Re: [gentoo-user] OT: installing Gentoo on a 2007 Macbook

[Marc Joliet]

Am Tue, 20 Aug 2013 01:19:23 +0200
schrieb "Marc A. Kastner" <linux@×××××.org>:

> I used Linux on a couple of different MacBooks. Usually I had the best
> experience not using rEFInd as an intermediate layer, but as the EFI
> boot loader loading the kernel file directly. My setup is based on the
> ArchLinux Wiki article about it. Every time you update your kernel, you
> just need to copy the vmlinuz to your EFI partition in the right folder.
>
> http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/EFI_stub_kernel
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/UEFI_Bootloaders#Using_rEFInd

I tried using an EFI stub kernel, but the firmware does not seem to pick it
up. I suspect I will have to try blessing it again, but after rebooting into
the OS X 10.7 DVD yet again, it didn't find the SSD *again*. So I will get to
work on other things and try it again later tonight.

I mean, when you can't even install OS X on the hardware it's supposed to run
on... well, by now I'm just tired of trying to get it to work.

> When using EFI mode, I had a couple of problems, which I haven't had in
> BIOS mode. Depending on your model, it might not be possible to use
> brightness settings of your graphics card or using the integrated
> graphics card (if your model has a discrete one) anymore.

Are you talking about modern systems with two graphics cards? I read that using
BIOS compatibility mode there is problematic for battery life because then the
firmware will only expose the larger graphics card.

> Another hint for Linux on MBP: For Wifi, you should use the broadcom-sta
> Version 6.x which is still masked in portage. Older versions had a lot
> of latency, performance and disconnect issues on my systems.

I will remember that, once I actually get the damn thing to boot.

-- 
Marc Joliet
--
"People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we
don't" - Bjarne Stroustrup