Configuring Ubuntu 15.04 on Macbook Pro 13 Inch Late 2011

Most of things work out of the box for Ubuntu 15 on Macbook Pro but there are still something you have to fix.

Keyboard backlight is reset to maximum every time I reboot

Put the following command in /etc/rc.local file just before 'exit 0':

chmod 777 /sys/class/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness

Then add the following command in /etc/profile file:

echo 0 | tee /sys/class/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness

Note that we can just put the second command in /etc/rc.local and it should work but I don't know why the content of the file is reset back when I enter the login screen every reboot.

Reverse function keys

To use 'fn' key in combination with function keys to turn on or off volume for example, you must put the following command in /etc/rc.local just before 'exit 0':

chmod 777 /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/fnmode

Then, add the following command in /etc/profile file:

echo 2 | tee /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/fnmode

Trackpad

For drag and drop, just use your index finger to click and hold the trackpad and move your middle finger for dragging.

In my case, 3-finger tap for making middle click does not work so I have to configure it in the default synaptics driver settings. You can use synclient program to make the real-time change to the settings but just temporarily.

synclient TapButton1=1
synclient TapButton2=3
synclient TapButton3=2

synclient ClickFinger3=2

1, 2, and 3 mean left, middle, and right buttons respectively. To make permanent change, you can put those commands in a script file, /usr/share/mysynclients.sh for example and then add it to Startup Application. Or you can try to modify xorg.conf file but it made palm detection not work well. However, if you want to do it, you can put the following codes in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf file as following:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Default clickpad buttons"
        MatchDriver "synaptics"
        Option "SoftButtonAreas" "50% 0 82% 0 0 0 0 0"
        Option "SecondarySoftButtonAreas" "58% 0 0 15% 42% 58% 0 15%"
        Option "TapButton1" "1"
        Option "TapButton2" "3"
        Option "TapButton3" "2"
EndSection

But, it might not work as the Gnome setting daemon in /etc/X11/xorg.conf file will override existing settings in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf. You can fix it by:

> sudo apt-get install dconf-editor
> dconf-editor

And then, browse to /org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/mouse/ (or /org/cinnamon/settings-daemon/plugins/mouse/ for cinnamon) in the editor and uncheck Active checkbox. Then, reboot.

Disable locked drags

synclient TapAndDragGesture=OFF

Reference:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/290009/how-do-i-make-my-synclient-settings-stick-ubuntu-13-04
http://uselessuseofcat.com/?p=74

Sensors (Fan)

coretemp allows lm-sensor detect the other sensors such as the rotation speed of the fan and the GPU temperature. Typing the following command will activate the coretemp in next reboot:

sudo modprobe coretemp

You should use fan controller daemon included in the mactel-support ppa called macfanctl.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mactel-support/ppa 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install macfanctld

You can change the minimum fan speed in this file /etc/macfanctl.conf.

Others

For more configurations for such as battery saving (or you can install indicator-cpufreq), go read this.



Related Articles:
http://myt8chnote.blogspot.com/2016/04/installing-ubuntu-on-macbook-pro-using.html