Translation(s): none

MacBookPro5,1
MacBook Pro 15" Oct 2008, 15" Mar 2009

Contents

Install Debian
Hardware
System Summary

Install Debian

Hardware

CPU / Core 2 Duo T9550

See #cpuinfo for more details.

GPU / Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT and Nvidia GeForce 9400M

The GPU is an NV96 dedicated graphics core. There's also an NVAC integrated graphics core in the MCP79 chipset.

Switching between the two is untested.

2D

KMS works.
no xorg.conf needed for X

3D

mesa's nouveau_dri driver works. FIXME: untested

External display

mini-?DisplayPort connector should work FIXME: untested

Backlight control

nv_backlight (nouveau) works in recent kernels
apple_bl works too, but nv_backlight is preferred by gnome-settings-daemon FIXME: untested

Apple ClickPad

Multi-touch gestures like the drag two-finger drag gesture are supported in the current xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package (>1.6.1).

If you would like your touchpad to behave like the natural scrolling mode in Mac OS X Lion, you have to add the next line to your ~/.Xmodmap

pointer = 1 2 3 5 4 7 6 8 9 10 11 12

Apple Touchpad

?MacBookPro3,1 touchpad behavior might be smoother with the kernel boot option:

appletouch.threshold=3

possibly adding it to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line in /etc/defaults/grub

For older versions you can check PageFragmentClickPadOld

Apple Keyboard

Configuration

You can set up the keyboard layout with this command:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

This will change the config file /etc/default/keyboard into something like this:

XKBMODEL="apple_laptop"
XKBLAYOUT="us"
XKBVARIANT="mac"
XKBOPTIONS="terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"

… or another example:

XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="fr"
XKBVARIANT="mac"
XKBOPTIONS="lv3:rwin_switch"

Default behaviour

'fn'+'Enter' -> Insert
'fn'+'Backspace' -> Delete
'fn'+'Up' -> PageUp
'fn'+'Down' -> PageDown
'fn'+'Left' -> Home
'fn'+'Right' -> End
'Clear' -> NumLock

Function key behaviour

The hid_apple module has a parameter called 'fnmode' to change the behaviour of the 'fn'-key

There's three settings for fnmode:

0 = disabled: Disable the 'fn' key. Pressing 'fn' has no effect
1 = fkeyslast: Enable the 'fn' key. Pressing 'F1-F12' keys will act as special keys. Pressing 'fn'+'F1-F12' will behave like 'F1-F12'.
2 = fkeysfirst: Enable the 'fn' key. Pressing 'F1-F12' keys will behave like the real 'F1-F12'. Pressing 'fn'+'F8' will act as the special key (play/pause in this case).

There's several ways to set this parameter:

using sysfs, for example:

$ echo 2 | sudo tee /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/fnmode

as a module parameter (won't work if you compile hid_apple in your kernel):

$ echo options hid_apple fnmode=2 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf 
$ sudo modprobe --dry-run hid_apple

if this throws no error you can

$ sudo update-initramfs -u

on the kernel command line: edit /etc/default/grub, and add the following to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT variable:
```
hid_apple.fnmode=2
```

Swapped keys on international keyboards

The hid_apple module also has a parameter called 'iso_layout'

0 means international layout, so on an 'English International' keyboard the '§±'-key will be top left, and the '`~'-key will be next to left shift
1 swaps it around

There's several ways to set this parameter:

using sysfs, for example:

$ echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/iso_layout

as a module parameter (won't work if you compile hid_apple in your kernel):

$ echo options hid_apple iso_layout=0 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf 
$ sudo modprobe --dry-run hid_apple

if this throws no error you can

$ sudo update-initramfs -u

on the kernel command line: edit /etc/default/grub, and add the following to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT variable:
```
hid_apple.iso_layout=0
```

SATA / Nvidia MCP79

The firmware switches the SATA controller in two different modes depending on how the system was booted. In BIOS mode you'll need to use the sata_generic driver; in EFI mode you need the ahci driver.

Gigabit Ethernet / Broadcom BCM5764M

Works our of the box with the tg3 driver.

WiFi / Broadcom BCM432x

Installing the driver

The Broadcom BCM4321 and BCM4322 are supported by the b43 driver as of Linux 2.6.38. Later kernels improve the speed and stability of the aforementioned “N-PHY” hardware considerably (thank you, Rafał Miłecki).

To confirm you have such hardware you can refer to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#Device_firmware_installation

Installing the firmware

Ensure you have “contrib” archive area set up in your /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian wheezy main contrib non-free

Next (after an “apt-get update” of course) install the firmware-b43-installer package:

$ sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

The hardware will be fully functional the next time the b43 driver is loaded (after reboot or by explicitly unloading/loading the driver).

