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Ubuntu On A MacBook 5,1

2009-06-18T17:21:00.014-05:00

After posting my short review of Ubuntu 9.04 a couple of days ago, I felt that I had not done justice to it, nor to the effort I've poured into learning it. This post will attempt to both provide interested parties (myself included) with a complete reference, and chronicle my missteps in a (hopefully temporary) migration to Ubuntu.

First, set up your partitioning. I've been dual-booting Fedora 10 and Mac OS X on my MacBook for a pretty good while, so this was already done. If your MacBook has only OS X, you'll want to follow the guide here to set up dual-booting with BootCamp, or if you're sure Ubuntu is for you, then follow this guide to set up for single-booting. As I mentioned, I had Fedora 11 in a separate partition already, so I didn't need to do any partitioning. At this point, be sure that you install rEFIt in OS X for dual-booting. If you want Ubuntu (or whatever you're putting on your MacBook) to boot by default, uncomment the "legacyfirst" item at the end of refit.conf.

Now, go get Ubuntu. If you've got a MacBook and you're reading this site using said MacBook, I recommend using BitTorrent, but you can also order a free CD or DVD. There are several options for which disk to order or which image download. I have installed Ubuntu to my MacBook using the Desktop and Alternate CDs. I tried using the "Minimal" CD - it doesn't work. I downloaded it after reading this post about Ubuntu-Desktop-Minimal, but at the end of the installation it fails to correctly install the kernel. I later found that the Alternate install disk allows you to chose a command-line system install which results in a similarly minimalist system. I recommend the Alternate install disk for minimal installations and also for anyone who wants to encrypt any part of their hard disk in Ubuntu. As I will detail later, full disk encryption breaks the trackpad on the aluminum MacBook, but the Alternate disk allows you to at least encrypt the home directory of your first user.

During the install, I chose to use four partitions as follows:

/boot, 100MB
/, 10GB
/home, as big as possible
swap, 2GB

If you have more than 2GB of ram in your MacBook, you'll want more than 2GB swap; with a laptop, you need an equal amount of swap space as ram to store an image for resuming from hibernation. If you don't think you'll ever reinstall your system, or you don't care, you can also leave out the separate /home partition and just make / as big as possible. Partition it however you want; I know plenty of people who break out /usr, /var, and /tmp as well. Install the boot loader on /dev/sda; rEFIt will handle it best there.

***NOTE: Do not encrypt anything at this stage. If you opt for full-disk encryption, you'll need to be able to type in a password during boot. The keyboard, which runs off the usbhid driver, will be unusable during the boot sequence if you want your trackpad to work. I want my trackpad to work, and I also want encryption. Encryption works (the linked guide is great), and the computer works until you blacklist usbhid; then it doesn't work. You'll have to reinstall your system because no USB keyboard will work and there is no PS/2 port on the MacBook.

After installation, you'll want to follow the Ubuntu community guide for MacBooks and Jaunty; it's pretty thorough and makes everything work. I had to fiddle around with the trackpad configuration file they provide to make it meet my expectations, but overall it's a good guide. If you went the route I did and installed a command-line system from the Alternate disk, you'll want to plug in an ethernet connection and run the first command from the Ubuntu-Desktop-Minimal script to set up a GNOME environment, and to enable laptop mode as in the guide for battery saving, you'll need the package acpi-support as well. Last thing the guide skips over is installing flash and DVD playback. Luckily, flash is installed the same way as in Fedora 10, and libdvdcss2 is available for easy download. I modified the minimal desktop command heavily to get my preferred FVWM desktop up and running as well. You'll have to add the Dropbox Ubuntu repositories before you can run it.

sudo apt-get install conky fast-user-switch-applet fvwm gimp keepassx mrxvt nautilus-actions nautilus-cd-burner nautilus-dropbox nautilus-image-converter nautilus-open-terminal network-manager pidgin pidgin-otr transmission trayer vim-gtk vlc wireless-tools x11-xfs-utils xfs

I found a "tutorial" on installing SELinux in Ubuntu 8.04, which purported to work for 9.04 as well, but I haven't seen any indication that SELinux is working and apt-get wants to remove it for me any chance it gets, so I don't recommend SELinux at this point. I haven't had a chance to look into AppArmor, but whatever.

