From: mike d. <fl...@po...> - 2009-05-30 14:16:56
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Hi there, Is anyone using the latest Macbook Pro 17" (in its aluminium unibody version) under GNU/Linux (ideally Debian)? Some preliminary research suggests that: - rebooting might not be working; - battery life seems to be _really_ poor compared to OS X (which reminds me of the situation when Macbooks first came out, and that was years ago); - there seems to be no way to switch between the two GPUs from within GNU/Linux; There doesn't seem to be a lot of information flying around about using GNU/Linux with this precise model, so any feedback would be appreciated. Cheers, -- mike dentifrice <fl...@po...> |
From: mike d. <fl...@po...> - 2009-05-31 10:49:27
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Hey, Thanks for your reply. > I am running Debian (Lenny) on an unibody MacBook (amd64 kernel): > I have observed the first two points, as concerns the third point > I do not see what is meant. MacBook Pro models have two graphic cards one can supposedely switch between: NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT for graphical power, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M for regular use and longer battery life. So far, it seems like it is impossible to do the switch within GNU/Linux, because this would require booting in EFI mode (which might not have been achieved on Aluminium models - can anyone say?) while the proprietary NVIDIA driver relies on BIOS mode from what I understood. Some people here have been trying to switch GPUs within rEFIt, without success as of now: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1076879 > I have noticed other issues: > - the ethernet card seems not fully supported; Oh my. Can you explain a bit further? I totally depend on a working Ethernet card myself, so this could be really critical... > - the NVIDIA linux driver is not yet fully working (but better support > seems according to some comment on the NVIDIA discussion list). Are you talking about the libre driver (nouveau [1]) or the proprietary driver provided by NVIDIA? In any case, can you elaborate a bit more? > I have not yet tried seriously to play with the sound and the camera. Thanks a lot for your feedback! [1] http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/ -- mike dentifrice <fl...@po...> |
From: mike d. <fl...@po...> - 2009-06-18 01:01:43
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Jerome BENOIT a dit: > sorry for my late reply. No problem! > what I meant is that the relevant driver, forcedeth, is listed as an > 10-100Mbit ethernet card, not as an 1000Mbit card. Did you actually try it on a gigabit network? Some people report success using the forcedeth driver with some chipsets at gigabit speed, but what about Macbook's? Cheers, -- mike dentifrice <fl...@po...> |
From: mike d. <fl...@po...> - 2009-06-18 01:02:44
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James Vautin said: > Just curious - have you had any luck with this? Unfortunately, I haven't had an occasion to try yet. I'm in the process of gathering information on GNU/Linux support for the newest MacBook Pro models, before actually buying one of them. > We've got a few of these floating around our office and people are > interested in trying the ubuntu thing .. Cool. Feedback would be great, for I couldn't find any testimony about running GNU/Linux on the 17" aluminium model. > I've been ubuntu on my 15" mbp frmo about a year ago solid .. can't > seem to switch back to os x :) > > everything is good except the battery life, which is about 65-70% of > what i get in mac os x. Each Macbook revision seems to bring us backwards in terms of battery life under GNU/Linux. A few years ago, there were passionate discussions on this list about battery life on intel macs, and powertop's recommandations seemed to be the way to go. Have you tried that already? Cheers, -- mike dentifrice <fl...@po...> |