Switching to archlinux on MacBook Pro 13'' (december 2010)

samuele.mattiuzzo · 2011-04-11 16:14:05

Hi all!
I've been missing a lot archlinux since i bought a 13 inches MacBook Pro in december.
So i started looking around on the forum get some informations about using Arch on the MB, and i'm very happy that all runs smoothly without issues.

Before moving, tho, i still have some questions.

I bought this laptop for three reasons: the battery, the mobility and the multitouch.
I do a lot of developing, always moving from university to office to home, and i needed a robust and quick laptop with a lot of battery time, other than low weight.

I use it for django and python developing (so, also, mysql server) and c/c++/java for university projects, and with those i am sure i'll have no problem!
I need to have windows installed too (just for steam, actually, and dawn of war 2), to be sure i can use the mini display port (with hdmi, for the external monitor and movies) and have no problems with the graphic chipset (just to play hd videos on the monitor)

If i'm leaving osx (lot of bloatness) for arch, i'll be back to my minimal configuration with urxvt, xmonad (or awesome), irssi, vim and mpd, xrandr to handle the multi monitors and old proud conkeror as browser.

So, in the end, what about the mini display port? And will i be able to mantain my battery time (or even improving it, by using a low-resource minimal system like arch)? Any issues i should know about?

Thanks all in advance for your opinion!

litemotiv · 2011-04-11 16:27:28

The mini display port works fine, but you will lose some battery time since OSX monitors all (20+) sensors on the machine and adjusts power/speeds/frequencies accordingly. This includes wireless, usb, bluetooth etc. to optimize battery life, in linux you just don't have the same amount of control. Roughly 10-15% less battery is to be expected.

samuele.mattiuzzo · 2011-04-11 16:42:43

Even with the help of lm_sensors, cpufreq and enabling / disabling devices only when i need them? With my old hp laptop i had great performances by configuring all these...

EDIT: another question: i have now refit installed, and a windows partition. Can i just erase the osx partition and install arch, keeping the windows installation?

Last edited by samuele.mattiuzzo (2011-04-11 16:54:56)

espace.ariane · 2011-04-11 17:41:31

EDIT: another question: i have now refit installed, and a windows partition. Can i just erase the osx partition and install arch, keeping the windows installation?

Well you can, but it is not recommended, as OS X is needed for the firmware updates

samuele.mattiuzzo · 2011-04-11 18:07:27

oh.. ok, so the triple boot in this case is kinda needed, right?

tdstephens3 · 2011-05-12 13:37:45

Can't seem to find mini display port.

It seems others have been successful, alas I am not. I am attempting to attach an external monitor on my aluminum body macbook running Arch, but the mini display port seems to be evading detection.

Output of lspci:
[09:44:10] tds3 ~ $ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge (rev b1)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 LPC Bridge (rev b2)
00:03.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.2 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SMBus (rev b1)
00:03.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation Device 0a98 (rev b1)
00:03.5 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Co-processor (rev b1)
00:04.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)
00:04.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)
00:06.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)
00:06.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)
00:08.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio (rev b1)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Bridge (rev b1)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Ethernet (rev b1)
00:0b.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SATA Controller (rev b1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C79 [GeForce 9400M] (rev b1)
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)

Output of xrandr -q: (with external monitor attached and powered on)

[09:49:18] tds3 ~ $ xrandr -q
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 175, current 1280 x 800, maximum 1280 x 800
default connected 1280x800+0+0 0mm x 0mm
1280x800 50.0*
1024x768 51.0 52.0
832x624 53.0
800x600 54.0 55.0 56.0 57.0 58.0
720x400 59.0
700x525 60.0
640x512 61.0 62.0
640x480 63.0 64.0 65.0 66.0 67.0
640x400 68.0
640x350 69.0
576x432 70.0
512x384 71.0 72.0 73.0 74.0 75.0
416x312 76.0
400x300 77.0 78.0 79.0 80.0 81.0
360x200 82.0
320x240 83.0 84.0 85.0 86.0
320x200 87.0
320x175 88.0

Does this make sense?

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-11 16:14:05

Switching to archlinux on MacBook Pro 13'' (december 2010)

#2 2011-04-11 16:27:28

Re: Switching to archlinux on MacBook Pro 13'' (december 2010)

#3 2011-04-11 16:42:43

Re: Switching to archlinux on MacBook Pro 13'' (december 2010)

#4 2011-04-11 17:41:31

Re: Switching to archlinux on MacBook Pro 13'' (december 2010)

#5 2011-04-11 18:07:27

Re: Switching to archlinux on MacBook Pro 13'' (december 2010)

#6 2011-05-12 13:37:45

Re: Switching to archlinux on MacBook Pro 13'' (december 2010)

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