The NotifyOSD package in Jaunty provides slick system-wide notifications for pidgin, firefox, transmission, and other apps, but they're too slick ("wow, what a disaster"). I recommend removing the package and sticking with the regular notification-daemon package, since it is configurable on the application level and the notifications respond to clicks. What I'd really like to use is something like mumbles, but I tried it, had no success, and eventually uninstalled.

To use Google software, such as Picasa, you'll want to add the Google software repos to /etc/apt/sources.list, then install the Google key and update apt using the two commands below:

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add - sudo apt-get update

At this point my main gripes with Ubuntu are threefold:

No full-disk encryption (with the MacBook). I'm pretty unsure about the user home directory encryption I've got right now. Documentation is sparse and it's apparently not overly strong encryption.
Printing. I have a Canon MP210 printer/scanner. It works in Fedora, since the i386 drivers provided by Canon can be installed on an x86_64 system. Not so in Ubuntu, at least that I've been able to find.
SELinux. I'd really like to have it back.

Any other tips/tricks/comments? Anyone know how to get SELinux or my printer working? Any workarounds for blacklisting the usbhid driver and still being able to get a password typed in to unlock encrypted partitions?

SPECK Highlighting

2009-05-16T12:16:00.003-05:00

When I'm reading my Bible, I often find it helpful to mark certain passages because they seem especially important, but I've never had any method for deciding which ones to mark. A friend showed me this technique several months ago and I couldn't find any place where it's explained online (if you know of one, please post it in the comments!), so here it is. This is the best method I've found for highlighting important verses to find them later. I highlight using five colors; other variations of the technique exist using four, or six, or seven. Here's the list, with a few examples:

Sins to avoid (Yellow) - I Samuel 13:13, Matthew 5:19, I Corinthians 12:21
Promises from God (Green) - I Samuel 12:22, Matthew 5:19, Philippians 3:20-21
Examples to follow (Orange) - I Samuel 16:18, Matthew 14:28, I Timothy 3:2-3
Commands from God (Blue) - I Samuel 12:20, Matthew 10:16, II Timothy 2:1-2
Knowledge to understand (Brown) - I Samuel 15:22, Psalm 119:1-2, I John 5:11-12

What do you highlight? Or do you not highlight anything?

Fixing Microsoft Windows

2009-04-25T12:23:00.006-05:00

I've spent the last few days helping out some old friends with their four Windows XP computers (all from Dell) and it amazes me the amount of stuff I needed to do. My friends wanted me to wipe three of the four computers and see what I could do to speed up the fourth (I couldn't wipe it as it actually belongs to their church and too many people use it for me to have talked to each of them about what they actually needed backed up). Here's a consolidated list of the things I did and wished I could have done to each of the computers.

