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Mint Debian is so much better on the old mac than Mint Ubuntu (discuss.online)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by sureshot0@discuss.online to c/linux@lemmy.world
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I've got a Macbook Pro A1707

I put Mint Ubuntu on it, had some issues but it was fine. Flashed Mint Debian as an experiment and it's a lot better, even though it has a lot of the same problems and I can't get the speaker to start... I still have to adjust the txpower every single time I boot up in order to start the wifi, but the biggest difference is the fan driver.

For some reason on Mint Ubuntu it was more difficult to control when the fan came on and how sensitively it reacted to sensing heat, not really an issue on Mint Debian, it will kick on for any length of time once it senses heat, I can more easily adjust the fans manually as well.

I don't know if I'd get much money for it if I sold so I'm just trying to use it until it falls apart. I'll figure out the speakers eventually, I guess. This time it isn't the speakers, it's something else, on Mint Ubuntu the speakers just didn't work until I installed the drivers... on Mint Debian the speakers work but only display sounds from booting up or other computing actions, can't play sound from music files or video, can't even plug in headphones. When the speakers on Mint Ubuntu didn't work before I installed the driver, I could listen with my headphones only. Weird.

Anyway just sharing this experience. The command to adjust the txpower appropraitely is

sudo iwconfig [yours] txpower 10

edit: edited for typos

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[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Does your A1707 have the touch bar? My wife has an A1706 w/touch bar that she wants me to Linux-ify.

I'm solidly in the LMDE camp as well; running LMDE 7 on all of my personal machines. Love it.

on Mint Debian the speakers work but only display sounds from booting up or other computing actions, can’t play sound from music files or video, can’t even plug in headphones

That sounds like a driver issue, maybe with pipewire or whatever it uses. I'm genuinely curious to see what you've tried already, seeing as I'm going to be doing this at some point...

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yes, mine has the touch bar. I heard the t2 Ubuntu can give you back the Touch Bar, maybe this will be next distro to try but I’m wary and I just want a computer now lol

I unfortunately misplaced my documentation too, last time I do that. I don’t know if it’s a driver issue because the sound works when I boot up and other computer actions, just not when I play media, not even when I plug in headphones

I don’t have much advice for your wife’s computer other than XCFE on my A1707 made everything all tiny, and Ubuntu in general was too much for it. Before I had Mint Ubuntu on there I tried regular Ubuntu and it wouldn’t connect to the Internet even with a cable.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If that's an every time thing, I'd be tempted to compile myself a very simple C program that uses system or execl to run /usr/sbin/iwconfig and my preferred parameters. Then I'd change the owner to root, give it the SUID bit and then put a call to it somewhere in my startup.

(As to where on the system I'd put it, /usr/local/sbin is probably the best choice. Where/when in the startup is slightly more difficult. On a single user machine, it might be OK, or even work best, in the GUI's Startup Applications, rather than anywhere like /etc/init.d/)

If I was really curious, I'd go digging to find anything else that might already be doing that and if not, where the default settings are kept and see if they can be changed, making the above unnecessary.

For the sake of this comment I had a quick dig around and didn't find anything obvious on my own machine, but then, this isn't a Mac nor do I use wireless, which might be hampering my efforts.

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I’d be tempted to compile myself a very simple C program

I was tempted too. That's why I did that, and bricked my laptop, and had to do a fresh install.

As to where on the system I’d put it, /usr/local/sbin is probably the best choice.

It wasn't the best choice.

Where/when in the startup... the GUI’s Startup Applications

Not there.

If I was really curious

I am no longer curious. I can just type this command every time, no big deal. As for the computer, it's fine for light development work and surfing the net, as long as I don't need sound. I might use it for torrenting, it works for that OK.

For the sake of this comment I had a quick dig around and didn’t find anything obvious on my own machine, but then, this isn’t a Mac nor do I use wireless, which might be hampering my efforts.

Mac is notoriously difficult to install Linux on, even if it's Linux Mint. Not sure what I did wrong, but other people have the same model and I've seen them get everything to work including the touch bar. I wish they'd share their documentation.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

[Many problems]

Well shoot. Now I want to know why that didn't work. But I don't fancy having to work my system back to useable if it refuses to boot.

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I mean, it booted… into a black screen

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Seems like removing the file from /home/YOURUSER/.config/autostart/ ought to have undone the problem. Booting from external media of course, so as to be able to get to it, which you have to do anyway to reinstall.

I realise this is long after the fact.

Having something just sitting there in /usr/local/sbin shouldn't have any effect at all, so I can't imagine that was the issue, so calling it must be.

And the only thing I can think of is if there was a permissions problem and Cinnamon choked because the exec-er refused to run.

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah a permissions problem causing an error is a likely culprit, when I try again I will take more detailed notes and actually put them in a safe place

[–] ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Is it T2 Mac? Did you use T2Linux?

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

No, it is not a T2 Mac and I didn’t use T2 Linux. However I am thinking of trying t2 just to see if it works better for some reason

[–] ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

At least check the T2Linux wiki. On T2 Macs, certain modules needs to be loaded in specific order for the TouchBar to work. https://wiki.t2linux.org/guides/postinstall/

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 1 points 2 weeks ago

yes this is my next try, I'm just burnt out on it for now

[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

T2 started in 2018. The A1706/7 were only 2016-2017.

[–] erebion@news.erebion.eu 2 points 1 week ago

Perhaps consider looking at the Debian wiki to see whether there's any advice for thise model and see whether the Mac iso file Debian provides can help you.

[–] homes@piefed.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

FWIW, I have Fedora 44 running on my 2012 iMac. It runs like a dream with minimal fuss.

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I might try that... recently I flashed Debian Gnome and it performs even better than Mint Debian Cinnamon. It boots so fast, I'm not sure if I can even flash another OS. I've got such a short window to smash the option key that I've yet to get to the menu successfully. The wifi, speakers and lack of touch bar are still issues, but once I adjust the txpower, it's fine.

[–] homes@piefed.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

My major issue was the ATI Radeon driver. The one that came standard on most live USB drives currently works, but trying to update. It just made the screen unusable and resulted in a boot loop. I couldn’t recover from. So I had to flash it again.

But, with any Mac, you’ll have to hold down the left option key at boot — as soon as you hear the startup chime, and hold it down until you get the EFI boot select screen. As soon as you hear the startup chime, hold down the option key! And keep holding it down until you get your boot options. That’s it! From there, you can select your startup device, including your Linux live USB (which may take a second to show up in the list)

This is an option built into every New World Mac, and you can’t ever really get rid of it. It’s hardwired into the Mac.

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I am aware that you've got to smash or hold down the option key. I'm saying Debian boots so fast that the window to do this is incredibly short, as soon as I hear the booting up chime, it's loading to Debian. There isn't really much of a chance to get to the menu.

But it's ok, I think Debian Gnome is the end of my distro hopping. I don't feel the need to flash another OS.

[–] homes@piefed.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Let me rephrase: hold down the left option key during the startup chime. Don’t wait until after.

This will always give you a consistent 3 to 4 second window

Anyway, I’m glad that you like gnome. The difference between Debian and Fedora are under the hood.

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Let me rephrase: hold down the left option key during the startup chime.

Yup. I know that. Thanks though.