How to install Debian/Linux on a MacBook Air 6-2 (13-inch, End 2014)

Macbook Air 6-2 (13-inch, Mid 2013)

CPU: 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.3Ghz) with 4MB shared L3 cache
Video card: Intel HD Graphics 5000
Screen: 13.3-inch, LED-backlit glossy widescreen, 1440 by 900 (native)
Wireless card: Broadcom BCM4360
Disk APPLE SSD SM0512F and RAM 2x 4096MB SODIMM 1600MHz

Overall Status

Core Components
Boot Standard Kernel:
LAN network card:	[-]
Detect CD/DVD:	[-]
Detect hard drives:
Extra Features
CPU Frequency Scaling
Hibernation
Sleep / Suspend
Xorg
- OpenGL
- Resize-and-Rotate(randr)
Switch to External Screen
Mouse
- Built-in (Trackpoint)	[-]
- Built-in (Touchpad)
Modem	[-]
Wireless/Wifi
Keyboard's Hotkeys
Sound Card
Face Time Camera
Bluetooth Mouse

Legend :
= OK ; Unsupported(No Driver) ; $/!\$ = Error (Couldn't get it working); [?] Unknown, Not Test ; [-] Not-applicable
= Configuration Required; = Only works with a non-free driver and or firmware

Important Note

Installation was done using a usb-stick with a Debian Bullseye DVD image (version: Aug 2021). The wireless card was configured after the system was installed.

Configuration

Display

Graphics: VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)

external/secondary screen: Adapter required. Works fine. No configuration required.

xrandr / monitor (utility of gnome): Works fine. No configuration required. Mirroring und having two different screens: both work fine.

The display may not wake from sleep immediately due to an unoptimised backlight driver. You can fix this by editing the grub file /etc/default/grub

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet acpi_osi=!Darwin"

then run #update-grub

Audio

Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller (rev 04) Speakers and headphones work perfectly. No configuration required.

Mouse

Trackpad works fine. No Configuration required.

one-finger-tap corresponds to left mouse button
two-finger-tap corresponds to right mouse button
three-finger-tap corresponds to middle-click (paste function)
two-finger drag corresponds to vertical scroll
double Tap-to-drag functionality.

Bluetooth: Works file. No configuration required.

Power Management

Hybernation works fine. No configuration required.

Suspend works fine but wake can be slow. This can be fixed with kernel option noacpi.

Using tlp to optimize power consumption.A full charge of the battery lasts for 8-10 hours of work (30% brightness, wlan on).

Hibernate & Sleep. Install package https://packages.debian.org/de/sid/acpi-support and edit the file /etc/default/acip-support. Remove the comment for LID_SLEEP=true.

# Uncomment this to enable ACPI sleep when the lid screen is closed.
LID_SLEEP=true

Backlight brightness adjustment working as of Bullseye.

WiFi

The Broadcom BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter works with driver 'wl' in the dkms source for the Broadcom STA (binary-only) device driver.

Install the package broadcom-sta-dkms and load the driver 'wl'. (Tested with Jessie and Bullseye). "

Depending on your exact model of your wifi card you have to use a specific driver. My wifi card model

Broadcom Corporation BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)

With the id of your wifi card (in my case: 14e4:43a0) go to this page and find all details about how to get your card working: http://linuxwireless.sipsolutions.net/en/users/Drivers/b43/

Keyboard

Working fine. Change input source for the keyboard to match your hardware. Then all Apple specific positions of some characters (like the @-sign on the L-key) are correct.

All special keys (for example to change the screen brightness and the keyboard-lights brightness) work fine. No configuration required.

Can optionally switch function and multimedia keys, fn and control keys, and option and command keys: Arch wiki.

Integrated Webcam

Works with proprietary firmware and custom kernel module.

