-get update
> sudo apt-get upgrade
> sudo apt-get install synaptic
> sudo synaptic

Because of the different Windomws system Dropbox is not nicely integrated in the icon bar. You can fix that by installing Dropbox as follows:

> sudo apt-get install git
> sudo apt-get remove dropbox*
> git clone https://github.com/zant95/elementary-dropbox /tmp/elementary-dropbox
  bash /tmp/elementary-dropbox/install.sh

Note: You need to reboot once to make dropbox available from the command prompt.

By default the shortcuts in Elementary OS are a bit 'weird' (different from other distros like Ubuntu). You can easily fix that: go to System Settings ⇒ Keyboard, tab Shortcuts.

For example, go to Applications and set CTRL-ALT-T for Terminal instead of Super-T.

When searching for devices it can seem that Bluetooth is not working, because none are found. However, the panel that contains the devices is too small to show anything. Solution: maximize the window and see the found devices.

Some notes on reducing power usage with Elementary OS and controlling temperature:

• Thermald is installed and run by default, so no need to bother with that. It should keep your laptop from overheating automatically.
• TLP like a useful tool, however I noticed Bluetooth devices cannot connect anymore. Perhaps this is tweakable.
• Laptop Mode Tools does not go together with TLP
• Instal psensor to keep an eye on temperatures and fan speed.
• Is it overheating? Check out this list https://www.intelmactemp.com/list, core temps around 70 C, looks like all is fine.
• Use Powertop to find out which components are using much power and can be tweaked.
• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PowerManagement/ReducedPower
• Powertop, https://fedoramagazine.org/saving-laptop-power-with-powertop/ Is powertop outdated? Switch to TLP and fix the bluetooth thing?
• Installed TLP again, rebooted.
• Config TLP (for BT), http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-configuration.html
• It seems the OS cannot run the fan on max by default, macfanctld is needed for that. Install it using sudo apt-get install macfanctld

If you noticed, the red LED inside of the audio jack port stays on always. This is fixable:

1. Open Terminal by Ctrl + Alt + T
2. Type in sudo alsamixer
3. Use the arrow keys to move around and when over S/PDIF press M to mute, this will turn the light OFF.
4. In case the light does not turn off: keep going right and keep muting until it does.
5. Hit the Escape key - DO NOT CLOSE TERMINAL
6. Type sudo alsactl store - This will make it persist across reboots
7. Close Terminal

To restore the setting after reboot:

> sudo alsactl restore

To automatically restore after reboot:

> sudo apt-get install gedit
> sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

Then add the line 'alsactl restore' (without the quotes) before the line 'exit 0. Save and exit.

The Apple MacBook Pro 9,2 is a great machine to run Linux on. Using Elementary OS pretty much everything works 'out of the box'. Some minor glitches do occur and some tweaking is necessary to get the most from it.