Fedora 15 on Macbook Air

[mercurycc]

Edit: Patching the driver should be patch -p0, not p1.
Edit: These steps must be repeated everytime you upgrade your kernel.
Edit: These notes only work on 2010 edition of MBA

No mystery. I installed Fedora 15 through the SuperDrive. Everything else worked so far, only two things annoyed me: NVIDIA graphic card and wireless.

The following steps must be repeated everytime you upgrade your kernel.

1. Graphic card driver:

Installing the pre-built package took me a lot of time without much success. So I will describe how to install the driver with the official installer. The main thing is to enter runlevel 3, which is described in (*), and removing nouveau.

Google NVIDIA linux driver for the latest driver, and stored the .run installer in your home.

(*) Then reboot, and keep tapping ESC to enter grub. Highlight the default kernel and press 'e'. Highlight the 2nd line and press 'e' again. Move the cursor to the end, add a space, and type 3. Press enter, then press 'b' to boot.

Type in the user name and password to login.

$ sudo bash

$ cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau
$ mv nouveau.ko nouveau.bak

$ cd /boot
$ mv initramfs-$(uname -r).img initramfs-$(uname -r).img.nouveau
$ dracut initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

... wait...

$ shutdown -r now

Do (*) again.

$ cd ~

Or wherever you stored you driver installer.

$ sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-270.41.19.run

Or whatever driver version you downloaded.

Follow the guide, responde yes or okay when applicable.

When you see the prompt again,

$ sudo shutdown -r now

Now you should have a nice GNOME 3 desktop waiting for you to login.


2. Wireless

It seems kmod-wl is not ready for Fedora 15? I don't know. Anyway I managed to compile the driver so this isn't a big problem.

Download the source code by google "broadcom sta"

Also download the patch from the same page. (Named "Patch for compilation problem with kernel versions > 2.6.37")

Transfer the downloaded file into your Macbook Air.

$ mkdir bcm43224
$ cd bcm43224
$ tar zxf ../hybrid-portsrc_x86_64-v5_100_82_38.tar.gz

Assuming you put the tarball in ..

$ patch -p0 <../5_100_82_38.patch
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ sudo depmod -a
$ su -c 'echo "modprobe wl" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local'

Reboot.

Comments are welcome. If you find anything wrong with this please let me know!

[sunck]

hello mercurycc,, I read your post, and it was very interesting for me, using the fedora on the MBA is really cool! I've tried it on my MBA using my fedora 13 but failed to get a black screen after the boot menu, and drop usbport connection so I had to reset the SMC again, and I have no other choice but to ubuntu. then installation ubuntu run smoothly, but a few days later I got in trouble at boot so that I can no longer enter. Can you help me to tell me where I can get the install guide step by step in installing single boot fedora 15 in MBA.

Thanks Regards,

[mercurycc]

Interestingly I started with Ubuntu on my MBA as well. The guide is here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookAir3-2/Meerkat

I kept OS X just in case.

I guess what you need is to do the partition, get rEFIt and find a superdrive, then instead of inserting the Ubuntu LiveCD insert the Fedora 15 CD. When you choose the installation method remember to use the one that says something like "install with basic graphic driver". During the installation you might also want to install grub on MBR rather than /boot. I am pretty sure there is a screen asking for it, just change the path to sda rather than sdaX. I remember the default caused me not able to boot the first time I tried.

[sunck]

thank you for responding to my questions arise this really helped me!!

if I may ask one more thing to you? when I first installed ubuntu on an MBA at the partition I found 2 partitions (EFI) & (Machintos) I delete Machintos to create partitions / boot, swap, / root n / home. but EFI remains. whether I should delete the EFI also when creating partitions for linux?
thanks for your time..

[mercurycc]

Glad my answers were helpful.

I would suggest not to delete the EFI partition partly because I didn't do that and partly because that partition does not really take that much space.

[sunck]

thank you for your assistance is very helpful

[vitaminLR]

Hi!

I'm trying to install Fedora x86_64 on my MBA 2.1
I have follow previous advices (refit, install with basic graphics)
But it hang just after "0.0134480 ACPI PCI is ... registred" CD stop and I have to reset SMC each time.

Have you any idea to help me?

Regards

[vitaminLR]

Hi,

I just tried to install firts Fedora 14 x86_64 but problem is the same.
Any idea?

regards,

[mercurycc]

Sorry I am not sure why because mine is a 2010 edition MBA 3,2. You might need another guide for your MBA 2,1.

[Judas7]

Hy, i follow your guide, but when i try to install the wireless drivers i have a problem.
After the patch I try do send the command make but it tells me that it can't find the folder..why?
Sorry for the bad english!

[sunck]

have successfully installed on my MBA, but when I followed your instructions to install the nvidia I do not understand in this section :

$ sudo bash

$ cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/gpu/drm/nouveau
$ mv nouveau.ko nouveau.bak

$ cd /boot
$ mv initramfs-$(uname -r).img initramfs-$(uname -r).img.nouveau
$ dracut initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

I am not adept at using the terminal !!
is there an easier way?

thanks for your help

[mercurycc]

To sunck:

I haven't tried this, but you can try the method mentioned here:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=204752

[sunck]

once again thanks for your help ..
might have been very inconvenient for you: ( maybe if you have more time to respond I am very grateful ..

[root@localhost tst83]# yum update kernel*
Loaded plugins: langpacks, presto, refresh-packagekit
Setting up Update Process
No Packages marked for Update
Thanks..

[sunck]

hello.. mercurycc I have followed the link above, after reebot I get blank screen, so I had to reinstall fedora on the MBA, because it is still curious I decided to try again with the way your first.. I have successfully done. but when I run sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-270.41.19.run after the accept button I got this message:
Error : unable to find the kernel source tree for currently running kernel. please make sure you have installed the kernel source files for you kernel and that they are properly configured; on redhat linux system for example, be sure you have the 'kernel devel' rpm installed. if you know the correct kernel source files are installed , you may specify the kernel source path with the "--kernel-source-path" command line option

maybe if you have the time to answer and I also want feroda asks what you use to install fedora MBA DVD or live cd?

Thanks for responding..

[vitaminLR]

Hi,

You just have to look for kernel devel or kernel sources or smthg like that with YUM. And to install it. You may have several kernels so you might have to download each source.

regards