Back up necessary documents and settings.
Create an install disk with nLite: I didn't actually get to do this with any of the computers I worked with this week, but removing Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, MSN/Windows Messenger, and Windows Media Player and integrating service packs before I even did the install would have been a great start.
Install Windows while disconnected from the internet - why put a completely unprotected computer on the network?
Install antivirus software and hardware drivers from a thumbdrive: I downloaded AVG Free Antivirus and each Dell's required hardware drivers to a thumbdrive on another computer and then ran the installers that way. AVG's installer was the first of many that presented me with the option to install a toolbar (AVG, Google, Yahoo!, Yahoo!CCleaner, MSN, etc), and as a rule I don't install any of them.
Connect to the network and run Microsoft Update: This takes forever (and multiple iterations), but it's got to be done - and I firmly believe it should be done immediately upon installation. I installed every update except those dealing with Messenger and WindowsLive; for those updates I check the little "never show this update again" box.
Install Windows Defender and CCleaner: I'm glad Fedora doesn't need all this stuff to protect it!
Install Flash, Java, and Silverlight: My friends are not the most computer-saavy (hence Windows), and even if the computer was for me, I'd need these three programs to get the most out of the internet.
Install alternatives for AdobeReader, Quicktime, and RealPlayer: I chose to use SumatraPDF, QuickTime Alternative, and Real Alterative. Again, these are essential programs for everyday use.
Decide, based on how the computer will be used, which other basic software is needed:
- iTunes: My friends all use iTunes to download music, so I installed the bloat-free version that works with QuickTime Alternative.
- Pidgin: AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN Messenger... all in one.
- Skype: All arguments against it aside, it does work, and it's free....
Install whatever specialized software is needed: I'd love to say I installed OpenOffice for my friends, but it's unacceptable to them to have any inconsistencies whatsoever in their Word documents and PowerPoint presentations, so Microsoft Office got added in; one of my friends is a pastor, so PC Study Bible and iLumina were added to his as well. Whatever other software is necessary goes in this category.
Copy in backed-up documents and settings.
Set up email in Outlook and the desired homepage(s) in Internet Explorer. Again, I wish I could have moved my friends to Thunderbird and Firefox or Opera, but I didn't know any way to make Blackberry software work with Thunderbird and my friends just won't understand using a browser other than IE, which is necessary for Microsoft Update anyway.
Run Microsoft Update again (as many times as necessary until it finds no new updates), reboot, run CCleaner, and defragment to finish everything right.

If you think I made any mistakes or missed anything, I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Lent

2009-02-27T11:29:00.003-06:00

I've discovered that BibleGateway has a great Lent Reading Plan - all four gospels and a few other passages during the 40 days of Lent. I know I'm a couple of days late, but I'm going to add it to my daily readings for the next 38 days! BibleGateway has a few other reading plans available, as well, that I may delve into once Easter arrives.

How To Be A Real Man

2009-02-15T11:00:00.015-06:00

This is a list of verses I've found that speak about real men, or what it means to be a man...

Genesis 4:26(b) -> Call upon the LORD
I Samuel 16:18 -> Musical, valorous, prudent, and the LORD's favor
Proverbs 24:16 -> Persevere
Matthew 5:13-16 -> Be different from the world's ideas
Ephesians 4:11-16 -> United with other believers and speaking truth
Ephesians 4:25-32 -> Speaking truth; not being controlled by anger
Colossians 3:19,21 -> Love his wife and children
Colossians 3:23-24 -> Do everything to the best of his ability
I Timothy 3:2-13 -> Above reproach, free from vices
Titus 1:6-9 -> Not addicted to alcohol or quick-tempered
Titus 2:2, 6-8 -> Temperate, sensible, sound in faith and doctrine
Hebrews 13:7 -> Imitating Godly mentors and models
James 4:10 -> Humble
I Peter 3:7 -> Love his wife and care for her
II Peter 1:5-8 -> Constantly growing in order to be productive

How To Configure Fedora 10

2009-01-22T08:53:00.024-06:00

[EDIT 29 Jan 2009:] I just figured out something very important. Upon completion of the "Firefly" series on Hulu.com, I pop in my DVD of Serenity, and... nothing. VLC won't open it, neither will xine, nothing. Having used libdvdcss in the past, I immediately go to yum and try to install it, but it isn't there. Afer searching teh blagoweb for several minutes, I finally find, in a comment on this post, that the repo at rpm.livna.org is still up to serve one package that RPMFusion refuses to carry. Guess what that package was? The first long command in this guide now installs the livna repository and libdvdcss.[/EDIT]

After several months of working fine, one of Fedora 10's updates last week killed my MacBook's networking capability. I tried everything I could think of, but to no avail, so last night I reinstalled Fedora 10, and I realized that I do a lot of post-install configuration work that I don't have saved on this blog, so here's How I Configure Fedora 10.