Alternative driver

This hardware is also supported by the proprietary wl driver.

Known issues

BCM4321: The wl driver offers many more options than b43, this is specially useful for some advanced wireless scanning and performance data. The main difference, however, is that the b43 driver does not know how to do proper power-saving with this card. The wl driver does a much better job. This is noticeable in the temperature of the card, usually a difference of 10-15°C. In favor of the b43 driver, it is much faster to scan and join wireless networks.

Bluetooth / Broadcom BCM2046

Works out of the box with the btusb driver.

Audio / Nvidia MCP79

Works out of the box with the snd-hda-intel driver.

Power Management

Suspend to ram works out of the box.

Firewire / Agere Systems FW643 (1394b)

Works out of the box.

Apple iSight

Works out of the box with the uvcvideo driver.

Apple IR Receiver

Untested. See also:

Apple ExpressCard slot

Untested.

System Summary

cpuinfo

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 23
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T9550  @ 2.66GHz
stepping        : 10
microcode       : 0xa07
cpu MHz         : 1596.000
cache size      : 6144 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 2
apicid          : 0
initial apicid  : 0
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 13
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 xsave lahf_lm dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority
bogomips        : 5306.36
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 23
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T9550  @ 2.66GHz
stepping        : 10
microcode       : 0xa07
cpu MHz         : 1596.000
cache size      : 6144 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 2
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 2
apicid          : 1
initial apicid  : 1
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 13
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 xsave lahf_lm dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority
bogomips        : 5306.61
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge [10de:0a82] (rev b1)
00:00.1 RAM memory [0500]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller [10de:0a88] (rev b1)
00:03.0 ISA bridge [0601]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 LPC Bridge [10de:0aae] (rev b3)
00:03.1 RAM memory [0500]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller [10de:0aa4] (rev b1)
00:03.2 SMBus [0c05]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 SMBus [10de:0aa2] (rev b1)
00:03.3 RAM memory [0500]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller [10de:0a89] (rev b1)
00:03.4 RAM memory [0500]: NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:0a98] (rev b1)
00:03.5 Co-processor [0b40]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Co-processor [10de:0aa3] (rev b1)
00:04.0 USB controller [0c03]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller [10de:0aa5] (rev b1)
00:04.1 USB controller [0c03]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller [10de:0aa6] (rev b1)
00:06.0 USB controller [0c03]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller [10de:0aa7] (rev b1)
00:06.1 USB controller [0c03]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller [10de:0aa9] (rev b1)
00:08.0 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio [10de:0ac0] (rev b1)
00:09.0 PCI bridge [0604]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Bridge [10de:0aab] (rev b1)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 Ethernet [10de:0ab0] (rev b1)
00:0b.0 IDE interface [0101]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 SATA Controller [10de:0ab5] (rev b1)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac4] (rev b1)
00:15.0 PCI bridge [0604]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac6] (rev b1)
00:16.0 PCI bridge [0604]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac7] (rev b1)
00:17.0 PCI bridge [0604]: NVIDIA Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac7] (rev b1)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation G96 [GeForce 9600M GT] [10de:0647] (rev a1)
04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:432b] (rev 01)
05:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: LSI Corporation FW643 PCI Express 1394b Controller (PHY/Link) [11c1:5901] (rev 07)

lsusb

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05ac:8507 Apple, Inc. Built-in iSight
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp. BCM2046B1 USB 2.0 Hub (part of BCM2046 Bluetooth)
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 05ac:8242 Apple, Inc. IR Receiver [built-in]
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 05ac:0236 Apple, Inc. Internal Keyboard/Trackpad (ANSI)
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 05ac:8213 Apple, Inc.

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 EHCI Host Controller
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 EHCI Host Controller
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 OHCI Host Controller
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceProtocol         0 Full speed (or root) hub
  iProduct                2 OHCI Host Controller
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05ac:8507 Apple, Inc. Built-in iSight
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  iProduct                2 Built-in iSight
      (Bus Powered)
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  (Bus Powered)
Bus 004 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 BRCM2046 Hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 05ac:8242 Apple, Inc. IR Receiver [built-in]
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  iProduct                2 IR Receiver
      (Bus Powered)
  (Bus Powered)
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 05ac:0236 Apple, Inc. Internal Keyboard/Trackpad (ANSI)
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  iProduct                2 Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
      (Bus Powered)
  (Bus Powered)
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 05ac:8213 Apple, Inc. 
  bDeviceClass          224 Wireless
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Bluetooth
  iProduct                2 Bluetooth USB Host Controller

InstallingDebianOnAppleMacBookPro5-1