Arch Linux

tanis14

Member

Registered: 2025-06-10

Posts: 3

Drivers issues on MacBook 12 2015

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to breathe new life into an old MacBook 12" (Early 2015) — model MacBook 8,1 A1534 2746.  — by running Arch Linux on it. So far, the performance with KDE is great, but I’m facing several hardware-related issues:

• Keyboard and touchpad not working.

• Audio not working.

• Bluetooth not working.

• (Possibly) camera not working — though I don't need it.

My main focus is getting the keyboard, touchpad, and audio working properly.

System Info

• Kernel: 6.15.1-arch1-2

• DE: KDE Plasma

During boot, I’m seeing the following errors related to the keyboard and touchpad:

[    9.499032] applespi spi-APP000D:00: SPI transfer timed out
[    9.499128] applespi spi-APP000D:00: Error reading from device: -110
[    9.499276] spi_master spi1: failed to transfer one message from queue

This error loops indefinitely. I had to blacklist applespi during installation just to proceed.

What I’ve Tried

• Tested the LTS kernel and also compiled 6.16.0-rc1 – same results as mainline.

• Tried the macbook12-spi-driver – it fails to compile out of the box.

• I manually patched the C code to make it compile, but the driver still doesn’t work (same errors as built-in kernels).

Has anyone had success getting this model to work better under Arch or Linux in general? I'm aware it's a challenging device for Linux, but I'd love to get at least the basics (keyboard, touchpad, audio) working reliably.

Any suggestions, patches, or custom kernel configurations are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

tanis14

Member

Registered: 2025-06-10

Posts: 3

Re: Drivers issues on MacBook 12 2015

Hi again,

It doesn’t matter anymore — I’m selling this laptop. Intel Macs are pretty much done at this point.

I tested Linux Mint with kernel 6.8, and the keyboard and touchpad only work intermittently. From what I’ve read, there’s an open issue with the applespi module starting with kernel 6.12, apparently due to a major refactor involving Intel MMU. It’s supposedly fixed in linux-next and might land in 6.17, but I haven’t tested that.

On top of that, there’s still no solution for the missing audio driver or Bluetooth support.

eval

Member

Registered: 2025-07-02

Posts: 2

Re: Drivers issues on MacBook 12 2015

Hi tanis14,

If you're still about - I don't suppose you still had a link to that applespi issue? I've been running into the same issue with my laptop, and I've been struggling to find the details you mention...

Thanks in advance!

tanis14

Member

Registered: 2025-06-10

Posts: 3

Re: Drivers issues on MacBook 12 2015

Hi eval,

I've given up, I sold the computer.

I found this link while searching for something like "applespi ubuntu dma issue", because the same thing is happening on Ubuntu 25.04:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … ug/2107976

Apparently, it's supposed to be fixed in linux-next. Maybe in a few months it'll make it into Arch Linux mainline.

eval

Member

Registered: 2025-07-02

Posts: 2

Re: Drivers issues on MacBook 12 2015

Hi eval,

I've given up, I sold the computer.

Very understandable tbh.

I got mine from a family member who was otherwise recycling it, and mostly wanted to use it as a bit of a small and lightweight Intel kickabout … I use Fedora on my big desktop, and otherwise an Apple M1 laptop.

Thanks for the link — I’ll keep an eye on that, and cross my fingers for 5.17.