PRE-INSTALL (MacBook):
Partition your drive using Boot Camp... you really only need to use it to shrink the Mac OS X hfs+ partition. The rest of the partitioning doesn't matter.
Install rEFIt.
Install the StartupSound.prefPane in Mac OS X and mute the startup noise... unless you really love annoying everyone around you every time you turn on your computer.

INSTALL:
During my install, which I generally do from the Fedora 10 netinstall CD (which I get via bittorrent), I usually make a / partition (about 15GB, ext3), a swap partition (2 or 3GB, swap), and a /home partition (whatever is left, ext3). The EFI boot system on the MacBook requires a /boot partition (100MB, ext3). I always set a hostname for the computer, and for package selection, I uncheck everything except the "Base," "Java," and "X Window System" groups. If you use GNOME, KDE, XFCE, or whatever other window manager aside from FVWM, then you should check the appropriate box at that point and remove "fvwm" from the long command listed next.

POST-INSTALL COMMAND LINE:
You can do a lot with one command. This command removes PackageKit, the Totem line of media players, and the Presto yum plugin, adds the Adobe, Google, Livna, FedoraJunkies, and RPMFusion software repositories, and adds in all the software I use on a regular basis. It also fixes the Google favicon mismatch in Firefox. The last thing that happens is sensors-detect, which helps the kernel to know what hardware sensors are available on your computer. You'll have to manually enter "yes" to each of it's questions.

64-bit, including MacBook: yum -y install yum-fastestmirror && yum -y remove *packagekit* *PackageKit* *totem* yum-presto && rpm -ivh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm && rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm && wget https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub && rpm --import linux_signing_key.pub && cd /etc/yum.repos.d/ && wget http://nstickney.googlepages.com/google.repo http://nstickney.googlepages.com/google64.repo http://nstickney.googlepages.com/fedorajunkies.repo && cd && yum -y update && yum -y install aterm AdobeReader_enu boinc-client boinc-manager conky firefox fvwm gcc gdm gimp gnome-mount-nautilus-properties gnomesword gnupg google-desktop-linux gparted grip gvim imlib2 imlib2-devel libdvdcss libogg mozilla-vlc mpc mpd numlockx padevchooser paman paprefs pavucontrol pavumeter picasa pidgin pidgin-libnotify pidgin-otr sonata thunderbird thunderbird-lightning transmission scrot vlc yumex && yum -y install *fonts* nautilus* pulseaudio* --exclude=*debug --exclude=*devel && cd /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/ && wget http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashplayer10/libflashplayer-10.0.22.87.linux-x86_64.so.tar.gz && tar -xvzf libflashplayer-10.0.22.87.linux-x86_64.so.tar.gz && cd /usr/lib64/firefox-*/searchplugins/ && rm -rf google.xml && wget http://www.mozillalinks.org/download/google.xml && cd && wget http://dnmouse.org/fedora/truecrypt/10/x86_64/truecrypt-6.1-1.fc10.x86_64.rpm && yum -y install truecrypt-6.1-1.fc10.x86_64.rpm && rm -rf truecrypt-6.1-1.fc10.x86_64.rpm && sensors-detect

32-bit: yum -y install yum-fastestmirror && yum -y remove *packagekit* *PackageKit* *totem* yum-presto && rpm -ivh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm && rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm && wget https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub && rpm --import linux_signing_key.pub && cd /etc/yum.repos.d/ && wget http://nstickney.googlepages.com/google.repo http://nstickney.googlepages.com/fedorajunkies.repo && cd && yum -y update && yum -y install aterm AdobeReader_enu boinc-client boinc-manager conky firefox flash-pluin fvwm gcc gdm gimp gnome-mount-nautilus-properties gnomesword gnupg google-desktop-linux gparted grip gvim imlib2 imlib2-devel libdvdcss libogg mozilla-vlc mpc mpd numlockx padevchooser paman paprefs pavucontrol pavumeter picasa pidgin pidgin-libnotify pidgin-otr sonata thunderbird thunderbird-lightning transmission scrot vlc yumex && yum -y install *fonts* nautilus* --exclude=*debug --exclude=*devel && cd /usr/lib/firefox-*/searchplugins/ && rm -rf google.xml && wget http://www.mozillalinks.org/download/google.xml && cd && wget http://dnmouse.org/fedora/truecrypt/10/i386/truecrypt-6.1-1.fc10.i386.rpm && yum -y install truecrypt-6.1-1.fc10.i386.rpm && rm -rf truecrypt-6.1-1.fc10.i386.rpm && sensors-detect

