Ubuntu on MacBook Air (early- / mid-2014)

[Brian Kemp]

On 03/11/2015 09:48 PM, Ben Klein wrote:
> I am looking for several pieces of information:
> 
> * How is it set up? (I am hoping to dual-boot or single-boot Ubuntu; I
> do not want to use a VM)

Start here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookAir


While you can look in the wiki for general information, I'd assume it's
logically no different than a PC, once you get any alternate booting
setup you need (BootCamp? rEFIt?) I think depending on what you use, the
boot screen calls it Windows, because that's Apple for you.

I believe rEFInd is what's big these days:
http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/ but it's still beta quality. YMMV.

> * Are there any hardware issues to be aware of?

I went "Most stuff will just work. It's GNU/Linux. Most stuff just works."

Then I read the Ubuntu articles. Some of that stuff requires some
serious hoop-jumping.

iSight doesn't work. SD Card doesn't work on the 2013 models. Wireless
won't work OOTB; you'll need an Ethernet adapter to grab the right packages.

Suspend-resume, which is always a huge crapshoot, requires workarounds
to change brightness after resume.

That sort of stuff makes the entire prospect not spouse-compatible; and
lately I've gotten so lazy that if it's not spouse-compatible I don't
even want to much with it _myself_.

And that's the 2013 models. The 2014 models aren't even in the wiki.

Apple does some undocumented things in their firmware (the "SBS hangs
when we try to select the battery already selected" bug). Expect the
hardware to run a bit degraded compared to Mac OS X; Apple doesn't
support running alternate OS's on their Mac all that well. They don't
give out specs. They write their own Windows drivers.

You may also have battery life be a little less than you're used to; and
if you've got switchable graphics, expect them to be not fully
supported. It's doubtful you'll have anything so bad as fans running at
full speed. This generally gets better with time, so if you have a bad
experience try again in 6 months...

However some stuff may NEVER be supported.


> * Good / bad idea relative to non-Apple hardware

Well you get certain advantages of Apple hardware (MagSafe, etc.) and
nice screens, and people really like the hardware. I've never understood
the draw, and I hate single-button mice. Thunderbolt may or may not
work; I'm not sure.

I've gone the GNU/Linux OEM route for machines lately:

	System76 - host their own Ubuntu driver repos; great if you want to run
Ubuntu (or, if very careful, a derivative). May be less good if you don't.

	ZaReason - they try to use hardware w/ drivers upstream when possible;
you may get hardware "for free" that is not guaranteed to work at build
time (fingerprint reader, etc.) but might get supported later; most big
distros will work (including OpenBSD). Build quality a bit spotty at
times (my friend had some hinge problems & label alignment issues).

	ThinkPenguin - only proprietary software is BIOS & hard drive firmware.
No non-free firmware past that - we're talking "You can run Trisquel"
level of hardware selection. A bit pricey (because you are paying for
them to research that hardware, but it's guaranteed to not need non-free
firmware); but they were also the only OEM that offered a matte screen
option...and they ship fast from NJ.

	Gluglug X200 - It's a repurposed & heavily modded ThinkPad X200, but
hey, they made it RYF. You're looking at Macs, so I doubt this is
important to you.


	The big advantage is what they say will work, _will_work_. The big
disadvantage is that they don't have competitive costs. But you are
supporting the ecosystem, and that's something.


	There are other vendors. As far as the household names go:

	ThinkPads tend to be popular; IBM was good about Linux support. Not
sure how Lenovo is doing with that. At least you don't have to worry
about SuperFish.

	Dell... IMO only if you get them second-hand. Their one Linux
"development" laptop is not my style.

	ASUS: They're still making Eee series, and I think their dalliance with
Linux is over (and that was only to make Microsoft jealous.) Not sure
I'd play.


	

> * General thoughts

I'm still of the opinion of "don't buy a Mac to run Linux" and will be
for the foreseeable future.

But it'll work. Mostly. GL HTH HAND.

-- 
Brian Kemp
PGP: E505DA8F