Arch Linux

Coldwine

Member

Registered: 2017-06-06

Posts: 4

[Solved] Macbook Pro 11,3 (Intel/Nvidia) activate Intel graphics

Hi all,

I've been using Arch for a while now on my Macbook Pro 11,3. It's the modell with the Intel/Nvidia setup, which works fine on macOS and almost so on arch. One issue I was not able to solve is the integrated Intel gpu, which is per default powered down on any system but macOS.

/etc/default/grub

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="Arch"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="cryptdevice=/dev/sda4:cryptolvm"

# Preload both GPT and MBR modules so that they are not missed
GRUB_PRELOAD_MODULES="part_gpt part_msdos"

# Uncomment to enable Hidden Menu, and optionally hide the timeout count
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=5
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true

# Uncomment to use basic console
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT=console

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal
#GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
GRUB_GFXMODE=auto

# Uncomment to allow the kernel use the same resolution used by grub
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

# Uncomment if you want GRUB to pass to the Linux kernel the old parameter 
# format "root=/dev/xxx" instead of "root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/xxx" 
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY=true

# Uncomment and set to the desired menu colors.  Used by normal and wallpaper 
# modes only.  Entries specified as foreground/background.
#GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-blue/black"
#GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-cyan/blue"

# Uncomment one of them for the gfx desired, a image background or a gfxtheme
#GRUB_BACKGROUND="/path/to/wallpaper"
#GRUB_THEME="/path/to/gfxtheme"

# Uncomment to get a beep at GRUB start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

#GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT="true"
GRUB_ENABLE_CRYPTODISK=y

/etc/mkinitcpio.conf

# vim:set ft=sh
# MODULES
# The following modules are loaded before any boot hooks are
# run.  Advanced users may wish to specify all system modules
# in this array.  For instance:
#     MODULES="piix ide_disk reiserfs"
MODULES="nouveau"

# BINARIES
# This setting includes any additional binaries a given user may
# wish into the CPIO image.  This is run last, so it may be used to
# override the actual binaries included by a given hook
# BINARIES are dependency parsed, so you may safely ignore libraries
BINARIES=""

# FILES
# This setting is similar to BINARIES above, however, files are added
# as-is and are not parsed in any way.  This is useful for config files.
FILES=""

# HOOKS
# This is the most important setting in this file.  The HOOKS control the
# modules and scripts added to the image, and what happens at boot time.
# Order is important, and it is recommended that you do not change the
# order in which HOOKS are added.  Run 'mkinitcpio -H <hook name>' for
# help on a given hook.
# 'base' is _required_ unless you know precisely what you are doing.
# 'udev' is _required_ in order to automatically load modules
# 'filesystems' is _required_ unless you specify your fs modules in MODULES
# Examples:
##   This setup specifies all modules in the MODULES setting above.
##   No raid, lvm2, or encrypted root is needed.
#    HOOKS="base"
#
##   This setup will autodetect all modules for your system and should
##   work as a sane default
#    HOOKS="base udev autodetect block filesystems"
#
##   This setup will generate a 'full' image which supports most systems.
##   No autodetection is done.
#    HOOKS="base udev block filesystems"
#
##   This setup assembles a pata mdadm array with an encrypted root FS.
##   Note: See 'mkinitcpio -H mdadm' for more information on raid devices.
#    HOOKS="base udev block mdadm encrypt filesystems"
#
##   This setup loads an lvm2 volume group on a usb device.
#    HOOKS="base udev block lvm2 filesystems"
#
##   NOTE: If you have /usr on a separate partition, you MUST include the
#    usr, fsck and shutdown hooks.
HOOKS="base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard lvm2 encrypt fsck"

# COMPRESSION
# Use this to compress the initramfs image. By default, gzip compression
# is used. Use 'cat' to create an uncompressed image.
#COMPRESSION="gzip"
#COMPRESSION="bzip2"
#COMPRESSION="lzma"
#COMPRESSION="xz"
#COMPRESSION="lzop"
#COMPRESSION="lz4"

# COMPRESSION_OPTIONS
# Additional options for the compressor
#COMPRESSION_OPTIONS=""

Output of lsblk -D

NAME          DISC-ALN DISC-GRAN DISC-MAX DISC-ZERO
sda                  0        4K       2G         0
├─sda1               0        4K       2G         0 # EFI system partition
├─sda2               0        4K       2G         0 # macOS
├─sda3               0        4K       2G         0 # macOS Recovery
└─sda4               0        4K       2G         0 # Luks container
  └─cryptolvm        0        4K       2G         0 # LVM container
    ├─HD-swap        0        4K       2G         0
    ├─HD-root        0        4K       2G         0
    └─HD-home        0        4K       2G         0

/dev/sda1 is mounted under /boot/efi  and I install grub with

grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi/ --bootloader-id=grub

On a reboot grub starts automatically by giving me a prompt for the crypt-password and lets me boot into Arch just fine.

Grub itself is build from grub-git with the apple_set_os patch. I can also execute the command on the grub command-line.

What I don't understand is, how to start it before Arch starts automatically. I believe I could just run gpu-switch -i if I solve that one.

Thanks alot for reading and helping me.

Last edited by Coldwine (2017-06-08 21:48:44)

Coldwine

Member

Registered: 2017-06-06

Posts: 4

Re: [Solved] Macbook Pro 11,3 (Intel/Nvidia) activate Intel graphics

I added a new menuentry to /etc/grub.d/40-custom

menuentry "Activate Intel Graphics" {
        apple_set_os
}

ran sudo gpu-switch -i and restarted the system.

In grub I selected the new entry, which only took a blink to complete. After that I selected the regular Arch Linux booting entry and was greeted by a black screen. After booting, X was showing as normal, but it seems the vconsole reacted to the change, by giving me the mentioned black screen.

Sad thing is, on running lspci, there's still no Intel gpu showing up. Am I missing something, or doing something completely wrong? I'm at a loss here, since I followed all the related guides in the wiki and all the stuff I found on the web.

Onf

Member

Registered: 2017-03-29

Posts: 13

Re: [Solved] Macbook Pro 11,3 (Intel/Nvidia) activate Intel graphics

You can have a look here:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=198051&p=6

The latest mac firmware updates break the apple_set_os patch which is in aur for certain macs.

Coldwine

Member

Registered: 2017-06-06

Posts: 4

Re: [Solved] Macbook Pro 11,3 (Intel/Nvidia) activate Intel graphics

You can have a look here:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=198051&p=6

The latest mac firmware updates break the apple_set_os patch which is in aur for certain macs.

I managed to get it running with those instructions. I never searched for related Windows issues, so I have to thank you alot for that pointer!

Onf

Member

Registered: 2017-03-29

Posts: 13

Re: [Solved] Macbook Pro 11,3 (Intel/Nvidia) activate Intel graphics

You're welcome.
I struggled a bit myself before resolving the issue, that's why I shared it here.

It's not common to find a Mac/Linux compatibility solution on a windows thread