HARDWARE SPECIFIC COMMAND LINE:
If you have an aluminum MacBook, you're probably wondering why you have no video... To fix it, add support for the nVidia video card with the following command, which also adds networking support for the Broadcom wireless card. The second half of the command (after "&&") fixes the soundcard detection for the new MacBooks. For Fedora to start a GUI automatically on a new MacBook, you'll have to edit the file /etc/inittab and change the "3" in the very bottom line to a "5" (id:3:initdefault: becomes id:5:initdefault:).
yum -y install kmod-nvidia kmod-wl && echo "options snd_hda_intel model=mbp3" >> /etc/modprobe.d/sound

The wireless card on my fiancé's laptop (2004 model 17" Dell Precision M60) is a Broadcom card, but it's older than the one in the MacBook and so the kmod-wl driver solution doesn't work. Ndiswrapper to the rescue! Note: substitute in a link to your card's WindowsXP drivers package where I put "R115321.EXE" in this command -- you'll have to find it on your own.
yum -y install kmod-ndiswrapper && mkdir wld && cd wld && wget http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R115321.EXE && unzip R115321.EXE && cd DRIVER && ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf && cd && rm -rf wld && ndiswrapper -m

My desktop computer has an ATI video card; to make it work, I installed the kmod-fglrx package from RPMFusion.
yum -y remove xorg-x11-drv-ati && yum -y install kmod-fglrx

My desktop's wireless card is a Netgear card, but the important thing is that it's an Atheros chipset... an AR5212/AR5213 to be exact. To make it work, I simply installed the Madwifi drivers.
yum -y install kmod-madwifi

If you're just now getting video, you'll realize that Fedora 10 won't let you log into a GUI session as root. So you'll have to make a user. If you had video from the beginning, you probably made a user during the GUI setup the first time you booted after installation. If so, you don't need to do this.
useradd new_username -p

I have a Canon Pixma MP210 printer, and it also requires some special work. The command below gets the four required .rpm driver files from the Canon Australia support page and installs them, along with their dependencies.
cd && rm -rf *.rpm && wget http://pdisp01.c-wss.com/gdl/WWUFORedirectTarget.do?id=MDEwMDAwMDgyNzAx http://pdisp01.c-wss.com/gdl/WWUFORedirectTarget.do?id=MDEwMDAwMDg0NDAx http://pdisp01.c-wss.com/gdl/WWUFORedirectTarget.do?id=MDEwMDAwMDg0MjAx http://pdisp01.c-wss.com/gdl/WWUFORedirectTarget.do?id=MDEwMDAwMDgzMTAx && yum -y install *.rpm --nogpgcheck && rm -rf *.rpm

FINALIZING COMMAND LINE CONFIG:
Clean everything up and reboot to GUI.
yum -y update && yum -y clean all && rpm --rebuilddb && updatedb && reboot

POST-INSTALL GUI:
As I mentioned in this post, PulseAudio doesn't work right out of the box for some people; to fix it, add tsched=0 to the end of the line load-module module-hal-detect in the file /etc/pulse/default.pa.

The applesmc kernel module allows control of fans and sensors in Apple hardware. Instructions for autoloading the module at boot are available at Cenolan's guide for installing Fedora 10 on older MacBooks. That guide also includes information for getting the Plymouth graphical boot loader working on MacBooks; I don't use Plymouth, prefering a text-only boot (see next paragraph)... but the guide works as advertised.