System Summary

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT DRAM Controller [8086:0a04] (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0a26] (rev 09)
00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller [8086:0a0c] (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series USB xHCI HC [8086:9c31] (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HECI #0 [8086:9c3a] (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller [8086:9c20] (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:9c10] (rev e4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:9c12] (rev e4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:9c14] (rev e4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 5 [8086:9c18] (rev e4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 6 [8086:9c1a] (rev e4)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 8 Series LPC Controller [8086:9c43] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 8 Series SMBus Controller [8086:9c22] (rev 04)
02:00.0 Multimedia controller [0480]: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:1570]
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
04:00.0 SATA controller [0106]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SS9183 PCIe SSD Controller [1b4b:9183] (rev 14)

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT DRAM Controller [8086:0a04] (rev 09)
        Subsystem: Apple Inc. Device [106b:011b]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: <access denied>

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0a26] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Apple Inc. Device [106b:011b]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 67
        Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
        Memory at a0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        I/O ports at 3000 [size=64]
        Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: i915

00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller [8086:0a0c] (rev 09)
        Subsystem: Apple Inc. Device [106b:011b]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 64
        Memory at b0a10000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series USB xHCI HC [8086:9c31] (rev 04) (prog-if 30 [XHCI])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:7270]
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 66
        Memory at b0a00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd

00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HECI #0 [8086:9c3a] (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:7270]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 65
        Memory at b0a2a100 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: mei_me

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller [8086:9c20] (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:7270]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 68
        Memory at b0a14000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:9c10] (rev e4) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:9c12] (rev e4) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
        Memory behind bridge: b0800000-b09fffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000090000000-000000009fffffff
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:9c14] (rev e4) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
        Memory behind bridge: b0400000-b06fffff
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 5 [8086:9c18] (rev e4) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=9b, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00006fff
        Memory behind bridge: b0b00000-bcbfffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000bcc00000-00000000c8bfffff
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 6 [8086:9c1a] (rev e4) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
        Memory behind bridge: b0700000-b07fffff
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 8 Series LPC Controller [8086:9c43] (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:7270]
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich

00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 8 Series SMBus Controller [8086:9c22] (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:7270]
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 18
        Memory at b0a2a000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        I/O ports at efa0 [size=32]

02:00.0 Multimedia controller [0480]: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:1570]
        Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:1570]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Memory at b0900000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Memory at 90000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Memory at b0800000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
        Capabilities: <access denied>

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43a0] (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Apple Inc. Device [106b:0117]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        Memory at b0600000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
        Memory at b0400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: wl

04:00.0 SATA controller [0106]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SS9183 PCIe SSD Controller [1b4b:9183] (rev 14) (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
        Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88SS9183 PCIe SSD Controller [1b4b:9183]
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 63
        I/O ports at 2028 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 2034 [size=4]
        I/O ports at 2020 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 2030 [size=4]
        I/O ports at 2000 [size=32]
        Memory at b0700000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
        Expansion ROM at b0720000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: ahci

lsusb

lsusb -v | grep -E '\<(Bus|iProduct|bDeviceClass|bDeviceProtocol)' 2>/dev/null

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         3 
  iProduct                2 xHCI Host Controller
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05ac:0291 Apple, Inc. 
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  iProduct                2 Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
      (Bus Powered)
  (Bus Powered)
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 05ac:828f Apple, Inc. 
  bDeviceClass          255 Vendor Specific Class
  bDeviceProtocol         1 
  iProduct                2 Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp. BCM2046B1 USB 2.0 Hub (part of BCM2046 Bluetooth)
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 BRCM20702 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Single TT
  iProduct                2 xHCI Host Controller

Resources

Attachments

Some configuration files and sample outputs.

Useful Links

Dual Boot Mac OS and Debian

To dual boot, install rEFInd. Without rEFInd, grub will not find MacOS as a boot option. MacOS updates will also require running refind-mkdefault, the live rEFInd iso.

EFI-Boot: no problems. No configuration required.

Backup of the "old MacOS": done withe clonezilla. Tested the restore: all works fine.

Credits

CategoryDebianOn

InstallingDebianOnAppleMacBookAir6-2