My preference is a text-only boot, and I like to actually see the boot menu, even when it only has one item. Both are easy enough with grub. I simply delete the line hiddenmenu and any instances of rghb quiet from the file /etc/grub.conf and set the timeout value to "3".

A default Fedora 10 install starts a lot of services at boot, many of which I don't need. Mauriat Miranda has a pretty good explanation of them at his website. I generally run system-config-services and set it so that everything is disabled except the following: acpid, auditd, cpuspeed, cups, gpm, haldaemon, ip6tables, iptables, kerneloops, lm_sensors, messagebus, microcode_ctl, network, portreserve, rsyslog, setroubleshoot, and udev-post. Many people like to have NetworkManager running as it can automate switching wireless networks (great for laptops), but it's never worked for me, so I disable it and enable network. If you are running a software raid array, you should also enable mdmonitor.

My post about essential software covers all the Firefox/Thunderbird extensions, Greasemonkey scripts, and other bits and pieces, and there's no real need to list it all again, so here's a link to that post.

My last steps are to install my personal FVWM and other configuration files... but that's another whole post, or a few thousand.

F10 on Aluminum MacBook: Sound Working

2008-12-18T16:26:00.002-06:00

Update to this post about installing Fedora 10 on a brand-new MacBook...

To make the sound work, at least from the headphone jack, I had to run this command, from a guide Naresh put up on his blog...

echo "options snd_hda_intel model=mbp3" >> /etc/modprobe.d/sound

This sets the soundcard model option for the sound server. I then followed this guide to get PulseAudio running by changing one line of the pulseaudio config file /etc/pulse/default.pa, adding tsched=0 to the end of the line load-module module-hal-detect. It also directed me to install a bunch of PulseAudio packages, some of which don't exist and others I didn't need. The command I ended up running is below. I'm not sure if all of these packages are necessary; most of them were already on my system. In any case, sound works now. Out of the headphone port.

yum -y install pavucontrol pavumeter paman padevchooser paprefs alsa-plugins-pulseaudio pulseaudio pulseaudio-core-libs pulseaudio-esound-compat pulseaudio-libs pulseaudio-libs-glib2 pulseaudio-libs-zeroconf pulseaudio-module-gconf pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-module-zeroconf pulseaudio-utils xine-lib-pulseaudio

Fedora 10 on a new MacBook

2008-11-28T15:30:00.015-06:00

That's right, folks, I'm running Fedora 10 on my shiny new MacBook 5.1... and you can too!! Here's how to do it.

1) Partition your harddrive with BootCamp. My harddrive is 160 gigs (yes, I bought the cheapest MacBook since it was all I could afford), so I shrank the Mac OS X HFS+ partition to 40 GB and left the rest for "Windows." Note: don't actually install Windows, just exit BootCamp once the partitioning is done.

2) Install Fedora 10 as per the Fedora 8 instructions on mactel-linux.org. This includes installing rEFIt. I made partitions for / (40GB), /boot (200MB), /home (as big as possible), and swap (2GB). Unfortunately, the NetInstall CD doesn't correctly identify the video card, so the installation and the rest of this configuration is all done in text mode. However, once the nVidia drivers from RPMFusion are installed, Fedora will automagically detect and configure the video card so the last reboot in this sequence should lead to a fully fuctional X session.

3) [EDITED] Install extra repositories and other software as needed following my future post.

4) Install the nVidia graphics drivers from RPMFusion (as root):
yum install kmod-nvidia

5) Install the Broadcom wireless drivers from RPMFusion (as root):
yum install kmod-wl

6) ???

7) Profit!

As of right now, I don't have the trackpad working to my satisfaction... the mactel-linux guides for Fedora 8 and Fedora 9 both claim to have the function keys and trackpad working just like they do in Mac OS X, but I can't seem to get them functioning. pommed, the daemon to make MacBook function keys work, hasn't been released/packaged for Fedora 10 yet, and I'm too lazy to build it from source. Also, for some reason I have no sound. Expect updates as this goes on.

However, Fedora 10 FTW!!!